Fred K. Myton Movies

Though ready for release in 1951, Whistling Hills ended up as western star Johnny Mack Brown's first entry for 1952. This time, Johnny comes to the aid of sheriff Dave Holland (Jimmy Ellison) when a band of stagecoach robbers plague the countryside. The masked bandits use the "whistling hills," a natural phenomenon, to signal the arrival of each stagecoach. Johnny and Dave spend the bulk of the film trying to figure out the identity of the man behind the holdups (the audience may well be several steps ahead of Our Heroes). Noel Neill, who later gained fame as Lois Lane on TV's Superman, serves as romantic interest for Jimmy Ellison. Johnny Mack Brown would star in five more westerns in 1952 before hanging up his six-guns. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jim Davis, better known to contemporary audiences as Josh Ewing, J.R.'s (Larry Hagman) father on Dallas, is the two-fisted star of 1950's Hi-Jacked. Davis plays truck driver Joe Harper, who after his rig is stolen is accused of masterminding the theft himself. To clear his name, Joe sets out on his own to trap the real thieves. What he doesn't know is that one of his own co-workers has been tipping off the crooks whenever the trucking routes are changed. Joe's wife Jean is played by Marsha Jones, who during her child-star days was known as Marcia Mae Jones. Inasmuch as Hi-Jacked was produced by Lippert Films, it is perhaps inevitable that Sid Melton shows up in the supporting cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With Maurice Conn as producer and Peter Stewart (aka Sam Newfield) as director, one suspects that 20th Century-Fox's The Counterfeiters was actually produced by one of the minor companies like Film Classics or PRC. Scotland Yard investigator Jeff McAllister (John Sutton) teams with the FBI to track down a gang of clever counterfeiters, headed by Philip Drake (Hugh Beaumont). The plot becomes as thick as London pea soup when McAllister falls in love with Drake's daughter Margo (Doris Merrick). After attempting to protect her father from prosecution, Margo realizes that she's on the wrong side and throws in with McAllister. Lon Chaney Jr. does another variation of "Lennie" from Of Mice and Men as Drake's moronic henchman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Number Three in PRC's "Michael Shayne" B-series was the fair-to-middling Blonde for a Day. Hugh Beaumont stars as Shayne, while his real-life wife Kathryn Adams (no, he wasn't married to Barbara Billingsley) costars as his secretary Phyllis. This time, Shayne gets involved with police reporter Helen Porter (Marjorie Hoshelle), who has in her possession damning evidence against a gambling ring. Since Helen has written several biting attacks on the police force, she turns to Shayne for help when her life is threatened. The climax finds Helen in the clutches of the crooks, forcing Shayne to resort to a clever subterfuge to effect her rescue. Purportedly, Blonde for a Day was based on Brett Halliday's very first "Michael Shayne" story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Prairie Badmen is a typically threadbare entry in PRC's "Billy the Kid" series. This time around, Billy Carson (Buster Crabbe) and Fuzzy Q. Jones (Al St. John) link up with medicine show proprietor Doc Latimer (Edward Cassidy). Having discover a cache of hidden gold, Latimer intends to keep it all for himself, but Billy and Fuzzy elect to return the ore to its rightful owner. Unfortunately, the bad guys learn of Latimer's good fortune and try to cut themselves in for a slice. Leading lady Patricia Knox adds little to the proceedings except a lot of heavy breathing and inexpert line deliveries. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this humorous murder mystery, a woman is wrongfully accused of poisoning her uncle when he died after she gave the ailing fellow a pill that she believed was aspirin. To prove her innocence, the woman must find the strange lady that gave her the pill. A crazy chase ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Larry "Buster" Crabbe and Al St. John -- "Our Old Pals," as they were billed -- get in trouble with a murderous Charles King in this typical "Billy Carson" Western from Poverty Row company PRC. Billy and railroad agent Dave Hanley (Karl Hackett) are discussing plans to run the new railroad through Red Rock, but their discussion is overheard by crooked hotel operator Steve Landreau (King), who unbeknownst to Billy kills Hanley for a map of the proposed line. In Red Rock, Billy discovers that Steve opportunistically has bought the local saloon, which he is planning to turn into a gambling den. Jealous of Billy's growing friendship with pretty Babs Darcy (Donna Dax), rancher Clay Kincaid (Edward Hall) becomes beholden to Steve, who wants his valuable land before news of the planned railroad arrives. Billy, who is suspicious of both Steve and Clay, confronts the latter in the saloon. In the ensuing gunfight, Steve and his men are apprehended. Clay repents, and Fuzzy (St. John) later officiates at his wedding to Babs. Busy B-Western heroine Lorraine Miller was cast as the leading lady in this film but was replaced in the last minute by Donna Dax, whom PRC borrowed from Columbia Pictures' large stable of starlets. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

PRC's Apology for Murder is aptly named: the production values in this 67-minute quickie are pretty sorry. If you're willing to look past the mildewed sets and murky lighting, however, this well-paced film noir is pretty enjoyable. Hugh Beaumont (yes, that Hugh Beaumont) plays a tough reporter whose honesty is compromised by scheming Anne Savage. Unable to unwrap himself from Savage's little finger, Beaumont agrees to go in on her plan to murder her husband Russell Hicks. They then contrive to frame an innocent man for their perfidy. You've seen this before as Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice, but the actors are energetic and the direction by the overworked Sam Newfield is better than usual. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a bookish kid sister reads a psychology book and comes to believe that, according to the book, she is finally "grown up." To demonstrate her new maturity she begins chasing her big sister's fiance. She then winds up locked in her room during a party held in the fiance's honor. She manages to escape and begins impersonating a maid. She soon meets a handsome burglar who mistakenly believes that she is a moll. They end up attempting to burgle the fiance's home. Mayhem ensues until the young girl finally manages to steal the fiance's heart for herself. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this campy jungle adventure, an embezzler's daughter is the sole survivor of a plane crash. Hurt and afraid, the woman is befriended by a gorilla who protects her from danger. They stay together for many years when one day a man appears looking for the stolen loot. At first Nabonga wants to rip his head off, but the girl soothes him and convinces him that the stranger is okay. After that the threesome set off across the jungle to have many more adventures and stop the villains who pursue them. Also known as Gorilla. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This painfully cheap but wildly entertaining PRC production stars a hammy George Zucco in a dual role as the Clayton Twins -- both doctors, one good, one evil. Elwyn Clayton, a practitioner of the black arts, is murdered by his brother Lloyd and returns from the dead as a vampire to seek revenge with the aid of his leering, hunchbacked assistant (Dwight Frye -- who else?). He exacts his vengeance by brutally murdering Elwyn's associates, with all evidence pointing to the only living twin. Jungle Siren director Sam Newfield makes the most of the paltry budget, helped greatly by Zucco's typically flamboyant performance -- which threatens to out-camp even that of legendary eye-roller Frye (who would die of a heart attack some months after this film's completion). ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Republic's winning combination of western star Wild Bill Elliot, comic sidekick Gabby Hayes and leading lady Anne Jeffreys is shown to good advantage in Death Valley Manhunt. Elliot plays a lawman who is hired by a group independent oilmen to protect them from crooked business interests. One of the bad guys is Richard Quinn (Weldon Heyburn), who tries to stir up a range war against the oilmen and the local landowners. When Elliot figures out what Quinn is up to, pity the poor bad man who gets in Our Hero's way. In the film's best scene, Wild Bill finds himself atop an oil well just as a gusher is about to burst forth from the earth. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide