Bennett Ray Cohen Movies

In this romantic comedy a border patrolman must cite a young, wealthy, and very spoiled young woman for smoking in a non-smoking area. Later her parents hire him to protect their wild young daughter. Unfortunately she accidently gets involved with jewel thieves. It is up to her dashing body guard to save her. In the end he wins not only her respect, but also her heart. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Directed by producer Bernard B. Ray under his usual nom de cinema of Franklin Shamray, this mild B-Western features Tom Tyler and sidekick Eddie Gribbon befriending a ranger (Tom London), whose murder by a mysterious villain known as "The Rattler" they then seek to avenge. As Tyler and Gribbon learn, "The Rattler" is in the employ of nasty William Gould, who tries to frame Tom in the attack of prospector Jimmy Aubrey. But Tom manages to persuade the dead ranger's sister (Marion Shilling) of his innocence and the real culprit (Charles "Slim" Whitaker) is apprehended. According to some reports, this obscure Western was released without the all-important seal of approval by the Motion Picture Association of America and only played the hinterlands. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

Proof positive that Reliable Pictures' Skull and Crown was filmed several years before its 1938 New York premiere is the presence in the cast of former silent-screen leading man James Murray, who died in 1936. The star of the show is Rin-Tin-Tin Jr., who among other things helps to break up a gang of smugglers. Another silent veteran, Jack Mower, plays the chief crook, but despite his bulk and muscle he's no match for our "Rinty". Nominal human hero Regis Toomey benefits greatly from the dog's deductive skills, winning the hand of heroine Molly Day as a result. Allegedly based on a story by James Oliver Curwood, Skull and Crown is cheap and tacky even by Reliable's unexacting standards. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the first of two proposed serials for Mascot Pictures, Western hero Ken Maynard goes up against a murderous fiend known as "the Rattler." Wearing a strange disguise consisting of eye glasses, a fake nose, and crepe-hair mustache, the Rattler, aka "the Menace of the Mountain," attempts to control the mountain -- and its hidden gold -- from a secret cave filled with strange electronic gadgets. Maynard is Ken Williams, a young cowboy coming to the aid of Jane Corwin (Verna Hillie), whose railroad worker father (Lafe McKee) was the Rattler's first victim. Just as in a previous Mascot serial, The Hurricane Express (1932), the masked villain of Mystery Mountain uses a seemingly endless supply of rubber masks that enables him to perform his skullduggery disguised as almost every member of the cast. He is finally brought to ground in chapter 12, "The Judgment of Tarzan" ("Tarzan" being Maynard's faithful steed), and is revealed to be supposedly solid citizen Edward Earle. The denouement, of course, was a typical Mascot "cheat," the masked villain having up to that point been played by Edmund Cobb. Maynard, whom Mascot producer Nat Levine had gotten on the cheap at 10,000 dollars a week, proved almost not worth the trouble he created. The difficult star demanded that the serial be filmed at his old stomping grounds, Universal City, and kept changing the script and direction to suit himself. Although Mystery Mountain proved the most successful Mascot serial up to that time, Levine had had enough of the obstinate Maynard and replaced him with newcomer Gene Autry in The Phantom Empire (1935). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

A Texas Ranger (Rex Lease) searches for the killer of his sister in this cheap and often incomprehensible Western produced by Harry S. Webb and Flora E. Douglas, the latter being one of Hollywood's few women executives at the time. In tracking down the mysterious killer -- a villain known only as The Tiger (Jack Mower) -- the ranger is ably assisted by his faithful dog, King (Muro, a low-budget Rin Tin Tin "wannabe"). The Lone Trail was a re-edited feature version of a 1931 serial, The Sign of the Wolf. Webb and Douglas, in an attempt to squeeze every dime possible of out the footage, recycled it once again for the 1936 serial, Crown and Skull. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

In this western, an outlaw gang leader leaves his bad-guy bunch after they have a heated dispute about giving an injured gang member a take from their latest bank robbery. Later the renegade outlaw becomes a sheriff. He is then ambushed by his former gang. An exciting chase and a shoot-out ensues until the villains are vanquished. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this western, an enraged cowboy seeks to avenge the murder of his father. He eventually confronts the guilty outlaw gang in Ghost City, an abandoned town west of Cheyenne, Wyoming. Fists fly, guns blaze, and mayhem ensues until the crooks are brought to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Sono Art-World Wide, an enterprising minor-league studio of the early talkie era, did its best to seek out subject matter that would guarantee a respectable box-office showing. Air Police has an alluring title and some first-class aerial photography, but otherwise is a standard cops-and-robbers caper. Kenneth Harlan plays a flying cop whose partner is murdered by smugglers. A showdown high above the clouds is a foregone conclusion, though most of the skullduggery is committed on terra firma by frog-faced gang boss Rychard Cramer. Second-echelon silent film leading lady is Kenneth Harlan's love interest. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Journeyman director Richard Thorpe (who later helmed Elvis Presley features) directed this bizarre early talkie western which incorporated comedy musical numbers (vampish Nita Martan sings Crying Blues and A Man Like That) into a standard western plot dealing with rustlers and revenge. Joining up with a travelling medicine show, Westerner Clay Conning (Kenneth Harlan) tries to help his fellow troupers protect themselves against the villains. He also champions the cause of heroine Mary (Dorothy Gulliver), who is likewise being victimized by the baddies. Thrown into jail on a trumped-up charge, Conning escapes to see that justice is done. Screenwriters Bennett Cohen and James Aubrey threw in a stranded theatrical troupe to provide the vaudeville routines. Leading man Kenneth Harlan was the husband of actress Marie Prevost. Harlan's days as a star were numbered, but he continued in character roles for another decade and a half. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

The dashing Ken Maynard, who always warned that he sang loudly rather than well, finished his 1929-1930 stay at Universal with this average early sound western. Maynard sang several heart-felt prairie ballads in the film and even cut a record for Columbia. One of his songs, Down the Home Trail with You, became a minor hit, but the film itself, about a ranch foreman battling an outlaw gang was nothing to write home about despite a good performance by old-timer Francis Ford as the villain. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

In this musical western, a cowpoke goes searching for his brother's killer. The brother had been a Texas Ranger. He finds the killer and they have a midnight showdown on Main Street. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A late entry in First National's series of silent Ken Maynard Westerns, this film starred the athletic Maynard and his magnificent and increasingly popular horse "Tarzan" in a rousing rodeo adventure. Maynard played Cal Roberts, a young rodeo cowboy coming to the aid of a girl jockey (Gladys McConnell), whose father is facing bankruptcy. Cheyenne was scripted by the talented Marion Jackson, who also wrote some of rival Western star Fred Thomson's better vehicles. Warner Bros., who had absorbed First National (and its Burbank studio complex) in late 1928, later used the title Cheyenne for both a 1947 feature and the popular 1955-1963 television series starring Clint Walker. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi