Last night we had another good one from Tim McCoy called "Six Gun Trail"(1938), in which he does one of his dual role incognito personas, this time as a Chinese curio shop owner. If you can picture McCoy going the Charlie Chan route, then you'll know it's a riot, and as you'll see when you watch the movie, it's all in the name of catching bad guys who are running a jewelry schmuggling operation. As it opens, Tim's partner "Magpie" (Ben Corbett) is in the post office when he sees a customer being kidnapped after trying to send a package. In the back room, we see a number of other kidnapped patrons. Ted Adams and the other postal workers are tying anyone up who tries to mail diamonds. Talk about going postal! Then two of the hostages break free and a three way shoot out takes place, involving Magpie as the third party.
A hostage is killed, so Magpie informs Tim, who is once again playing Lightning Bill Carson, federal agent and Master of Disguise. That's when Lightning Bill decides to impersonate a Chinese businessman who is willing to buy stolen diamonds. His act leads him to "Midge" (Nora Lane), a singer who is working for the bad guys. She actually knows Lightning Bill; he recommended her for parole during her last jail stint. Now she's the chanteuse at the local watering hole (and you also get to hear a great yodeling song by Hal Carey). Anyhow, "Wilson" (Stephen Chase), the saloon owner behind the postal scheme, sends Midge to be the first guinea pig to sell diamonds to "Sam Sung" (lol), the new-in-town Chinese shop owner. She notices something funny about him, but doesn't discover that he's Agent Carson.
Now, Wilson and his henchman, postal worker Ted Adams, are feeling sorry for Magpie after they clean him out in an all night card game. They don't know he's Lightning Bill's partner, and that he's sharking them, so they send him to work as an assistant to their new "Chinese" friend Sam Sung, who is buying their stolen diamonds. Sung, who's really Lightning Bill, is buying the diamonds to use them as evidence when he lowers the boom on Wilson and Ted Adams. This one is all about Tim McCoy's Charlie Chan impersonation, and as usual, he's a card sharp too, taking Wilson and Adams to the cleaners and getting Magpie his money back in the process. "Six Gun Trail" gets the requisite Two Big Thumbs, but an extra high recommendation for McCoy's dual performance. Don't miss it, the picture is very good. ////
The previous night we saw a Hybrid Western called "Diamond Trail"(1933), starring Rex Bell as a hotshot newspaper reporter who infiltrates a racketeer's gang. What's so Western about that, you say? Well, hang on a minute. You're right, it's not super Western, just enough to qualify as a hybrid, but it does have a Western element, so stop interrupting and let me tell it whydoncha? Bell plays "Speed Morgan", who's out trolling the city, looking for a scoop, when he finds himself in the middle of a stakeout. Police are lying in wait for "Flash Barrett" (Lloyd Whitlock) and his gang, and when they emerge from their warehouse hideout, Barrett's henchman is shot dead. Barrett himself narrowly escapes, and only because Speed, lurking nearby and seeing an opportunity, jumps out and saves him, pulling him out of harm's way and into a local bar. The rest of Barrett's henchmen follow, and Speed, thinking quickly, introduces himself as "Frisco Eddie", a hoodlum who's admired Flash from afar and has always wanted to join his gang. Because Flash has just lost his bodyguard, who was killed in the police ambush, he makes Frisco Eddie his new right hand man, and Speed, as Frisco, now has an "in" to the gang, and a front row seat for the scoop of a lifetime.
The shcript doesn't develop much from there, except that Flash has a means to fence the diamonds he and his gang steal, by way of an elaborate mail scheme. Flash mails the hot rocks, in envelopes, to a cowboy who lives in Chatsworth Park with his sister. There's your Western Element right there. The cowpoke gets a payment for receiving the envelopes, but he's instructed never to open them. When Speed confides in the sister that he's really a reporter, she asks for his help in freeing her brother from this scam. She hasn't trusted Flash Barrett from the get go. Speed agrees to help the brother, but then Flash finds Speed's press badge in his laundry. He's been wondering about "Frisco" for a while now, and whether he's really legit, because the supposed hoodlum (now Flash's bodyguard) orders only buttermilk whenever they go to a bar. But it works because Rex Bell has that All-American face that makes him look like a buttermilk guy. Both of this blog's movies involve diamond schmuggling rings and could be watched as a double bill. As with "Six Gun Trail", the best part of "Diamond Trail" is the lead performance by its star Rex Bell. We weren't sure about him at first but have become big fans, and he shows range here as a wise guy reporter instead of his usual cowboy role. Two Big Thumbs Up for "Diamond Trail", the picture is soft but watchable. ////
I hope you had a nice 4th of July. I went for a hike, then this eve I went to the top of the CSUN parking garage, where I've taken many a sunset picture, to watch fireworks from all over the Valley. My friend Ono came with me, and from our perch on the top of the building we saw literally dozens of neighborhood fireworks shows erupting all over the place, from close by in Northridge, all the way to the south in towns like Woodland Hills and Canoga Park. I've never seen so many fireworks in my life. Having said that, I hope the good folks who set them off will make it a one-night affair, and keep it to July 4th, for the sake of the dogs and cats (and all animals), and just for safety in general.
That's all I know for tonight. I'm listening to the Concord Sonata by Charles Ives and I send you Tons of Love as always! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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