Milton M. Raison Movies

"Arizona Cowboy" Rex Allen heads the cast of Republic's Old Overland Trail. Rex plays an operative for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, assigned to pacify a disgruntled Apache tribe. Villain John Anchor (Roy Barcroft), a railroad contractor, has been stirring up trouble with the Indians as part of a complex scheme to build a spur line at slave-labor wages. Making things difficult for Rex is the fact that his wayward brother Jim (Gil Herman) has joined Anchor's gang. Of interest to audiences of the 1990s is the presence of Leonard Nimoy, here cast as Apache chief Black Hawk. Despite the surfeit of action in Old Overland Trail, Rex Allen finds time to sing three tunes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After a number of overproduced, overlong western "specials," Wild Bill Elliot went back to basics with a series of Monogram/Allied Artists "B"s. In the 62-minute The Homesteaders, Mace Corbin (Elliot) is hired to pick up a consignment of dynamite on behalf of a group of Oregon homesteaders. But evil land-baron Kroger (James Seay), coveting the explosives for himself, lays a trap for Corbin. En route, Our Hero must contend not only with Indians and the elements, but also with his disreputable partner Clyde Moss (Robert Lowery), who is in league with Kroger. A strange, "cleansing" ending caps this interesting pocket western. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This film was made to promote the annual Easter passion play of the Lawton Congregational Church in Lawton, Oklahoma. The first half of the film presents the history of the pageant, which began in 1926. The rest of the film presents the actual pageant which takes place in the Wichita Mountains during Holy Week. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Those scurrilous Chinese communists are up to their old tricks in the 1949 flagwaver State Department - File 649. William Lundigan plays Ken, an operative of the U.S. Foreign Service stationed in North China. Ken is one of several people trapped in a remote village by evil warlord Yun Usu (Richard Loo), who intends to sell his services to the highest bidder, be they Red or otherwise. Our hero manages to get a message out to the Free World before the film's operatically self-sacrificial climax. The characterizations are of the cardboard variety and the dialogue is straight out of Fu Manchu. Still, State Department - File 649 is a fascinating encapsulation of postwar political propaganda. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The same week that Pine-Thomas Productions' Speed to Spare was tradeshown in Los Angeles, the company released another of its patented adventure programmers, Mr. Reckless. William Eythe plays the title character, an oil-well digger named Jeff Lundy. Returning to his hometown after a long absence, Jeff is displeased to discover that his sweetheart Betty Denton (Barbara Britton) is engaged to the much-older Jim Halsey (Ian McDonald). Though outwardly philosophical about the whole matter, Jeff concocts several outlandish schemes to win Betty back, most of these hinging upon his daredevil oil-field activities. Walter Catlett and Lloyd Corrigan steal the show with their time-honored mugging and gesticulating. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Pine-Thomas Productions' "Big Town" film series, based on the radio program of the same name, came to an end with Big Town Scandal. Returning for their fourth go-round are Philip Reed as Steve Wilson, crusading editor of the Illustrated Daily Press, and Hillary Brooke as Lorelei Kilbourne, Wilson's super-efficient Girl Friday. When a group of unruly teenagers are paroled in Wilson's custody, he tries to reform them by setting up a Youth Center. Unfortunately a group of crooked gamblers begin hiding their ill-gotten gains at the Center, thanks to the assistance of fast-lipped punk Tommy Malone (Stanley Clements). Only after one of his young friends is killed does Tommy wise up and help Wilson expose the crooks. Among the juvenile performers in Big Town Scandal are Carl Switzer and Tommy Bond, formerly "Alfalfa" and "Butch" in the Our Gang comedies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

An unimportant but likeable Republic drama, Web of Danger revolves around the rivalry between two hardhat bridge-builders. Ernie (Bill Kennedy) and Bill (Damian O'Flynn) spend most of the footage duking it out, usually over a "dame". But when the chips are down, our heroes work side by side to complete the bridge on time. The climax finds Ernie, Bill and their coworkers rushing to finish a bridge in order to evacuate a flooded valley (courtesy of generous stock footage from previous Republic epics). Adele Mara plays the romantic bone of contention between the two pugnacious protagonists. For the record, director Phillip Ford was the nephew of John Ford. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A policeman teams up with a drama critic to solve a mystery in this drama. They look into a case involving a wealthy, famous uncle who is killed backstage. His death destroys the Broadway debut of the uncle's niece whose father, also a very popular actor, becomes the prime suspect as the recently bankrupt fellow was in line to inherit the uncle's fortune. It is a complex case, but somehow the critic and the cop are able to sort through it all and reveal that the killer's identity. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this frothy musical, a sultan's lovely daughter finds herself courted by a handsome American. WW II erupts and her father finds himself courted by an agent from the German government for the rights to the oil fields. When that doesn't work, the conniving agent then tries to sway the Sultan's personal secretary. Songs include: "I'm Always the Girl," "The Sultan's Daughter," "Clickety-Clack-Jack," and "I'd Love to Make Love to You." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this contemporary western, clever cattle rustlers use shortwave radios to harvest lost doggies. Two brave heroes get government assistance to solve the case and soon discover the location of the troublesome transmitter. The heroes then sing a song over the shortwave to inform the government of the transmitter's location. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Apparently hoping to break out of the series' formula rut, the producers of the "Range Riders" western Tumbledown Ranch in Arizona employ a clever and amusing framing device. At the beginning of the picture, the son of Range Rider John "Dusty" King (played by King) meets the son of Dusty's old pal Ray "Crash" Corrigan (played by Corrigan) in college. After the boys exchange a few reminiscences of their dads' exploits, Dusty's son is knocked out by an accidental blow on the head. When he awakens, he finds he has been transported back to the Old West, and has assumed his father's identity. Once this has been established, the plot proper gets under way, wherein Dusty, Crash and Alibi (Max Terhune) try to stem the criminal activities of the villains (Quin Ramsyey, James Craven, Jack Holmes) and to champion the cause of the heroine (Sheila Darcy). By the time the heroes finally return to the Wild Frontier, the picture is half over, forcing the screenwriters to telescope 6 reels' worth of plot and action into 25 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the sixth of eight Renfrew of the Royal Mounted "Northwesterns," mounties Renfrew (James Newill) and Kelly (Dave O'Brien) come across the body of a murdered prospector, Jim Smithers (Budd Buster). The dead man's cabin has been tossed, it turns out, and when his alcoholic brother (Al St. John) is found dead as well -- a none too convincing suicide -- Renfrew begins to suspect that the deaths may be connected to a counterfeit ring operating from a general store on the Yukon. In addition to Betty Laidlaw and Robert Lively's signature tune "Mounted Men," James Newill performs Vick Knight, Johnny Lange, and Lew Porter's "Ah, Here's Romance" and "Down the Yukon Trail." Murder on the Yukon was based on characters created in 1931 by Laurie York Erskine. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide