Richard Schayer Movies

Cornel Wilde co-produces, directs, and stars with his wife Jean Wallace in this uneven version of fabled King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Wilde, a skilled fencer, is Lancelot and appropriately enough, Wallace is his lady-love Guinevere. This time around, their traditionally chaste romance (Guinevere marries King Arthur) takes on a more modern veneer as she and Lancelot become intimate. Aside from their love story, several battles on horseback keep the knights busy as King Arthur struggles to hold onto his throne in the face of a challenge from King Leodogran (John Longdon). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

One more stock western in a long line stretching back to the turn of the 20th century, this oater by peripatetic director Edward L. Cahn has nothing particularly distinctive in its story about a group of outlaws. Billy Wade (played by the athletic James Brown) is an ex-gunslinger who is approached by his outlaw brother Matt (Robert Karnes), not long out of prison, to help him with a big-time robbery. Matt forces Billy's participation with an offer he cannot refuse, unaware that Billy is actually working on the side of the law. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Gunman Sterling Hayden rides into a small frontier town in search of his mother's killer. William Bishop is a wealthy ranch owner who has married Karin Booth, Hayden's former girl friend. Hayden has reason to suspect that Bishop is the man he is gunning for. When the town marshal is shot down, Hayden takes his place, which establishes once and for all who the real hero is in this film. It is superfluous to add that this 1955 Top Gun bears no relationship to the 1985 stud-in-the-skies adventure film of the same name. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Kiplingesque adventure yarn stars Richard Egan as a captain in the British lancers. Together with his regiment, Egan is assigned to put down an Arab rebellion in Afghanistan, stirred up by rival tribal leaders Raymond Burr and Donald Randolph. When not defending the British Empire from collapsing, Egan vies with fellow officer Patric Knowles for the hand of lovely Dawn Addams. The story comes to a head when Egan pretends to join the rebels, the better to defeat them from within. The rampant jingoism of Khyber Patrol may be a bit hard to swallow; it's best to assess the film on its considerable merits as an outdoor actioner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Steel Lady in this crazy-quilt actioner is the armored tank commandeered by star Rod Cameron. Marooned in the Sahara desert, airplane pilot Mike Monohan (Cameron) and his melting-pot crew (including a young Tab Hunter) come across a deserted Afrika Korps tank. As they roll across the burning sands in search of civilization, the crew is unaware that hidden within the tank is a fortune in diamonds. But villainous sheik Mustapha El Melek (John Abbott) does know, and he manages to enlist Monohan's drunken co-pilot Barlow (John Dehner) in his scheme to claim the gems for himself. Also released as Treasure of Kalifa, The Steel Lady is an unsteady mixture of war drama and Arabian-Nights escapism. The film was directed by E. A. Dupont, who in his salad days was responsible for the silent German classic Variety. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cripple Creek is an excellent example of Columbia's "A-minus/B-plus" Technicolor westerns of the 1950s. Government agent Bret Ivers (George Montgomery) goes undercover to infiltrate a gang of gold smugglers. Ivers and his two partners (Jerome Courtland and Richard Egan) face exposure and sudden death at every turn; indeed, one of the federal agents meets his demise before the film is a third over. The villains are the erudite-but-deadly Denver Jones (John Dehner) and the just-plain-deadly Silver Kirby (William Bishop). With so much already in its favor, Cripple Creek hardly needs a romantic interest, but Columbia had to keep contract actress Karin Booth busy, thus she shows up briefly as a flashy saloon gal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Columbia's Colorado Uprising was neither expensive enough to qualify as an "A" picture nor inexpensive enough to qualify as a "B." It was simply a "programmer," and as such was eminently suitable for solo playdates or double-feature berths. George Montgomery stars as cavalry captain McCloud, whose job it is to keep the peace between Indians and Whites. McCloud's efforts are undermined by gold speculators Alsop (Hugh Sanders) and Taggert (Douglas Kennedy), whose underhanded activities foment the Indian uprising of the title. Placed under house arrest by Indian-hating Major Stark (Robert Shayne), McCloud escapes, racing against time to mollify Geronimo (Miguel Inclan) and prevent an all-out massacre. Indian Uprising was one of several economical Columbia films produced by Edward Small, who'd been one of the founders of the studio back in the mid-1920s before striking out on his own as an "independent." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Iroquois Trail (British title: The Tomahawk Trail) could be classified as a western, but for the fact that the story is set in 1775. Based on James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales, the film stars George Montgomery as Cooper's stalwart Indian scout Hawkeye. Hoping to avenge his brother's death at the hands of the French, Hawkeye offers his services to the British. During the course of events, he breaks up a spy ring, fights a hostile Indian chief to the death, and rescues the daughter (Brenda Marshall) of a British colonel (Paul Cavanaugh). Featured in the cast are Monte Blue (who was part Cherokee Indian) as Hawkeye's companion Sagramore, and Sheldon Leonard (who had no Indian blood whatsoever!) as fierce Chief Ogane. Auteurist fans of director Phil Karlson are welcome to search for any vestiges of Karlson's "signature" in Iroquois Trail. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Errol Flynn is top-billed in Kim, but the title character is played by Dean Stockwell. The son of an Irish sergeant, young Kim wanders through the streets and hills of Colonial India, disguised as a native boy. Kim's adventures include an episode with a horse trader (Errol Flynn) who is actually a British secret agent; a sojourn with a holy lama (Paul Lukas) on a mysterious quest; and involvement with a plan to rid the Khyber Pass of Czarist Russian agitators. Kim had been in the planning stages since 1938 (those considered for the title role included Freddie Bartholomew and Mickey Rooney), but the property's catch-as-catch-can storyline, coupled with the changing political climate in postwar India, delayed production until 1949. While a great deal of Kim was filmed on location in India, some of the more complicated exterior sequences were lensed in Lone Pine, California. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Devil Is a Sissy deserves an historical footnote as the only film to team three of the biggest child stars of the 1930s: Mickey Rooney, Jackie Cooper and Freddie Bartholomew. Bartholomew is a wealthy young English boy attending a New York "magnet" school, whose students are drawn from all walks of life. He is befriended by slum kid Rooney, son of a recently executed gangster, who in his own roughneck fashion helps Bartholomew to "assimilate" (Translation: He helps him to steal and evade the cops). Cooper is a middle-class gang leader with whom Rooney frequently clashes. Freddie attempts to fit in with his new chums by masterminding a break-in at a Park Avenue townhouse. None too soon, all three boys end up in juvenile court. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this lively comedy, a humble Italian barber wins the Irish sweepstakes. Unfortunately, he has misplaced the ticket. Mayhem ensues as the family turns things topsy-turvy to find it. The baby then becomes the prime suspect for hiding it. Things get hilarious as the adults try to get the infant to tell them where the ticket is. Fortunately, the ticket is found and prosperity ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This melodrama, with a few comic overtones, was not the finest moment for either star Bebe Daniels or director Victor Schertzinger (who also composed the music and songs). It also hasn't weathered the years well, since its male chauvinism has fallen way out of favor. In fact, to modern eyes, Randolph Scott's character, Randolph Morgan, seems like an insufferable prig when he constantly lectures his artist girlfriend Cynthia Warren (Daniels) that "you can't change the rules" -- in other words, women were meant for marriage and child-rearing, not successful careers. Whereas viewers of the day may have wondered how Daniels could have fallen for the womanizing Lawton (Sidney Blackmer, who, looks-wise, was definitely a comedown from Scott), modern audiences tend to hope she'll dump her stuffy boyfriend, whom she's left back home while she goes on an ocean voyage. But there was no women's lib in 1933, and you know that Daniels' shipboard affair is going to end badly, and that she will throw everything away to return to the maddeningly arrogant Scott. The brightest spots in the film are offered by Muriel Kirkland, as a phony Russian countess who really hails from Kansas, and her eccentric companion, Alvarez (George Nardelli). Kirkland's worldly wise persona is a lot more interesting than the character that is handed to Daniels, which is bland in spite of her go-rounds with Scott. This picture was based on the story Pearls and Emeralds by James K. McGuinness. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide