Francis D. Lyon Movies

In this crime drama, a Vietnam vet goes to his California hometown and discovers that two Mexicans have murdered his brother, the chief stockholder in a successful racetrack, during a robbery. The vet begins investigating and discovers that the theft was a cover-up for the killing and that another shareholder is behind it all. The vet then engineers a confession from the culprit. Unfortunately, the shareholder is then found dead. Enlisting the aid of an ex-lover, the vet resumes his investigation and soon finds the mastermind, whom he kills during a fight. Later the vet, being the only remaining shareholder, takes over the track. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

National Intelligence Agent Dan Street (Richard Egan) is on the trail of some stolen laser rubies. It is assumed the agents will come after the raygun itself for their evil purposes. Count Romano (Michael Ansara) is the swimsuit-import mogul who tries to keep his head from going under while working for the enemy agents. The key to the mystery lies with Dutch (John Ericson), a Korean War veteran who fell into the hands of the brainwashing communists. Patricia Owens is Dan's love interest in this plodding suspense film. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

A bunch of hopeful heirs arrives on an isolated island to hear the will of a horribly scarred, mad scientist. They must not only find the person who is responsible for his disfigurement, but also survive the rampages of a vicious robot the scientist has made in his own image. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

In this Korean War drama, three POWs escape the North Koreans and try to make it safely across enemy lines. During their flight, the soldiers encounter a young boy and his German Shepherd. The boy hates the communists because they killed his parents for sheltering American soldiers, and he offers to help the Americans escape. The journey is arduous and one of the soldiers dies. The fugitives are then joined by a victim of brainwashing. Finally they find the rescue helicopter, but the two original soldiers refuse to board until they can ensure the safety of the brave boy. They decide to take him to America, even though it means they may be court-martialed. One of the men becomes the lad's step-father. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Dickie Durham (Liam Sullivan), proverbial black sheep of his wealthy family, returns home after nineteen years at sea and puts the bite on his rich brother Russell (Ford Rainey). Dickie wants enough money to open a pub in Australia--and if he doesn't get it, he will reveal that he is the actual father of Russell's "daughter" Paula (Barbara Parkins). Later on, Dickie is killed in a waterfront brawl, and his shipmate "Lord Harry" Fothergill (Sean McClory) is charged with the crime. Lawyer Perry Mason must prove that, despite his disreptuable demeanor, Harry is the soul of honesty and wouldn't harm a fly--even though there's a $100,000 inheritance that could be considered a motive for the murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Corning Company employee Susan Fisher (Kathie Browne) begins to suspect there's skullduggery afoot involving one of the company's holdings, the supposedly played-out Mojave Monarch Mine. Things get curiouser and curiouser when a woman claiming to be company owner Amelia Corning shows up, grabs two huge satchels of money, and then disappears--only to be followed by another woman, who insists that SHE is Amelia Corning. Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) is brought into the case when Paul Drake (William Hopper) is arrested while investigating the highly suspicious goings-on. Ultimately, the Mojave Mine's foreman Ken Lowry (Michael Harvey) is murdered, and Perry must defend the primary suspect--which brings us full-circle to Susan Fisher again! This episode is based on a novel by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

South Seas Adventure was the 5th in a series of feature-length documentaries designed to show off the wide-screen, three-projector Cinerama Process. Three writers and five directors pooled their talents for this breathtaking guided tour of the exotic South Seas. Much attention is expended upon Hawaii, which in 1958 was on the verge of statehood, a fact repeated over and over in the narration. Also given plenty of screen time are the island nations of Australia and Tonga. The music in South Seas Adventure was provided by Alex North; its narration was spoken by Orson Welles, Shepherd Mencken, Walter Coy and Ted de Corsia. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this western, the trouble begins when a ruthless outlaw impersonates a mine owner. When the sheriff begins to suspect him, the badguy kills him. A government agent, working undercover replaces the sheriff, exposes the crook and wins the love of a purty gal in the process. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Joel McCrea stars in this leisurely paced Western from Allied Artists (formerly Monogram) originally released in Cinemascope. Having lost his wife in childbirth en route to California, Dr. John Brighton (McCrea) builds a new home for himself and his baby daughter in an Oklahoma backwater town, lodging with kindhearted Mrs. Fitzgerald (Esther Dale). As the town grows up around him, Brighton becomes a well-respected local medico, championing the rights of the area's Indian population when nasty rancher Cass Dobie attempts to buy them out cheap. Unbeknownst to the townspeople, Dobie has discovered oil on the land belonging to Charlie Smith (Michael Pate), whose beautiful daughter, Maria (Gloria Talbott), is working as little Louise Brighton's (Laurie Mitchell) nursemaid. When Charlie is forced to kill Cass' brother, Mel (Douglas Dick), in self-defense, Cass vows revenge. Aided by female rancher Anne Barnes (Barbara Hale), Brighton learns about the discovery of oil and there is a final confrontation on main street. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This episode of the ABC anthology Disneyland is an extended promo for Walt Disney's then-upcoming theatrical feature The Great Locomotive Chase. Narrated by the film's star Fess Parker, the episode offers a thumbnail history of railroads in the United States with stopovers at trainyards in Baltimore and Los Angeles where vintage Civil War locomotives are kept on display. These engines are then shown in use as props in Great Locomotive Chase, a dramatization of the famous Andrews raid in 1862, in which several Northern spies went behind enemy lines to capture a Southern train (the same story served as the basis for the 1926 Buster Keaton vehicle The General, which curiously goes unmentioned here). Also shown are the efforts by the Disney Studio staffers to scout out appropriate locations and vintage buildings to be seen in the film. Technical adviser Wilbur Kurtz is interviewed, as are several Georgia residents who appear as extras. Once the sets are construction, the props are in place and the cameras are ready, the episode offers tantalizing glimpses of the film itself, featuring actors Fess Parker, Jeffrey Hunter, Jeff York, John Lupton and others. As a bonus, the viewer is treated to "Sons of Old Aunt Dinah", a song specially written for this episode by Stan Jones and Lawrence Edward Watkin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Taking into consideration the success of the 1953 biopic Crazylegs, Allied Artists cooked up its own sports biography in the form of The Bob Mathias Story. Olympic decathalon winner (and future Wheaties spokesman) Bob Mathias plays himself, and quite well indeed. The film begins with the 17-year-old Mathias distinguishing himself at the Wembley athletic competition in 1949, then recounts his years at Stanford University. There's a modicum of suspense when Mathias' decision to marry his childhood sweetheart Melba (likewise played by herself) may prevent him from entering the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, even though the whole world knows the outcome. "Acting relief" is provided by Ann Doran and Howard Petrie as Bob's parents, and by Ward Bond as his high school coach. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fernando Lamas and Arlene Dahl were still husband and wife at the time The Diamond Queen was filmed (the result of that union, of course, was little Lorenzo Lamas). Lamas plays Frenchman Jean Tavernier, who in the company of Baron de Cabannes (Gilbert Roland) journeys to India, there to search for a fabulous diamond on behalf of King Louis XIV. They not only find the gem, but also Maya (Arlene Dahl), Queen of Nepal, in the bargain. Now it is up to Tavernier, the Baron and Maya to escape the clutches of the Great Mogul (Sheldon Leonard), the film's all-purpose villain. One suspects that no one took this thing too seriously while it was being made, which only adds to the film's enjoyment. Produced independently, Diamond Queen was distributed by Warner Bros. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A husband-and-wife scientist team (Peter Graves, Andrea King) are experimenting with a "hydrogen tube" invention (which he got from a missing German scientist, lost in the collapse of the Reich), when they get signals back from what appears to be Mars. The culture-shock of that event is serious enough, and the couple and their family are suddenly thrust into the spotlight. But then they begin to translate the increasingly complex messages (which started out as mathematical equations) that they receive back, and find that Mars is a perfect world, a true Utopia, and that the messages are quoting Scripture -- and the inevitable conclusion is that God is speaking from Mars. Soon a religious revival starts to spread across the globe. What they don't realize is that the messages are a very calculated fraud, being engineered by a Communist operative (Marvin Miller) and carried out by the scientist (Herbert Berghof) who invented the hydogen tube, and who now has an even more sinister agenda of his own. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide