Larry Darmour Movies

This entry in the detective series follows Queen as he investigates the case of a woman's missing husband, a banker. As he searches, he must cope with several murders and a burlesque queen. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Ralph Bellamy makes the third of four appearances as "master detective" Ellery Queen in Columbia's Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime. The principal villain is crooked stockbroker John Mathews (Douglass Dumbrille), whose Wall Street manipulations render Ray Jarden (H. B. Warner) penniless. Mathews' chicanery seems particularly coldblooded, inasmuch as his daughter Marian (Linda Hayes) is engaged to Jarden's son Walter (John Beal). When the latter disappears, Mathews asks Ellery Queen to locate the young man. Shortly thereafter, one of the principal characters is murdered, forcing Ellery to get his deductive skills into high gear-no small task, since he's depicted in this film as a complete dunderhead. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ralph Bellamy made his fourth and final appearance as literary sleuth Ellery Queen in Columbia's Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring. On this occasion, Ellery and his police-inspector father (Charley Grapewin) are summoned to a private hospital by its owner, philanthropist Mrs. Stack (Blanche Yurka). There've been some very weird goings-on at the hospital as of late, and Mrs. Stack wants to get to the bottom of things. Soon after Ellery's arrival, however, the old woman is injured in a suspicious motor accident, then strangled to death on the operating table. Suspects include Mrs. Stack's avaricious son John (Leon Ames), head nurse Miss Tracy (Mona Barrie) and medical director Dr. Janney (George Zucco). Despite the fact that Ellery seems to be as dumb as a stone, he manages to solve the mystery. After Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring, Ralph Bellamy relinquished his Ellery Queen duties to William Gargan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ralph Bellamy made the first of four appearances as fictional sleuth Ellery Queen in Columbia's Ellery Queen, Master Detective. For reasons that defy logic, the studio elected to transform the brilliant, analytical Queen into a hopeless bumbler, who seems incapable of tying his own shoes, much less solving a murder. Set at a posh health resort, the story gets under way when wealthy physical culturalist John Braun (played by former director Fred Niblo) is killed after threatening to cut all his heirs out of his will. Investigating the killing is crime novelist Ellery Queen, his police-inspector father (Charles Grapewin), and another mystery writer, Nikki Porter (Margaret Lindsay). In short order, the body disappears, along with the will, a set of X-rays, and an ambulance! Somehow, Ellery Queen manages to put the pieces together and solve the crime, whereupon Nikki Porter offers to become Ellery's secretary-even though it's clear she's got more brains in her left toe than he has in his whole carcass. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, a government investigator looks into a counterfeiting ring that passes its fake bills through a gambling boat. During one evening, a murder occurs and the captain immediately sails the boat three miles off the coast where authorities have no jurisdiction. When the crew mutinies, the investigator takes over and gets his man. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Silent-screen leading lady Dolores Costello adds a touch of class to the threadbare Jack Holt vehicle Whispering Enemies. Reportedly inspired by recent headlines, the story deals with corporate intrigue in the cosmetic business, with Stephen Brewster (Holt) and Laura Crandall (Costello) representing two rival beauty-product firms. Brewster's company is destroyed via rumors of impropriety spread by Crandall's minions. Resorting to the same tactics, Brewster turns the tables on Crandall, and before long it is she who is out of work. But the balance of power shifts once more, with Crandall getting the goods on Brewster by fadeout time. Relieving the tedium of the the tug-o-war plotline is the brash comedy relief of Pert Kelton. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western, a U.S. marshal impersonates an outlaw and rides to Texas to find the looters who have been raiding supply shipments. He finds them and infiltrates their gang. He soon finds out that the desperadoes have commandeered a ranch and are holding the rancher and his family prisoner while they await the next shipment. Trouble erupts, but justice prevails as the marshal captures the badguys and frees the frightened family. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Jack Holt is impossibly heroic as usual in the Columbia quickie Hidden Power. In his quest to perfect a cure-all for severe burns, Dr. Garfield (Holt) neglects everything else, including his wife Virginia (Gertrude Michael) and son Steve (Dickie Moore). But when Garfield finally perfects the miracle serum, he redeems himself in the eyes of his wife by testing it on his own horribly scarred son. Anyone in 1939 who couldn't see where the story is going from Reel Two should have been drummed out of the theater in disgrace. To add a bit of sidelines intrigue to the proceedings, Henry Kolker plays the villainous Weston, who would use Garfield's amazing discovery for the manufacture of bombs (huh?) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this actioner, a hardened cowboy decides to stop studying law and become a Texas state trooper instead. At the governor's request he then impersonates an outlaw to trick a band of bandits. Once he gains their trust, he and his assistant organize a trooper raid to stop the outlaws. The good guys literally duke it out in the end. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Rolling Caravans was one of four Columbia B-westerns designed to make a star out of utility actor Jack Luden. Harry Woods, a fixture of the Luden series, fills the villain role, while Eleanor Stewart is the heroine once more. The story concerns the efforts of a homesteader named Breezy (Luden) to ward off the bad guys, who've determined that there's gold on his property. By the time the heavies have discovered that Breezy's "treasure" consists primarily of topsoil, the hero has settled accounts with his fists and deposited his enemies in the local calaboose. At one point, Jack Luden indulges in a bit of ventriloquism, suggesting that perhaps he would have been better off as a comedy sidekick rather than a leading man. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western, a looter finds an abandoned, empty mine and begins claiming that he has found the mother lode. Soon, gold-hungry prospectors are giving every penny for a chance to work the mine until the hero rides into town and gets suspicious. Fate intervenes: the hero and the duped miners really do find a mother lode in the "worthless" mine. When they go to stake their claim, the outlaw tries to stop them. He fails and justice prevails. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Columbia Pictures' year-long effort to turn utility actor Jack Luden into a western star sputtered onward with Stagecoach Days. Luden is okay in the lead, but the story, about a deadly rivalry between two stage lines, is an exercise in tedium. Things pick up tremendously during the final reel, with the good guys pitted against the bad guys in a thrill-packed stagecoach race. Hal Taliaferro and Harry Woods, both regulars in the Luden series, go through their usual villainous paces, while Eleanore Stewart is the heroine. After the Jack Luden series ran its course, Columbia managed to find a more than suitable replacement in the person of "Wild Bill" Elliot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide