Martin Garralaga Movies

Republic "regulars" Rod Cameron, Arleen Whelan and Forrest Tucker star in the A-minus western San Antone. During the Civil War, Texan Carl Miller (Rod Cameron) adopts a neutral stance regarding the conflict. Miller is branded a coward by Brian Culver (Forrest Tucker), a Confederate blowhard whose bravado masks his own cowardice. The animosity between the two men reaches the boiling point after the war, when Culver kills Miller's father. Soon afterwards, Culver finds himself the prisoner of Mexican rebel leader Chino Figueroa (Rudolpho Acosta). Miller heads to Mexico to rescue Culver -- not out of altruism, but so that he can kill Culver himself. Reversing the usual typecasting procedure, leading-lady Arleen Whelan is the villainess, while second lead Katy Jurado, cast as Figueroa's sister, plays a sympathetic role. San Antone was adapted by Steve Fisher (I Wake Up Screaming) from a novel by Curt Carroll. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The first film version of W.R. Burnett's novel Saint Johnson was filmed as Law and Order in 1932. Essentially an all-names-changed retelling of the Wyatt Earp legend, the film scored on its humanity and restraint. The 1953 remake eschewed the shadings and subtleties of the original in favor of a traditional shoot-em-up, replete with gratuitous violence. Ronald Reagan stars as the Earp counterpart this time, who has sworn to bring criminal Preston S. Foster to justice. The original Law and Order had no love interest at all; the Reagan version pairs up the star with beautiful Dorothy Malone, and offers a second leading lady in the form of Ruth Hampton. The original had a hanging sequence which was treated as business as usual; the remake turns this sequence into a brutal lynching. Common to both films was the final showdown between Reagan and Foster, given added melodrama in the later version by the fact that Reagan had previously sworn to give up his guns for the love of his lady. Like most of Ronald Reagan's 1950s vehicles, Law and Order paid its way and was then forgotten. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Reporters Lois Lane (Phyllis Coates) and Jimmy Olsen (Jack Larson) show up in Peru, hoping to find an Incan treasure and thereby scoop their colleague Clark Kent (George Reeves). Unfortunately, the two intrepid newshounds stumble onto a cave being used by a particulary vicious gang of criminals. The upshot of all this is another "death trap" for poor Lois and Jimmy, obliging Clark to whip off his spectacles and morph into Superman for the last-minute rescue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ernest Hemingway could never come to terms with Hollywood's preoccupation with The Happy Ending: he accepted the money for the screen rights to his short story The Snows of Kilimanjaro, but he could never bring himself to watch it. Gregory Peck plays a character based, in decidedly unflattering fashion, on Hemingway crony F. Scott Fitzgerald. While hunting in the African mountains in the company of his faithful lady friend Susan Hayward, Peck is seriously wounded; in fact, it doesn't look as though he'll survive the night. In the few hours he has left, Peck reflects upon what he considers a wasted life. Having aspired to be the Great American Novelist, Peck has only turned out money-making drivel. The only time that he truly felt as though he'd made a contribution to the world was when he fought on the Loyalist side in Spain (this element isn't in the short story, but is drawn from Hemingway's own experiences). As for his lost romance with his late wife Ava Gardner, Peck still cannot figure out what went wrong. The Hemingway original ended with the Peck character dying from his wounds; producer Darryl F. Zanuck wouldn't hear of this, preferring that Peck survive with the resolve to write something of lasting value. The Technicolor location photography of Leon Shamroy and the rumbling musical score of Bernard Herrmann are the main attractions of The Snows of Kilimanjaro. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a true story, 5 Fingers stars James Mason as a man known to his superiors only as Cicero. Ostensibly the valet of the British ambassador to Ankara during World War II, Cicero is actually a Nazi agent. He holds no particular political viewpoint: the Nazis offered the best price, so for the time being he is loyal to them. Falling in love with the beautiful Danielle Darrieux, Cicero uses her home as a contact point to meet his German associates. At great personal risk, Cicero secures secret British war files and smuggles them to the Germans; they find the information in the files too far-fetched to be taken seriously--and thus are caught unawares on the morning of the D-Day invasion. An ironic coda finds Cicero, setting himself up in luxury in Rio de Janeiro, double-crossed by both Darrieux and the Germans. What else can he do but laugh uproariously? 5 Fingers, based on the memoirs of the real-life "Cicero" L. C. Moyzisch, was adapted into a 1959 TV series, wherein the antihero was converted into a 100% good guy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Penny Edwards and Ross Elliot are top-billed in the Republic programmer Woman in the Dark. Though Edwards plays the title character, most of the film is carried by Elliot as an Italian-American priest named Father Tony Morello. The good father is saddled with a no-good brother named Gino (Richard Benedict), who gets mixed up in a jewel heist. With the help of Father Tony and his other brother, a lawyer named Phil (Rick Vallin), Gino is cleared of all charges. But the jewel thieves exact a violent revenge upon Gino, prompting Phil to retaliate and Father Tony to try to maintain peace in the family. Throughout it all, Phil's Park Avenue girlfriend Anna Reichardt (Penny Edwards) stands on the sidelines, with wide eyes and trembling lips. Woman in the Dark was based on Moon Over Mulberrry Street, a play by Nicholas Cosentino. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on The Mexican, a novel by Jack London, this is the story of a young man whose family, girlfriend and village were destroyed by the forces of a ruthless dictator. When he joins the revolutionaries who are seeking his overthrow, he finds that his boxing abilities are perhaps a means for him to make a contribution to the effort. He takes on a big-prized match with one of the best Mexican fighters to help subsidize the guerrilla efforts. Along the way, romance takes its course in the ranks of the revolutionaries. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

Estelita Rodriguez, Republic's south-of-the-border answer to their own Judy Canova, stars in Havana Rose. Rodriguez plays Estelita DeMarco, the daughter of foreign Ambassador DeMarco (Fortunio Bonanova), who is looking for a way to raise $5,000,000 for his poverty-stricken South American country. Just when Ambassador DeMarco is on the verge of securing a loan from eccentric millionaire Filbert Fillmore (Hugh Herbert) and his haughty wife (Florence Bates), Estelita messes up the deal. With the help of Texas rancher Tex Thompson (Bill Williams), our heroine manages to mollify Fillmore and his wife and save the day. Havana Rose is highlighted by three Latin American musical numbers, all of which are a lot livelier than the rest of the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

MGM went into the western-programmer business relatively late in the game, but made up for lost time with such laudable efforts as The Outriders. Joel McCrea stars as one of three Confederate soldiers who escape from a northern prison compound. The three men join a wagon train, hoping to capture a Yankee gold shipment to help their cause. When the wagoners are attacked by Indians, McCrea decides to reassess his priorities and protect the passengers--especially the stunning Arlene Dahl. The Outriders was produced in the wake of MGM's surprise success with 1949's Ambush. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cary Grant's utter credibility in the role of a brilliant, world-famous brain surgeon Dr. Eugene Norland Ferguson is the single element that keeps Crisis afloat. While vacationing in a politically unstable Latin American country, Ferguson and his wife, Helen (Paula Raymond), find themselves the unwilling house guests of dictator Raoul Farrago (José Ferrer). Suffering from a brain tumor, Farrago insists that Ferguson operate at once. The "crisis" of the title arises when revolutionary leader Gonzales (Gilbert Roland) demands that Farrago be killed on the operating table -- and kidnaps Dr. Ferguson's wife to bind the bargain. Unaware of his wife's plight, Ferguson proceeds with the operation, setting into motion a series of events leading to a grimly ironic denouement. Director Richard Brooks adapted the screenplay of Crisis from a story by George Tabori. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Rancher Charles Bickford comes to believe that drifter Alan Ladd is his long-lost son. In truth, Ladd is a crook, in league with Brian Keith to con Bickford out of his fortune. Intending to go through with the scheme, Ladd has second thoughts when Bickford and his "mother" Selena Royle shower him with the familial affection that he has lacked all his life. Making Ladd even more uncomfortable is the presence of his "sister" Mona Freeman, whom he has grown to love in a manner that might be misconstrued were he really related to her. Fed up with his masquerade, Ladd confesses the hoax and sets about to find Bickford's real son-who turns out to be the foster son of bandit Keith! This psychological western plays much better than it reads. For reasons unknown, a clip of Branded showed up in the 1977 Burt Reynolds vehicle Hustle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Gene Autry sings, fights, and sings some more in the Cinecolor "special" The Big Sombrero. Autry comes to the aid of senorita Estrellita Estrada (Elena Verdugo), who is slated to marry villainous James Garland (Stephen Dunne). The caddish Garland intends to sell Estrellita's ranch for a huge profit once he's tied the matrimonial bonds. Interspersed throughout the action highlights are scenes of an ongoing fiesta, with music, dancing and pageantry aplenty. Like all of Gene Autry's personal productions, Big Sombrero benefits from tasty production values and a surfeit of thrills. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide