Richard Lane Movies

In one of their most genial comedies -- based on a Damon Runyon story -- Bud Abbott and Lou Costello have to help one friend (Cecil Kellaway) replace his beloved carriage horse, and another friend (Leightno Noble) put together a US Army camp show. Through a misunderstanding, they take what they think is a worthless nag from a racetrack stall, only to discover that they've actually stolen "Tea Biscuit," the world's greatest racehorse. Not only are the authorities after the pair -- who try to hide the horse in their hotel room -- but so is freelance trouble-shooter Eugene Pallette (who already has had one unrelated run-in with the boys), and complicating matters even further are three racetrack touts (led by Shemp Howard) who want to cash in on the mistake. Grace McDonald and Patsy O'Connor), along with bandleader Noble and the Step Brothers, provide the music and dancing in this wild romp, that takes us from New York's Central Park to the racetrack at Saratoga. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

On December 6, 1941, a squadron of nine B-17 bombers takes off for Hickam Field, HI. The crew of the Mary Ann, including two new men, assistant radio man Private Chester (Ray Montgomery) and gunner Sergeant Joe Winocki (John Garfield), assembles for the flight, and in the first 20 minutes, the movie reveals certain things about the crew: the shadowy past of one, the mother of another, and the wife of a third; two of them are good friends with the sister of McMartin (Arthur Kennedy), the bombardier, who lives in Honolulu; the son of the senior member of the crew, Sgt. White (Harry Carey Sr.), is a pilot stationed at Clark Field in the Philippines. Then more characters make entrances: the aircraft commander Quincannon (John Ridgely); Weinberg (George Tobias), a Jewish mechanic from New York; and a man from a farm in the upper Midwest -- they all represent a broad cross-section of America as it saw itself, and the "regular guys" in the Army Air Force as it existed in 1941. The flight proceeds without incident. Winocki, an embittered, washed-out flight school candidate who accidentally killed another pilot, is about to leave the service when the weather report from Hickam Field is interrupted, and the radio man begins picking up transmissions in Japanese. The Mary Ann and the rest of the squadron fly right into the middle of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor unarmed and out of gas, and nearly crack up landing on an emergency field; no sooner do they make repairs than the crew comes under attack, and the plane takes off and makes for Hickam Field, which they find a flaming shambles. They fly on to the Philippines, stopping at Wake Island just long enough to meet a few members of the doomed Marine garrison, taking their company mascot, a dog, with them. At Clark Field, the Mary Ann and her crew finally go into action against the enemy, flying in alone against a Japanese invasion force; Quincannon is mortally wounded in the brief action, which leaves the plane damaged seemingly beyond repair. The remaining crew won't give up the plane, however, even when ordered to abandon and destroy her; they get the bomber off just ahead of the advancing Japanese, and survive to help bring retribution to the invading fleet and the Japanese empire. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Randolph Scott was the star of Corvette K-225, a tribute to the World War II corvette escorts which guided Allied convoys through treacherous Atlantic waters. Scott plays the officer in charge of a Royal Canadian corvette cruiser, dedicated to keeping the troops safe from enemy submarine attack. The focus of the film is a danger-ridden journey from Halifax to Britain, the tension quotient heightened by the use of actual combat footage. Only the romantic triangle involving Scott, James Brown and Ella Raines bogs down this thrill-a-minute war picture. Corvette K-225 was produced by Howard Hawks, though the direction was credited to Richard Rosson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Like most of 20th Century-Fox's "Michael Shayne"detective series, Time to Kill was based on a source other than Brett Halliday's Shayne stories. In this case, the inspiration was The High Window, a "Philip Marlowe" mystery novel by Raymond Chandler. Substituting for Marlowe, of course, is flippant private eye Mike Shayne, again played by Lloyd Nolan. Hired by wealthy Mrs. Murdock (Ethel Gryffies) to retrieve a stolen rare coin, Shayne runs up against a clever gang of counterfeiters. The film's highlight (and ultimate plot resolution) is a murder in a high-rise building, covertly captured on movie film with a telephoto lens. The final entry in Fox's "Shayne" series, Time to Kill was remade in 1947 as The Brasher Doubloon, with George Montgomery as Philip Marlowe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Damon Runyon's short story Butch Minds the Baby is about a certain Broadway citizen by the name of Butch, who is known far and wide to be involved more than somewhat in business of a dishonest nature. Butch is the lookout for a gang of safecrackers, one of whom is forced to bring his squalling baby son along with him on the job; Butch is obliged to mind the baby while the safe is being knocked over. In the film version of Butch Minds the Baby, Aloysius "Butch" Grogan (Broderick Crawford) is motivated to pursue a life of crime in order to provide the lovely widow O'Neill (Virginia Bruce) with the funds to support herself and little son. The end result is the same: Butch acts as baby-sitter while the rest of the crooks appropriate vast quantities of other people's money. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A talented cast hacks its way through a so-so script and miles of stock footage in Universal's Drums of the Congo. In the heart of Africa, naval intelligence officer Kirk (Don Terry) searches for a rare metal vital to the war effort (just why it's vital is never thoroughly explained). He is aided in his quest by missionary Ann Montgomery (Ona Munson) and by dishevelled "bwana" Congo Jack (Stu Erwin). Alas, a couple of minions of the Third Reich are also after the elusive metal, and they're not above committing murder to get what they want. The most novel aspect of Drums of the Congo is the casting of likeable, fresh-faced Universal ingenue Peggy Moran as one of the villains. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In a harem in a Middle Eastern palace, the guardian leads the women he protects in telling the tale of Halroun-Al-Raschid (Jon Hall), the Caliph of Bagdad, who found himself an enemy close to home in the form of his half-brother Kamar (Leif Erickson), who was ineligible for the throne because of his mother's having been a slave. Halroun and his followers initially put down Kamar's attempt at usurpation, until Halroun's ambitious vizier Nadan (Edgar Barrier) changes sides. In the confusion of the ensuing battle, Halroun is wounded -- spotted by the young acrobat Ali (Sabu), he is sheltered by a group of traveling players led by Ahmad (Billy Gilbert), whose ranks also include a player and storyteller (and, if he is to be believed, former sailor) named Sinbad (Shemp Howard) and a man named Aladdin (John Qualen) who is searching for a magic lamp -- and a dancer named Scheherazade (Maria Montez), who had beguiled Kamar and welcomes his ascent to the throne, because she has been told that she is destined to marry a king. She loves the wounded man in her care, whose identity she doesn't know, but is intent on marrying Kamar, now that he is Caliph. But her plans are thwarted by Nadan, who wants no competition from her in his sway over Kamar, and has arranged to have her killed; but when an avaricious officer (Turhan Bey)instead sells her and the entire performing troup to a dishonest slave trader (Thomas Gomez). From that moment, complications ensue for all concerned, as the new Caliph goes after his beloved, the deposed king Halroun tries to protect her and regain his throne, and Nadan hopes to come out sitting on the throne himself. Treachery and narrow escapes, and even a few thwarted plans ensue on all sides as the hero Haroun has to watch out for Scheherazade and himself from several sides at once, all while keeping his identity from her. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Laurel & Hardy's second starring vehicle for 20th Century-Fox is arguably their weakest feature film, with the laughs few and far between. Broke as usual, the duo is given 24 hours to get out of town by the local constabulary. In dire need of travelling expenses, they take a job accompanying a coffin to Dayton, Ohio. Unbeknownst to our heroes, the coffin contains a live gangster: one Darby Mason (James Bush), who wants to get to Dayton to claim an inheritance without risking arrest by the Feds. Chugging towards their destination by train, Stan and Ollie lose their money to a pair of slick con artists but are bailed out by another passenger, Dante the Magician (played by "himself", aka Harry A. Janssen), who takes a liking to the boys and hires him as assistants for his magic act. It so happens that one of Dante's illusions involves a coffin -- and you guessed it, this coffin gets mixed up with the one bearing Darby Mason. Aside from a few slapstick contributions to Dante's stage act, Laurel & Hardy barely have any purpose in this picture at all: to paraphrase L&H buff Randy Skretvedt, the two comedians have been reduced to supporting players in their own film. A-Haunting We Will Go seemed much funnier when it was cut from 67 to 9 minutes and released to the 8-millimeter home movie market back in the mid-1960s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this crime drama, a ruthless gangster's son is soon following in his father's footsteps. When his daddy kills an FBI agent and a cabby, the boy sees it all. Fortunately the courts intervene and send the lad off to live with a family of farmers. Country living agrees with the boy and soon with the family's loving support is completely reformed. When his father reappears to bring him home, the boy uses a gun to chase him off the property. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Corn Cob Kelly (Marvin Stephens) is a young jockey whose ambition is dwarfed only by his ego. All set to ride in his first big race, Kelly is replaced at the last minute by a more experienced jockey. After eating several slices of humble pie, our hero manages to requalify for the contest, squashing the plans of a gang of race-fixing gamblers in the process. Throughout the story, Kelly is encouraged to persevere by crusty stable trainer Duke (Eugene Pallette) and by Ellen Martin (Rita Quigley), daughter of a wealthy horse owner (Dorothy Peterson). Future TV star Mary Healy makes a brief appearance as a nightclub entertainer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Chester Morris makes his second screen appearance as crook-turned-detective Boston Blackie in this superior series entry. This time, Blackie gets into trouble when he attends an art auction with his millionaire pal Arthur Manleder (Lloyd Corrigan). It so happens that the auction gallery is run by thieves, which heroine Diane Parrish (Harriet Hilliard) has just discovered. To keep her quiet, head crook Joe Buchanan (Ralph Theodore) takes a shot at Diane, but though he only wounds her he kills sculptor Allison (Walter Soderling). Conclusion-jumping Inspector Farraday (Richard Lane) assumes that Blackie fired the shot, forcing our hero to spend the rest of the film eluding both the police and the criminals. Highlights include a hilarious fit of rage perpetrated by secondary villainess Joan Woodbury, and an amusing if slightly sadistic running gag involving hapless ice-cream vendor Billy Benedict. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Cisco Kid rides again, this time in the person of Cesar Romero. Cisco and Pancho (Chris-Pin Martin) come to the aid of proud but ageing cattle king Pedro de Cordoba. Posing as deCordoba's nephew, our hero snoops around in search of those who'd do the old man dirt. The villain turns out to be a close relative of hitherto spotless reputation. We won't reveal the ending of Romance of the Rio Grande, though we'll plant a few hints by noting that the cast includes Patricia Morison, Ricardo Cortez, Trevor Bardette and Tom London. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide