Maurice King Movies

Jim Killian (Glenn Ford) is a reformed gunslinger who takes a job as a local preacher in Vinagaroon, Arizona. He arrives during a time of conflict between shepherds and cattlemen who are engaged in a bloody range war. When Coke Beck (David Carradine) hangs a local Indian, the victim's daughter Leloopa (Barbara Hershey) enlists the help of Killian. He tries to mediate the conflict in a meeting between the rival factions, but a member of the congregation exposes him as an ex-convict. He also enlists the help of the heart-of-gold saloon-operator Madge (Carolyn Jones). Killian and the townsfolk, women included, organize a march to the watering hole -- the center of the controversy. The cattlemen approach and draw their guns in what could be a potentially violent confrontation. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Gorgo is an attempt to make a Japanese-style "giant reptile" flick in an English setting. The story begins when underwater volcanic activity in the Irish Sea brings forth a 65-foot monster called Gorgo. Enterprising Joe (Bill Travers) and Sam (William Sylvester) capture the beast and transport it to London, where Gorgo is put on display as a seaside carnival attraction. This proves to be a major mistake when Gorgo's even larger mother lumbers to the surface in search of her cute li'l baby. In short order, London is trampled and trashed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lensed in Germany, Carnival Story stars Anne Baxter as a wayward Teutonic lass who joins a travelling carnival troupe. She falls in love with carny spieler Steve Cochran, and out-and-out louse who treats Baxter like dirt and makes her like it. Eventually, she rises to star status through the auspices of high-diver Lyle Bettger, but she can never get over her passion for Cochran. Inevitably, this romantic triangle degenerates into violence, leaving magazine photographer George Nader to pick up the pieces. Carnival Story was filmed simultaneously with a German-language version, Rummelplatz der Liebe, which starred Eva Bartok, Curt Jurgens and Bernhard Wicki. Produced by the King Brothers and released by RKO, Carnival Story has since lapsed into public domain, and as such has become a ubiquitous presence on cable television. There's even a version that has been outfitted with a narration for the benefit of sight-impaired film fans. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Ring was directed by Kurt Neumann in a style best described as Hollywood neorealist. Based on a novel by Irving Shulman, the film focuses on a Mexican-American youth named Tommy (Lalo Rios). Unable to make any headway in a prejudicial, white-dominated society, Tommy turns to boxing, where he makes quite a name for himself. Just when he thinks he's gained the respect of the "Anglos," however, he discovers that they're only interested in his reputation, and still consider him an outsider because of his ancestry and skin color. Even the two white men who treat him decently -- his manager Pete (Gerald Mohr) and trainer Freddy (Robert Osterloh) -- have a vested interest. In danger of ending up a disillusioned, punch-drunk bum, Tommy is rescued by the unconditional love of his girl Lucy (Rita Moreno). Filmed entirely on location in greater Los Angeles, The Ring is for the most part an uncompromising glimpse at institutionalized bigotry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the tradition of 20th Century Fox's semi-documentary "Now it can be told" films, Monogram Picture's "A" division Allied Artists came up with Southside 1-1000. The U.S. Secret Service goes after a gang of counterfeiters, whose engraver (Morris Ankrum) has covertly constructed his plates while in prison. A federal agent (Don DeFore) poses as the counterfeiters' contact man in order to purchase enough bills to incriminate the gang. The final fight-to-the-death scene was filmed aboard Los Angeles' "Angel's Flight," a cable-car service dangling 40 feet above the ground. Southside 1-1000 was based on a true story, as narrator Gerald Mohr points out on several occasions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The definitive Joseph H. Lewis-directed melodrama, Gun Crazy is the "Bonnie and Clyde" story retooled for the disillusioned postwar generation. John Dall plays a timorous, emotionally disturbed World War II veteran who has had a lifelong fixation with guns. He meets a kindred spirit in carnival sharpshooter Peggy Cummins, who is equally disturbed -- but a lot smarter, and hence a lot more dangerous. Beyond their physical attraction to one another, both Dall and Cummins are obsessed with firearms. They embark on a crime spree, with Cummins as the brains and Dall as the trigger man. As sociopathic a duo as are likely to be found in a 1940s film, Dall and Cummins are also perversely fascinating. As they dance their last dance before dying in a hail of police bullets, the audience is half hoping that somehow they'll escape the Inevitable. Some critics have complained that Dall is far too effeminate and Cummins too butch, but Joseph H. Lewis was never known to draw anything in less than broad strokes: recall the climax of Terror in a Texas Town, wherein Sterling Hayden participates in a western showdown armed with a whaler's harpoon. The best and most talked-about scene in Gun Crazy is the bank robbery sequence, shot in "real time" from the back seat of Dall and Cummins' getaway car. Originally slated for Monogram release, Gun Crazy enjoyed a wider exposure when its producers, the enterprising King Brothers, chose United Artists as the distributor. The film was based on a magazine article by MacKinlay Kantor; one of the scenarists was uncredited blacklistee Dalton Trumbo. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Having struck gold with the previous season's Dillinger, the King Brothers returned to Monogram as producers of The Gangster. Adapted by Daniel Fuchs from his own novel Low Company, the film stars Barry Sullivan as flint-faced racketeer Shubunka. Shown to be a product of the slums, Shubunka spends his adulthood in pursuit of power and riches, with no time for friendship or romance. Wounded in a gangland shootout, Shubunka ruminates on his past, present and (unlikely) future, wondering if it's all been worth it. Promoted as a "psychological" drama, The Gangster has plenty of gunplay and bloodshed to satiate action fans, and a surfeit of sex appeal in the form of gangster's moll Nancy (played by Monogram's resident skating star Belita). Prominent in the supporting cast is the ineluctable Sheldon Leonard as Shubunka's chief rival, delivering a subtler variation on his patented tough-guy screen persona. The Gangster was directed by Oscar-winning art director Gordon Wiles, later a mainstay of such TV series as Land of the Lost and Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dillinger, the was the ninth effort from the enterprising King Brothers, and their most financially successful film to date. Lawrence Tierney became an overnight cult favorite with his gritty portrayal of maverick bank robber John Dillinger, though top billing is bestowed upon Edmund Lowe as gang chieftain Specs. The film traces Dillinger's criminal career from his first petty theft to his spectacular 1934 demise outside Chicago's Biograph Theater (incidentally, this film was banned in Chicago for several years). Anne Jeffreys plays Dillinger's fictional moll Helen, while Elisha Cook Jr., Marc Lawrence, and Eduardo Ciannelli go through their usual crime-flick paces. The film's set piece is an elaborate armored-car holdup, lifted in its entirety from footage originally shot for Fritz Lang's You Only Live Once (1937). Screenwriter Philip Yordan, fresh from his Broadway triumph Anna Lucasta, earned an Academy Award nomination for Dillinger. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Betrayed is the reissue title for the classic melodrama When Strangers Marry. In her third film, Kim Hunter plays a waitress who comes to New York to meet her husband Dean Jagger. Kim's marriage was a whirlwind affair, and as a result she barely knows her husband. She soon discovers that Jagger may be involved in a murder -- and that he very well may be a homicidal maniac. Designated by film-historian Don Miller as the finest "B" picture ever made, Betrayed is chock full of superb cinematic touches, courtesy of director William Castle. Best bits include the shot of Kim Hunter staring out her hotel window, her face illuminated by a flashing neon sign, and a "shock cut" straight out of Hitchcock's The 39 Steps. Third-billed Robert Mitchum was elevated to star status on the reissue prints of When Strangers Marry, which unfortunately tended to give away the film's surprise ending; also in the cast in a tiny role is Mitchum's future Out of the Past co-star Rhonda Fleming. One of the most convincing performances is delivered by character actor Lou Lubin, who plays a shaking-in-his-boots murder witness. Filmed in ten days, Betrayed was another box-office winner for the canny King Brothers producing team. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The King Brothers, entrepreneur siblings who parlayed an allegedly ill-gotten fortune into a long movie career, produced Monogram's The Unknown Guest. Victor Jory heads the cast as a young man who (like the producers?) is forced to live down an unsavory past. When his aunt and uncle are murdered, Jory becomes the prime suspect. Fleeing the law, Jory heads to a remote hunting lodge, where he falls in love with servant Pamela Blake. She tries to help him out of his jam, which is not resolved until the last possible moment. The impressive behind-the-scenes credits of The Unknown Guest includes screenwriter Phillip Yordan and musical composer Dmitri Tiomkin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this Alaskan adventure, a surgeon becomes a pilot to help him distress after a failed operation. Unfortunately, he is caught in a storm, crashes and finds himself cared for by a lovely woman at a trading post. He gets a chance to reclaim his self-esteem when her son suddenly needs the operation the surgeon botched. This time the operation is a success and happiness ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Paper Bullets (aka Crime Inc.) was the first production by former slot-machine entrepreneurs Maurice and Frank Kozinski, later and better known as the King Brothers. Written by former crime reporter Martin Mooney, the story focuses on the efforts by an undercover agent Bob Elliot (John Archer) to get the goods on mobster Mickey Roma (Jack LaRue). The key to Elliot's investigation is gorgeous ex-convict Rita Adams (Joan Woodbury), who hopes to get even with Harold Dewitt (Philip Trent), the cad responsible for her incarceration. Rita's plan is to inveigle herself into the graft operation run by Harold's "respectable" politician father Clarence Dewitt (George Pembroke), then to obtain valuable evidence against Dewitt and his partner-in-crime Roma. Billed sixth as reporter Jimmy Kelly is young up-and-comer Alan Ladd, who managed to land a part in Paper Bullets because he and costar Philip Trent shared the same agent, Sue Carol (later Mrs. Ladd). When the film was reissued in 1943 as Gangs Inc, Ladd was awarded star billing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide