A.W. Hackel Movies

In many ways, the history of the cautionary fable Strange Holiday is more fascinating than the film itself. Written and directed by radio's Arch Oboler (of "Lights Out" fame), the story concerns American businessman John Stephenson (Claude Rains), who returns home after an extended vacation to discover that the U.S. has been taken over by a fascist dictatorship. Completed sometime between 1940 and 1942, the film was originally produced by General Motors as a morale-booster for the company's employees (it should be noted that the story insists that the strongest defense against totalitarianism is Big Business!) GM decided not to screen the picture, whereupon Arch Oboler sold the property to MGM. That studio also eventually passed on distributing the film, at which point Oboler and star Claude Rains, forming their own production company, repurchased the film and distributed it on a limited basis in 1945. The following year, Strange Holiday finally received a widespread national release through the auspices of PRC Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mike Hallett (Barton MacLaine) is A Gentle Gangster in this satisfactory Republic programmer. A big shot during prohibition, Hallett quit the rackets back in 1923 when his future wife Ann (Molly Lamont) threatened to leave him. Twenty years later, Hallett and his former cohorts Steve (Dick Wessel) and Joe (Ray Teal) are living peaceful, respectable lives in a small town. But when gangster Hugo (Jack LaRue) tries to exert pressure on the local businessmen, the three former beer barons join forces to thwart the intruder. Originally 57 minutes, A Gentle Gangster was cut to 54 and then 48 minutes for TV release. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Among the few wartime comedies that are still genuinely funny today, Monogram's One Thrilling Night (aka Horace Takes Over). stars John Beal and Wanda McKay as a somewhat dimwitted newlywed couple honeymooning in New York. Beal hopes to spend some "quality time" with Wanda before he's to report for Army induction the next morning, but this hardly seems likely. The couple's tiny hotel room is constantly invaded by pesky strangers, the more contentious of which is criminal Tom Neal, who's looking for a cache of loot hidden by Pierce Lynden. Despite the well-meaning efforts of house detective Warren Hymer, poor Beal is kidnapped twice before the night is over. Engaging in its silliness, One Thrilling Night is a special favorite of B-picture enthusiasts: When one such movie buff asked John Beal why his character continually hangs a "Do Not Disturb" inside his hotel suite, the actor replied, "Because he's stupid." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A true "guilty pleasure" crime melodrama with horror movie touches, the low-budget The Living Ghost stars future Academy award-winner James Dunn as Nick Trayne, a retired detective hired to look into the mysterious disappearance of banker Walter Craig. Working with Craig's pert secretary Billie Hilton (Joan Woodbury), Nick is questioning Craig's alarmingly suspicious friends and relatives when the missing banker (Gus Glassmire) suddenly turns up in a strange, zombie-like state. According to Dr. Bruhling (Lawrence Grant), Craig is suffering from a paralyzed cerebral cortex, a state that may render him dangerous and that is in all likelihood induced by someone else. And, sure enough, Nick has barely begun to understand what the good doctor is suggesting when Craig is found hovering over the dead body of his brother-in-law, George Phillips (J. Arthur Young). But is the cataleptic banker actually a killer or is someone even more dangerous behind the murder? The trail leads Nick and Billie to a nearby shack where strange experiments have recently been conducted and, in time, to the real culprit. The Living Ghost was released on videocassette as A Walking Nightmare, and a nightmare it certainly is. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Alan Baxter, usually seen as a neurotic villain in A pictures, gets to play the good guy in Monogram's Borrowed Hero. Baxter stars as a crusading DA who suspects that a "respectable" civic reform organization isn't all it appears to be. With the help of sob-sister Florence Rice, Baxter is able to scrape off the above-suspicion veneer of the organization and reveal the corruption beneath. Neil Hamilton, who later played the upright Commissioner Gordon on TV's Batman, is the high-profile criminal behind the reform racket. One of the screenwriters of Borrowed Hero was future best-selling novelist Sidney Sheldon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western, a good-guy must halt a battle between cattle ranchers and settlers. An outlaw exploits the feud by working on both sides and then buying up all of the land for peanuts as the two factions murder each other. The hero soon figures out the outlaw's scheme and brings him to justice via a showdown. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Bantam-weight cowboy star Bob Steele stars in Thunder in the Desert. If you're familiar with Steele, you'll know that he was a star with but a single plot: A young man searches for the murderer of his father. This time, however, a few changes have been made. Now Bob is on the prowl for the murderer of his uncle. With the help of Louise Stanley, he corrals the killer and claims his inheritance. Produced independently by A. W. Hackel, Thunder in the Desert was released by Republic Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Less than a week after the release of the Bob Steele western Paroled-to Die came yet another Steele vehicle, Amateur Crook. Once again, the hero (Steele) is framed for a crime he didn't commit. Once again, he breaks jail to track down the culprit. And once again, he succeeds. Amateur Crook was part of a package of A. W. Hackel-produced westerns distributed by Republic. According to B-western historian Don Miller, it was considered the best of the batch (though it really wasn't), and used by Republic as an "ice breaker" to entice exhibitors to pick up the rest of the series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bob Steele -- or, as he was known in the trade papers, "Our Bob" -- stars as Tom Shaw, the courageous foreman of the ranch owned by Betty Duncan (Lois January). A group of mysterious riders, apparently determined to drive every cattle rancher out of the territory, has launched a bloody campaign of terror, leaving behind a handful of spent shells and a red-stained rope as a warning to the ranchers. The leader of the terrorists is Rattler Haynes (Lew Meehan), but Tom suspects that Rattler takes his orders from a never-seen "Mister Big." With a little diligence and plenty of fisticuffs, our hero outmaneuvers the villains and wins the girl. Based on a story by Johnston McCulley (of The Mark of Zorro fame), The Red Rope was one of the best Bob Steele westerns ever made. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though A.W. Hackel's Supreme Pictures went belly-up in 1936, he continued grinding out his popular Bob Steele westerns, shifting distribution to up-and-coming Republic. Steele plays Dan, the headstrong young son of a notorious outlaw. Dan is forced not only to live down his dad's reputation, but also his own, since it's been rumored that he has strayed to the wrong side of the law from time to time. He manages to prove that he's a good guy after all, but in a surprise development he doesn't win the film's official heroine Molly (Lois January), who has jilted him for another. Fortunately, second lead Betty (Joan Barclay) is there to pick up the pieces. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bob Steele once again goes in search for the outlaw who murdered his father in this average Western released by Republic Pictures. The killer, Jim Hatfield (Warner Richmond), is holed up in a South-of-the-Border cantina from whence he runs a series of cattle rustlings and assorted other crimes. The Hatfield gang kidnaps Don (David Sharpe), the young brother of waitress Jean Williams (Lorraine Hayes), and forces him to sign over some traveler's checks to Hatfield. Allowing himself to be captured by the gang, newly deputized Dave Austin (Steele) is sentenced to die at sundown, but by using trickery, the youngster manages to turn the outlaws against each other. Doomed at Sundown was filmed at Newhall and Chatsworth, CA. Leading lady Lorraine Hayes, aka Lorraine Randall, was the sister of popular screen actress Bernadene Hayes. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

In this western, a cattleman's son and a homesteader's daughter fall in love, but find their love thwarted by a trouble-making lawyer who creates a conflict between the ranchers and the settlers by telling the ranchers that the cattleman's stock will die if the homesteaders are allowed to dam the river. Gunplay and mayhem ensues. Eventually love triumphs. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Paroled-to Die was one of Bob Steele's best starring westerns for producer A. W. Hackel. Wasting precious little time with plot or dialogue, the film gets down to business with a two-fisted opening action sequence. Thereafter, the thrills never let up, as hero Doug Redfern (Steele) tries to clear himself of a murder rap, orchestrated by crooked politico Harvey Meline (Karl Hackett). Offering aid and comfort to our hero are government agent Lucky Gosden (Horace Murphy) and heroine Joan Blackman (Kathleen Elliot). Originally slated for released through Hackel's own Spectrum pictures, Paroled-to Die was eventually distributed by Republic. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide