Morton Grant Movies

Desi Arnaz's bandleader career was in decline when he starred in Columbia's Holiday in Havana. Arnaz essays the difficult role of a Cuban bandleader, named not Ricky Ricardo but Carlos Estrada. His romantic vis-a-vis isn't Lucille McGillicudy but a peppery dancer named Lolita Valdez (Mary Hatcher). Just before the lovers participate in a gala Havana festival, Carlos has a lot of explaining to do when Lolita catches him in the arms of another. Song highlights include "The Arnaz Jam" and the title number, both written by Desi. Though it did OK at the box office, Holiday in Havana is indication enough that Desi Arnaz was very wise to latch onto the fledgling TV industry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The story of the outlaw Younger Brothers is duly Hollywoodized in this Technicolor western. Wayne Morris, Bruce Bennett, Robert Hutton and James Brown star as Cole, Jim, Johnny and Bob Younger, who as the film begins have just been released from jail. They try hard to follow the straight and narrow path, but when ex-Pinkerton man Ryckman (Fred Clark) launches a campaign of vengeance against the boys, out come the six-guns. One of Ryckman's schemes is to use female bandit Kate (Janis Paige) to lure the Youngers back into a life of crime. The villain very nearly succeeds, but the boys are saved by the beneficence of the screenwriters. Prominent in the cast of The Younger Brothers is Alan Hale, who showed up in practically every Warner Bros. western made between 1939 and 1950. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Song of the South is a blend of live action and animation, based on the popular "Uncle Remus" stories of Joel Chandler Harris. Set in the years just after the Civil War, the story begins with young Johnny (Bobby Driscoll) being sent to live at the southern plantation of his grandmother (Lucile Watson) while his parents contemplate divorce. At first disconsolate, the boy is cheered up by African-American handyman Uncle Remus (James Baskett), who tells him many delightful fables concerning the clever trickster Br'er Rabbit, whose adventures are illustrated in cartoon form. Each story has a moral, which Johnny applies to the exigencies of his real life. Johnny's mother (Ruth Warrick) disapproves of Uncle Remus, and orders the boy never to visit the kindly old black man again. Uncle Remus packs his bags and leaves; while chasing after him, Johnny is injured by a bull. He recovers thanks to the friendly presence of Uncle Remus, and all is forgiven. The film was awarded the Best Song Oscar for "Zip-a-dee Doo Dah," and James Baskett won a special Oscar for his portrayal of Uncle Remus. Disney has withheld the movie in the U.S. ever since its last theatrical re-release in 1986, due to controversy over what some (including the NAACP) argue is a sugar-coated depiction of the Reconstruction-era South. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The murder of a wealthy, much-married rancher (Lyle Talbot) in a posh Manhattan nightclub is the catalyst for The Falcon Out West. Amateur sleuth Tom Lawrence (Tom Conway), aka The Falcon, deduces that the victim was killed with rattlesnake venom. He follows the trail of evidence to a dude ranch in a frontier town. The suspects include pretty Marion (Barbara Hale) and Vanessa (Carol Gallegher) and not-so-pretty Bates (Minor Watson) and Hayde (Don Douglas). Though Tom Conway seems bored and distracted throughout The Falcon Out West, the film itself is an above-average "Falcon" series entry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tim Holt's third RKO Radio western for 1943 was The Avenging Rider. The story finds Holt trying to clear himself and his partner Cliff "Ukelele Ike" Edwards of a robbery-murder rap. The actual villains each carry a portion of a Five of Spades, so that they can identify themselves when they claim their shares of the stolen money. Our Hero tracks down four of the five miscreants before he is able to expose the "brains" behind the operation (the Least Likely Suspect, as usual). Cliff Edwards has so much to do and so many songs to sing in The Avenging Rider that one feels he should have gotten top billing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

At 54 minutes, Bar 20 is the shortest of the 1943 quota of Hopalong Cassidy pictures. William Boyd, Andy Clyde and George Reeves return to their series roles as Hopalong Cassidy, California Carson and Lin Bradley. Also on hand for villainous purposes is Victor Jory, who'd menaced Hoppy and his pals in the previous Cassidy flick Colt Comrades. The story concerns a gang of outlaws who've pilfered a cache of jewels in a stagecoach holdup. Unfortunately, they've also stolen Hoppy's cattle money, and that makes him reeeeeal mad. Two echoes from the silent-movie days are present in Bar 20; former leading lady Betty Blythe, and Dustine Farnum, the daughter of the late matinee idol Dustin Farnum and niece of veteran western player William Farnum. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A courageous cowboy dons the guise of a Texas Ranger to keep murderous cattle rustlers from harming a beautiful young woman, the daughter of the dead lawman whose clothes he wears. This western follows his adventures. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Fugitive Nazis threaten to take over the Wyoming range in this Three Mesqueteers outing, which also warns about the danger of blithely assuming that every German-American is a fifth columnist. Which is exactly what rancher Clem Parker (Hal Price) does when learning that a couple of escaped Axis war criminals may be heading towards the local valley. Clem immediately presupposes that German expatriate Dr. Heinrich Steiner (Edward Van Sloan) and his lovely daughter Laura (Anna Marie Stewart) still pledge allegiance to the Vaterland although the good doctor has dedicated his work to helping the Allied course. In the end, it takes the Mesqueteers -- Tucson Smith (Bob Steele), Stony Brooke (Tom Tyler) and Lullaby Joslin (Jimmie Dodd) -- to settle matters once and for all. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Tim Holt and sidekicks Ray Whitley and Emmett Lynn join an outlaw gang in this RKO Western filmed on-location at Victorville, CA, and at the Walker and Jauregui movie ranches. When their friend Pop Edwards is shot (in the back, no less) by Doc Randall (Robert Fiske) and his crew, Jeff (Holt), Smokey (Whitley), and Whopper (Lynn) take it upon themselves to avenge him. They do so by infiltrating the gang, and, in time, are awarded assistance by the sheriff (Hal Taliaferro) and café singer Mary Loring (Betty Jane Rhodes). The latter sings "My Grand Pap" and "Old Monterey Moon," both by Whitley and Fred Rose. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Another cookie-cutter Universal minimusical, Moonlight in Hawaii gathered together the usual suspects-Johnny Downs, Leon Errol, Jane Frazee, Mischa Auer, Sunny O'Dea et. al.--in their usual roles. Downs plays a young man named Pete, who shepherds a group of sightseers to Honolulu. Pete's greatest ambition is to star on radio with his pals the Merry Macs, and to this end he curries favor with potential sponsors Spencer (Leon Errol) and Lawton (Richard Carle), partners in a pineapple-juice factory. The complications begin piling up when Spencer and Lawton have a falling out over the affections of wealthy dowager Mrs. Floto (Marjorie Gateson), forcing Pete and his pals to play matchmaker. Superstar-to-be Maria Montez shows up in a bit role as a hula-hula dancer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In time-honored B-Western fashion, RKO took the exciting Oklahoma land-rush sequence from their Academy Award-winning Cimarron (1931) and crafted an entirely new story to suit their cowboy star in residence, the personable Tim Holt. The result was an exciting, well-acted story of a small-town real estate developer who bequeaths his largely ill-gotten range to anyone who has served two years or more in prison. Naturally, the small Arizona cattle town is soon teeming with would-be settlers arriving straight from the hoosegow. Among them are less than desirable types such as Tonto (Tom London) and Dode (Frank Ellis), both assigned by crooked lawyer Gil Carse (Roy Barcroft to stake out a piece a land that will enable him to control the valley's water supply. Aligning themselves with more upstanding former inmates such as Dad Cook (John Elliott) and retired safecracker Pinky (Hobart Cavanaugh), deputies Dave Walton (Holt), Smokey (Ray Whitley) and Whopper (Lee "Lasses" White) manage to foil Carse's evil scheme. In between the action (which is plentiful), Holt romances Dad Cook's spunky daughter (Janet Waldo and Whitley sings "Ki-Yo My Horse is Slow" and the title-tune. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Tim Holt plays a rancher named Drummond who runs up against a gang of crooked frontier land agents. When Drummond complains about land-office hanky panky, he's promptly framed for murder. Escaping the law, our hero exposes the real villains with the help of his saddle pals Smokey (Ray Whitley) and Whopper (Emmett Lynn). As proof that the cowboy-hero mantle at RKO Radio had definitely been passed from George O'Brien to Tim Holt, the latter inherits O'Brien's perennial leading lady Virginia Vale in Robbers on the Range. The musical portion of the program includes the stirring ballad "The Railroad's Coming to Town" (PS: It does). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A wedding ceremony is rudely interrupted by a bank robbery next door, the bridegroom is shot and the best man is accused of being the culprit. All this takes place during the first five minutes of Triple Justice, George O'Brien's final western for RKO. Brad Henderson (O'Brien) is innocent, of course, but is forced to clear his good name and reputation by tracking down not only the three real bank robbers but also their secret boss, Deputy Sheriff Harry Woods). Along the way, Brad falls in love with lovely (Virginia Vale), the sister of neophyte outlaw Bud McTaggart), and finds himself the center of attention of three equally charming senoritas, (The Lindemann Sisters, who perform a couple of standard Mexican ballads. Miss Vale) also takes time out for a song, Fred Ross and Ray Whitley's "Lonely Rio. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide