George Plympton Movies
American screenwriter George H. Plympton's earliest known credits date back to 1916. In the 1920s, Plympton concentrated almost exclusively on Westerns. When talkies came in, he switched his focus to serials, co-scripting such chapter plays as Devil Horse (1932), Tarzan the Fearless (1933), Flash Gordon (1936), The Phantom Creeps (1939), Batman and Robin (1949), and Atom Man vs. Superman (1950). Active until 1957, George H. Plympton was one of the principal writers on Columbia's Jungle Jim series of the 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1957
Quickie king Sam Katzman's Zombies of Mora Tau is a game attempt to imitate what Roger Corman was doing so well over at American-International. The story takes place on the coast of Africa, where a race of white zombies jealously guards an ancient, jewel-encrusted African Idol. The treasure rests somewhere under the sea, and adventurers Jeff Clark (Gregg Palmer) and George Harrison (Joel Ashley) intend to get their hands on it. Before long, Jeff and George are in danger of being zombified themselves. Jeff's solution to this dilemma is surprisingly bland, bringing this otherwise rousing melodrama to a flat conclusion. Allison Hayes, of Attack of the 50 Foot Woman fame, is decorative as George's wife, who has the misfortunate to fall under the spell of the "living dead". Zombies of Mora Tau was originally released on a double bill with Katzman's The Man Who Turned to Stone. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gregg Palmer, Allison Hayes, (more)
- 1955
Devil Goddess was the sixteenth and last of Columbia's "Jungle Jim" series. Johnny Weissmuller, playing "himself" (as he had in the last few films in this series), agrees to help a professor (Selmer Jackson) find a colleague who has disappeared into the jungle. Before you can say "Heart of Darkness", we learn that the missing man (William Griffith) has set himself up as a white god, ruling over a tribe of fire worshippers. The "god's" headquarters is a volcano, long dormant but ripe for eruption. The "goddess" of the title is the daughter (Angela Stevens) of the investigating professor, whom the white despot hopes to marry after bumping off the rest of the search party. Weissmuller and his friends narrowly escape the inflammatory volcano with an unburied treasure in tow. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Weissmuller, Angela Stevens, (more)
- 1954
Yet another serial from penny-pinching producer Sam Katzman, the fifteen chapter Gunfighters of the Northwest suffered from the usual Katzman shortcomings, including grainy stock-footage and slapdash writing. As an added economy measure, not a single scene was filmed indoors! Jock Mahoney plays Northwest Mounted Police Constable O'Mahoney, assigned to track down a mysterious villain known only as The Leader. Trying to locate a secret gold mine, The Leader pits the Indians against the Mounties, whom he blames for creating trouble. All in all, Gunfighters of the Northwest did nothing to re-establish the serial genre as a viable alternative to cheap television Westerns. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1950
The second of Columbia's Superman serials, the 15-episode Atom Man Vs. Superman stars Kirk Alyn in the dual role of Clark Kent and the "Man of Steel." This time, Kent/Superman is pitted against bald-pated Lex Luthor (Lyle Talbot), who, disguised as Atom Man, threatens to devastate Metropolis with any number of devilish devices-the deadliest of which is a disintegration machine. Luthor tumbles onto Superman's Achilles' heel: Kryptonite. Once our hero has been exposed to this fatal ore, Metropolis becomes a wide-open town for criminals of all varieties. But Superman regains his full powers in time to stop Luthor from laying waste to Metropolis with his latest demon machine, a sonic vibrator. Also appearing in Atom Man vs. Superman are Noel Neill as Lois Lane, Tommy Bond (the onetime "Butch" of The Little Rascals) as Jimmy Olson, and Pierre Watkin as Perry White. The serial is energetic enough, but the flying scenes (crudely conveyed via animation) are rather laughable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kirk Alyn
- 1949
Following up on the popular 1943 film serial The Batman, this 15-part serial is about a nefarious masked figure called the Wizard, who swipes a diamond-powered remote control device that renders all of Gotham City's machines immobile. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Lowery
- 1948
A rapidly maturing Gloria Jean is the star of the Columbia musical Manhattan Angel. She's cast at Madison Avenue copywriter Gloria Cole, at present striving to save a youth center for underprivileged children from being demolished to make way for a factory. Complications arise when Everett H. Burton (Thurston Hall), the elderly and irascible tycoon responsible for the factory project, develops a crush on our heroine. Ross Ford, later steadily employed as a TV and movie character actor, is the film's nominal leading man. Among the songs heard in Manhattan Angel is "I'll Take Romance," one of a handful of hit tunes owned outright by Columbia and thus royalty-free for "B"-movie redeployment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gloria Jean, Ross Ford, (more)
- 1947
Columbia's Last of the Redmen is actually the first color film version of James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans. Jon Hall stars as 18th century frontier scout Hawkeye, assigned to escort the offspring of British general Munro (Guy Hedlund) through treacherous Indian country in upstate New York. Along the way, a romance develops between Hawkeye and Alice Monro (Evelyn Ankers), while Alice's sister Cora (Julie Bishop) enters into an ill-fated relationship with Hawkeye's loyal Huron companion Magua (Buster Crabbe). Ric Vallin is evil personified as the treacherous Mohican warrior Uncas, and Michael O'Shea is seen as the equally odious Major Heyward. Diminishing the verbosity of the Cooper novel, Last of the Redmen concentrates on action and suspense. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jon Hall, Michael O'Shea, (more)
- 1946
Jean Porter plays the title role in Betty Co-Ed--and never mind that her character name is Joanne Leeds! The plot gets under way when Joanne, a carnival hootchy-kootchy dancer, is accepted into a snobbish college sorority when it is assumed that she hails from a blueblooded Virginia family. Most of the film concerns Joanne's ongoing feud with sorority president Gloria Campbell (Shirley Mills). Blackballed when the truth comes out about her lineage, Joanne eventually convinces her sorority sisters that she's worthy of their friendship-and that they're worthy of hers. Musical comedy actress Jean Porter later retired from films upon her marriage to director Edward Dmytryk. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Porter, Shirley Mills, (more)
- 1945
Veteran action specialists Ray Taylor and Lewis D. Collins co-directed this below-average Universal serial featuring brunette starlet Lois Collier as a young woman swept up in international intrigue in Darkest Africa. Although the serial's nominal (and much imperiled) heroine, Collier did not play the title role, however. That dubious distinction went to a very young Ruth Roman, in her screen debut, as an ethereal jungle girl whose presence in the film remained vague throughout. The muddled story is something about the Nazi High Command (personified by that notorious blackheart Douglass Dumbrille) attempting to infiltrate and sway an unfriendly jungle tribe. Considering the real-world situation in 1945, The Jungle Queen was frivolous entertainment at its mind-numbing worst. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1941
PRC's Outlaws of the Rio Grande stars Tim McCoy in his traditional role of a US marshal. Operating around the Mexican border, McCoy is galvanized into action when his best pal is killed by a gang of counterfeiters. Going undercover, our hero heads after the gang into Mexico, intending to unmask the mysterious leader. Heroine Rita (played by band vocalist Virginia Carpenter) is forced by the crooks to lure McCoy into a trap, but the audience never doubts for a moment that Colonel Tim will prevail. Among the heavies is the inescapable Charles King, here cast not in his traditional role of "Blackie" but as "Trigger". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim McCoy, Virginia Carpenter, (more)
- 1941
Billy the Kid is played by Bob Steele in this PRC sagebrusher, while his "fighting pals" are Al "Fuzzy" St. John and Carleton Young. Billy and his buddies arrive in the town of Paradise, which fails to live up to its name. The villain is a local banker (Edward Peil Sr.), who of course is also the secret mastermind behind all criminal activities. Billy sizes up the situation and settles matters with a combination of fists and shootin' irons. Before emerging on screen as Billy the Kid's Fighting Pals, the film was briefly titled Billy the Kid Trails West, then Trigger Pals. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Steele, Phyllis Adair, (more)
Muggs Maloney (Leo Gorcey) is supposed to be preparing for the Golden Gloves competition but he doesn't want to train anymore in a stuffy slum building. His friend Danny (Bobby Jordan) lures him upstate to what he thinks is going to be a training camp, but instead turns out to be a Civilian Conservation Corps camp, where young men sign up to do land reclamation in exchange for support for their families -- Muggs feels cheated, but his mother can use the money and the labor is keeping him in shape, so he sticks it out, even saving the life of another boy, though his pugnacious, self-centered attitude quickly alienates most of the camp from him. When Willie (Bobby Stone), one of the few friends he has, tells Muggs that he stole $100 from the captain's office to send to his mother, Muggs decides to help him out by taking up a local fight promoter (Carleton Young) on his offer of a prize fight; he wins and tries to replace the money, but gets caught by the captain. Muggs won't squeal on Willie and is dismissed from the camp, but Danny won't let the issue go and forces Willie to confess his role in the crime. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, (more)
- 1940
Trailing Double Trouble was the second entry in Monogram's "Range Busters" series. Ray Corrigan, John King and Max Terhune star respectively as Crash, Dusty and Alibi, three wandering do-gooders dedicated to cleaning up the West. One wag suggested that this film could have been retitled "The Range Busters and the Baby", inasmuch as our three heroes champion the cause of an infant (Mary Louise King) who has just inherited $50,000. Unscrupulous attorney Jim Moreland (Roy Barcroft) hopes to use the kid to gain access to the money, but the Range Busters prevent this by "kidnapping" the baby. In due time, the child's mother (Lita Conway) is herself kidnapped by the villains, leading to the long-anticipated showdown between Good Guys and Bad Guys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ray "Crash" Corrigan, Max "Alibi" Terhune, (more)
- 1940
The 13-episode Universal serial The Green Hornet is based on the radio series of the same name. Gordon Jones stars as Britt Reid, crusading young publisher of the Daily Sentinel, who matches wits with the underworld by disguising himself as the Green Hornet. So far as police are concerned, the Hornet is himself a criminal; this misunderstanding enables Reid to operate "outside the law" to battle criminals and racketeers. In the course of the serial, Reid and his faithful valet Kato (Keye Luke), the only living person who knows the true identity of the Hornet, take on a crooked insurance racket, an auto-theft ring and a dishonest flying school. Others in the cast include Anne Nagel as Reid's secretary Lenore "Casey" Case, and Wade Boteler as thick-headed detective Michael Axford. A TV version of The Green Hornet appeared in 1966, with Van Williams as Reid and no less than Bruce Lee as Kato. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gordon Jones
- 1939
In all aspects a mediocre B-Western, Smoky Trails once again trotted out the old story of a young man pretending to join a gang of outlaws in order to find the villain that killed his father. Bob Steele had played the role many times before but usually under better conditions. Smoky Trails was the second of eight Steele Westerns produced by Gower Gulch company Metropolitan Pictures Corp., which was actually Harry S. Webb and Bernard B. Ray's old Reliable Pictures under a new moniker. Jean Carmen, a 1934 WAMPAS Baby Star who had starred as Julia Thayer in the serial The Painted Stallion, played Steele's leading lady, veteran comic Jimmy Aubrey supplied a bit of low-brow humor and Carleton Young essayed the killer. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Steele, Jean Carmen, (more)
The FBI goes up against a female gang leader in this ultra-low-budget thriller directed by Raymond K. Johnson. Grant Withers stars as Ralph Dickson, an agent assigned to look into the killing of a colleague. Chosen for the task due to an uncanny likeness to the presumed killer, Dickson goes undercover and manages to learn the identity of gang leader Carney (Evelyn Brent), a sexy criminal also known as "the Illustrious One" and the "Daughter of the Tong." A veritable dragon lady, Carney is holed up at the Oriental Hotel while her henchmen are doing the dirty work. Dickson, meanwhile, loses his cover in an attempt at freeing kidnap victim Jerry Morgan (Dave O'Brien) but is saved in the nick of time by the young man's sister, Marion (Dorothy Short), who arrives with Agent Lawson (Hal Taliaferro) and what seems like the entire FBI. The final film to star silent screen femme fatale Evelyn Brent, Daughter of the Tong was also the final production of Lester F. Scott Jr., a purveyor of cheap Westerns in the late silent era. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Evelyn Brent, Grant Withers, (more)
- 1939
In this exciting western, a mysterious masked hero helps tired settlers protect their lands from the wicked land-grabbers. One of the grabbers attempts to kill the crusader by offering a substantial reward for his capture. He does this so he can grab the land of one homesteader who is unknowingly sitting upon a mother lode of gold. To access the land, he tries to convince his own son to marry the settler's daughter. Fortunately the hero intervenes and the villain fails all-around. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim McCoy, Joan Barclay, (more)
- 1939
The third of eight Bob Steele Westerns produced by bargain-basement company Metropolitan, Mesquite Buckaroo was a slight improvement over its predecessor, due mainly to a couple of campfire songs penned by Johnny Lange and Lew Porter and warbled by the now forgotten Bruce Dane. The diminutive Steele plays Bob Allen of the Bar A Ranch, whose Aunt Sarah (Juanita Fletcher) bets her neighbor (Frank LaRue) that Bob will win the rodeo against the Circle B's Luke Williams (Ted Adams). Realizing they can make a fortune if the reigning champion, Bob, loses, a couple of crooks indulge in a bit of kidnapping. About to be disqualified for tardiness, Bob, who has overpowered his captors, arrives just in time to beat the competition. This lightweight, potentially amusing bit of Western frivolity was thoroughly defeated by Metropolitan Pictures' slipshod production methods and the casting of amateurs (leading lady Carolyn Curtis, especially) in key roles. As he had in Steele's previous effort, Smoky Trails (1939), Carleton Young once again ably took care of the skullduggery, this time for some reason billing himself as Gordon Roberts. Veteran slapstick comic Snub Pollard added little to the overall enjoyment of Mesquite Buckaroo. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Steele, Carolyn Curtis, (more)
- 1939
Singer-songwriter Art Jarrett was given a tryout as a singing cowboy in Grand National's Trigger Pals. His cohorts included Lee Powell, herein billed as Lee "Lone Ranger" Powell because of his recent starring stint in the same-named Republic Serial, and all-purpose comedy relief Al St. John. The villains are a band of rustlers headed by Harvey Kent (Ted Adams), who tries to pin the blame of a recent hijacking on hero Lucky Morgan (Jarrett). Even heroine Doris Allen (Dorothy Fay) believes that Lucky is the guilty party until he clears himself in a slam-bang finale. Though Trigger Pals was well produced, Art Jarrett looked ill at ease in the Wide Open Spaces, thus his first starring western was also his last. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Art Jarrett, Lee Powell, (more)
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
- Starring:
- Bob Steele, Marion Weldon, (more)
- 1938
The second of the Stan Laurel-financed Fred Scott-singing Westerns, Songs and Bullets features the riding baritone as Melody Smith, a roaming cowboy falsely accused of cattle rustling by the sheriff (Charles King). Melody, who quickly establishes his innocence, is in Dry Gulch searching for the killer of his uncle, the former sheriff. The new lawman, meanwhile, is in cahoots with Harry Skelton (Karl Hackett), the town czar, who uses the commotion caused by the arrival of a new schoolmarm, Mademoiselle Dumont (Alice Ardell), to engage in a bit of larceny. Like Melody himself, Mademoiselle is not quite who she claims to be, however, and Skelton's days of ruthless rule are soon over. In between detective work, Scott sings "Lonesome Cowboy," "Prairie Moon," "Pay Day," "Arkansas," and "My Ten-Gallon Hat," all by Johnny Lange and Lew Porter. The latter also appears in the film as Lew, the piano player. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Scott, Alice Ardell, (more)
- 1938
Elmer Clifton, whose career reached back to the D.W. Griffith days, warmed the directors' chair for the States'-Rights quickie Paroled from the Big House. When her storekeeper dad is murdered by protection racketeers, feisty Pat Mallory (Jean Carmen) vows to bring the killers to justice. She is aided in this mission by police lieutenant Nixon (Richard Adams), who goes undercover to gain the gang's confidence. The film's title is a reference to the gang's leader, who manages to wangle an early parole thanks to an on-the-take official. With character names like "Red", "Killer", "Slicker", "Duke" and "Gunner", Paroled from the Big House sounds more like a Bowery Boys epic than a crime melodrama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jean Carmen, Richard Adams, (more)
- 1938
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
- Starring:
- Bob Steele, Louise Stanley, (more)
- 1938
A B-Western of the old school, Durango Valley Raiders stars diminutive Bob Steele as Keene Cordner, a drifter who obtains the job of foreman for rancher Mac McKay (Karl Hackett). But Keene proves to be the son of Mac's old partner (Steve Clark), with whom he once had a dramatic falling out. A mysterious gang of killers has been targeting the area's ranchers and Mac begins to suspect Keene to be their illusory leader, the Shadow. In order to get to the bottom of the deplorable situation, the youngster plays along for a while and is finally able to unmask the real culprit, whose identity comes as a shock to the community. Produced independently by A.W. Hackel, Durango Valley Raiders was released under the Republic Pictures banner. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bob Steele, Louise Stanley, (more)
