Bill Elliott and Bobby Blake in "Marshal of Reno" (from the Red Ryder series), and "Lightning Carson Rides Again" starring Tim McCoy

Last night we watched "Marshal of Reno"(1944) our first Bill Elliott Western and the second of 23 films in the Red Ryder series, based on a cowboy hero from a comic strip. You will remember Bill Elliott as Detective Doyle from "Sudden Danger" a couple nights ago and reviewed in the last blog. Here, he plays the gunslinger Red Ryder, a self-proclaimed "peaceable man" who nevertheless takes out any bad guys who make trouble in the town of Blue Springs, where he lives with his Aunt, known as "The Duchess" (Alice Fleming). His sidekick is an Indian boy named "Little Beaver" (Bobby Blake). As the movie opens, two young greenhorns, Western aficionados from Vermont, are hanging out at Corriganville talking about becoming cowhands. It's been their dream to come west, but things start to go bad when Charles King and a henchman ride up and rob them of their horses. King and his pal have just robbed the stage and killed its driver. By switching horses with the greenhorns, they end up becoming the suspects. 

A posse is sent out by the saloon owner in the town of Rockland, a slicker named "Faro Carson" (LeRoy Mason) who's in league with the editor of the local paper (Herbert Rawlinson). Better add newspapermen to the list of western criminals! These two are conspiring to have Rockland take over the county seat from Blue Springs, where a crime wave has terrorized the citizens. Red Ryder suspects that a gang from Rockland is committing all the crimes in Blue Springs, just so it will lose the county seat. He and Little Beaver, along with Gabby Hayes, ride in to do something about it.

Meanwhile, the posse formed by Faro Carson, who is leading the crime wave gang, captures the two greenhorns, one of whom - "Lee" (Blake Edwards) is murdered by a henchman. When Lee's partner "Danny" (Jay Kirby) learns he is being framed for the stage robbery and killing by Charles King, he hides out in the hills of Chatsworth Park and swears revenge. Here's an odd bit of data for you: how many movies have a cast that includes Blake Edwards (as an actor), Robert Blake (as a small child, he's 11 but looks 6), and Charles King, all in one movie? At any rate, Red Ryder goes undercover after demonstrating his skills in a saloon shootout and is hired by Carson to become the leader of the next stage heist. But Carson's top henchman doesn't trust Red, who is posing under an assumed name, and Red has another problem because Danny, the greenhorn from Vermont who's being framed for murder, is hell bent on clearing his name. When he finds out that Red has "joined" the Rockland gang, he doesn't know Red is working undercover and starts taking potshots at him from the hillside. Finally, he's outed as Red Ryder and escapes hanging only by the skin of his teeth when Gabby, The Duchess and Little Beaver all come to his rescue. Then he saves Danny, too.

Bill Elliott is great in the lead role, meaning we've got a brand new cowboy hero and a ton of Red Ryder films that he appears in. Two Big Thumbs Up for "Marshal of Reno". The picture is razor sharp.  ////

The previous night, Tim McCoy was back, in "Lightning Carson Rides Again"(1938), and again McCoy, as federal agent Lightning Bill Carson, is going undercover as a Mexican Bandito, his specialty guise. As the movie opens, a gang led by Ted Adams is hiding in the rocks at Chatsworth Park, waiting to ambush and rob Carson's nephew "Paul Smith" (Bob Terry), who is carrying the deposits from his bank. Paul is travelling by car (this is another Hybrid Western), and he escapes but his driver is killed. Paul drops the bag of money, and his gun, in his haste to get away, and not only do Adams and his men steal the cash, but they plant the gun to make it look like Paul killed the driver and ran off with the bag of cash himself. Talk about dastardly frame ups! But then this is Ted Adams, the Snidely Whiplash of Western movies, so what'd you expect? He goes back to town and testifies that he and the boys "happened to be riding by" and "saw Smith shoot his driver". The sheriff sends a posse out looking for Paul Smith, who sends a telegram to his sister "Sally"(Joan Barclay): "Dear Sis, I'm in hiding until this is mess is cleared up".

Enter Lightning Bill, posing as Jose Fernandez. Now, Ted Adams and his thugs know that Paul Smith is Lightning Bill's nephew, and because of that, none of Ted's henchmen want anything to to with confronting him. He's well known as the Fastest Gun in the West. The situation changes though, when Lightning - as Jose - shows up at the local saloon. He infiltrates the gang by way of a card game, and after he shows his skills (Tim McCoy always has a card-sharp scene), he also gets in a few quick punchouts with some bar rowdies after one of them gives an old timer a hotfoot.

But the effect is that Ted Adams is impressed. He thinks Jose is a bad news bandito, and want to make him part of the gang. "We could use a guy like him", he tells his boys. Henchman "Jim" (Red Howes) is not so sure: "There's something about him I don't trust." Jim has seen Jose go into the bank and ask for the serial numbers on the stolen money. "Why would he wanna know that?" Jim also sees Jose talking to Paul's sister Sally. "Then she pretended she didn't know him", he says to boss man Adams.

Ted Adams shrugs all this off. "He says he can change the money for us in Mexico". They need to launder the cash because it's hot; remember the serial numbers from the bank. Adams trusts Jose to exchange it in Mexico. "I'll be back in two days" Jose tells him. But henchman Jim goes snooping around at the Smith house when no one is home. He finds a tube of Lightning Bill's face makeup, that he uses to transform himself into Jose. When Jim rides back to tell Ted Adams and the henchmen (who are waiting for the cash transfer from Mexico), all heck breaks loose in a three-way shootout between McCoy, Adams' gang, and the Sheriff who doesn't know Jose is one of the good guys. The production values are minimal on this Sam Newfield-directed cheapie, but Joan Barclay is one of our favorite Western Sweethearts and you can't go wrong when Tim McCoy goes Bandito. Two Big Thumbs Up for "Lightning Carson Rides Again". The picture is soft but not bad. ////

That's all for tonight. I'm still listening to "Siegfried" by Wagner (like most of his operas, it's four hours long), and I'm almost done with the Black Sabbath book by Mick Wall. It's something of a horror story, truth be told. I didn't follow Black Sabbath after Ozzy left in 1978 (although I did buy the first two albums with Dio), and I haven't followed Ozzy since he fired Jake E. Lee, but my goodness, the full story of that band - much as I love them and the classic material - is nothing short of degenerate. Good Lordy Moses, as my Dad would say.

I hope your week is off to a good start, and I send you Tons of Love as always!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)   

Bill Elliott and Beverly Garland in "Sudden Danger", and "God's Country and the Man" starring Tom Tyler

Last night we saw a crime film co-starring one of our fave gals, Beverly Garland ("Alligator People", the show "Decoy" and a ton of other stuff). Bev plays only a supporting role in "Sudden Danger" (1955), but it's an important one: the devoted girlfriend to "Wallace Curtis" (Tom Drake), a blind man who comes home one night to his L.A. apartment to find his mother dead of natural gas asphyxiation, an apparent suicide. After turning off the stove, he calls police, but the detective who interviews Curtis immediately suspects him of murdering his mom, even though he's blind. Elements of his story aren't adding up, and when "Detective Andy Doyle" (Bill Elliott) sees "Phyllis Baxter" (Garland) run into Curtis's arms in the aftermath, he thinks they both may have colluded in the murdalization. Det. Doyle becomes more convinced after talking to the apt. building manager (Minerva Urecal), a tough old broad who swears she heard Curtis and his mom arguing over a proposed operation to restore his eyesight.

Mom was a high-powered CEO of a swimwear company, with a bevy of top models to test-wear her bathing suits (remember when they were called that?). The executor of her will is interviewed by Detective Doyle, and he reports that she only had 4 gees in her bank account; not the expected tens of thousands of dollars and safe full of jewels as was rumored. Doyle rides hard on Wallace Curtis, hounding him about his alibis. He's sure Curtis killed his Mom, either over the eye operation (which Mom wanted but son didn't), or just because he thought she had more money than she did. The clincher comes when Det. Doyle finds out that mom's "suicide" note was written on Phyliss Baxter's office typewriter. Could Phyliss have killed her, to remove her influence over Wallace? Also, there's a secret about how Wally became blind in the first place. He's maintained it was an accident: "I put the wrong drops in my eyes," he tells Doyle. Could happen, right? But Doyle doesn't believe it for a minute. This guy makes Colombo look like a slacker, boy is he persistent. He thinks Mom put the drops in Wally's eyes that blinded him, and that Wally was out for revenge. But Phyliss stands by Wally, and then he does get that eye operation, and it's a success!

Now he has his sight back, but instead of revealing the news to everyone, he tells only Phyliss, so he can "remain undercover" as a blind man, and watch what people do when they think he's still blind. He knows Doyle is trying to nail him for what is certainly now a murder rather than a suicide, but he swears he didn't do it. His dog believes him, which was good enough for me. The real star of the movie is Bill Elliott as Detective Doyle. You wouldn't want him on your tail, and in checking his IMDB, I see he was a Western star (known as "Wild" Bill Elliott), so we'll be looking for him as a cowboy. When the murder suspects are narrowed down, the plot becomes somewhat telegraphed, but that's a minor complaint in a movie that's all about the acting, the context, and characters. Two Big Thumbs Up for "Sudden Danger". It's highly recommended and the picture is razor sharp. ////

The previous night, we found an early film from Tom Tyler with the hefty title of "God's Country and the Man"(1931). Tom plays "Tex Malone" a Texas Ranger assigned to stop a gun-running operation on the Mexican border, a mission he may not return from. The odds are against him, his Captain says, and advises he take along a partner, chosen for sheer ruthlessness from a group of convicted murderers. Tom selects "Stingaree Kelly" (Gabby Hayes), who is offered his freedom if they come back alive. The mission is to go down to the border town of Davinia, where gun running is fomenting the Mexican Revolution. Working in tandem with the Rangers are the Mexican Federales, who send "Lt. Jose Romero" (Ted Adams, of all people), as an undercover agent to infiltrate the army of the Revolutionary Generale, who is said to be A Champion of the Poor (yeah right). Adams - can you believe he's playing a good guy? - poses as a peasant, eager to join the Revolution.

When they get to Davinia, Tex and Stingaree stop in at the local cantina, owned by one "Mr. Livermore" (Al Bridge). They discover right away that he's a honcho, after overhearing him bragging about owing the whole town. Livermore has a girlfriend half his age, a French dancer named "Rose" (Betty Mack), who's at his beck and call. But Rose is a liberated woman (and this is a pre-Code film) and in turn, she has tough guy Livermore on a string. She uses her sexuality to toy with him, even though he owns her, and when the handsome - and much younger - Tex Malone shows up, she uses him to make Livermore jealous.

Meanwhile, Ted Adams has been successful in joining the Generale's gang. He's now his top assistant, in charge of rooting out spies. It's an ironic position, because the Generale trusts no one, and Livermore doesn't trust the Generale. Such is the honor among thieves, or in this case gun-runners and phony baloney men of the people. But back to the movie, after Rose dances with Tex, to make Livermore jealous, he spies on the two, and hears Rose speaking without her French accent. She confides to Tex that she's an American agent too, also sent to stop the Revolution. Livermore overhears this, and traps her into riding on a delivery run with the Generale. Now, we experience some heavy-duty pre-Code innuendo, as the Generale tells Rose he's glad she's coming on the trip, because his men "have been so lonely" for such a long time. The implication is pretty grim.

Of course Tex and Stingaree come to her rescue, so not to worry. In an unusual conclusion, two of the good guys die. I won't tell you who, but you'll see for yourself because "God's Country and the Man" is highly recommended. Filmed in part at Garden of the Gods in the Santa Susana Pass, it gets Two Big Thumbs Up, and in a side note, the actor Al Bridge ("Livermore") wrote the screenplay. Good stuff all around. The picture is soft but watchable. ////

I also finished "Adventures of Captain Marvel", which, with 12 episodes clocking in at 3 hours 36 minutes total - qualifies as a genuine blockbuster, and was the first superhero film ever produced, according to Wiki. I thought it was table-poundingly tremendous, and it gets our highest rating, Two Gigantic Thumbs Up. I'm gonna see if Tom Tyler made any more chapter serials because he's great in this one, as is the entire cast. Beyond highly recommended! I'm listening to "Siegfried" by Richard Wagner, conducted by von Karajan, and also "Ne Plus Ultra" by Bill Nelson. Finally, I'm reading a biography about Black Sabbath by Mick Wall that is startling in its revelations. It's a wonder any of those guys are alive, good grief.

On that cheery note, I bid you a good evening, wish you a Happy Sunday tomorrow, and send you Tons of Love as always!  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)  

Tom Cruise in "Top Gun: Maverick", and "The Old Chisholm Trail" starring Johnny Mack Brown

Last night, we traveled forward to the present time and went to the theater to see "Top Gun: Maverick". You've seen it too, I imagine. It's a rite of passage, an iconic sequel to an iconic movie, and since you've probably seen it I shant review it except to say it was tremendous in every respect. As Tom says at the beginning of the movie (and I really appreciated his introduction): "you're gonna see real G's, real F-16s", in other words, real action, real photography and a minimum of computer generated imagery, which is causing all movies to look the same. Thank you, Tom. CGI is why I rarely go to the movies nowdays, but I've been looking forward to this one for a long time, and it is as great as everyone hoped. Besides all the aerial action, the scene with Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer was worth the price of admission by itself. Real emotion from real people, and God Bless those guys. They knocked this movie out of the park, it was a return to the style of big '80s action pictures, with a storyline that, being an aficionado of WW2 films, reminded me of the true-life plot of a film called "The Dam Busters"(1955). That film (very highly recommended) depicted a Veddy Brrrittish low altitude raid on several German hydroelectric plants, using a new munition called the bouncing bomb, the invention of which was shown in the movie. The training segment in Maverick also had some Star Wars elements mixed in, as with the approach through the canyon. One thing nigh impossible was the sideways bridge fly-through, but that's not the point. The point is that it's about the dedication, loyalty and brotherhood (with a sister involved too) of the pilots. Miles Teller was the perfect choice to play Rooster, and again, they got some real, raw emotion in the facial expressions of Teller and Cruise near the end, when the mission has been completed. Jennifer Connelly was great also. For me, Two Huge Thumbs Up for "Maverick." I hope you liked it as much as I did.  ////   

The previous night, we found another Johnny Mack Brown movie! Wouldja believe it? And, it was a good one, too, with Fuzzy Knight, Tex Ritter and the Jimmy Wakeley Trio, and the beautiful Jennifer Holt. In "The Old Chisholm Trail" (1942), Johnny Mack plays "Dusty Gardner", a drover leading his cattle across the Chisholm Trail in Texas. When he and his men arrive in the town of Gunsight, they're stopped in their tracks by a locked gate at the Turner Ranch. Their cattle are getting thirsty, and old Oswald, the smartest steer, is known for his ability to smell water. In fact he's led them to this point. But the gate has a sign that informs all comers that the water at the ranch will cost them: five dollars per head of cattle, a fortune in Old West money. Johnny Mack can't pay it, and his cows are gonna die of thirst if he doesn't get them something to drink. Just then the ranch foreman rides up, and informs JMB that he's better get mounted and get going if he knows what's good for him. "If you don't want to pay for the water then you ain't got no business here". Johnny tells him that on open range, water is free for everyone. The foreman (Roy Barcroft) tries to draw on him, but that's always a mistake with Johnny Mack Brown, who shoots the gun out of the big goon's hand. Chastened, he takes Johnny to see the ranch owner, a woman named "Belle Turner" (Mady Correll). Belle is downright evil. She's got every cattleman in the area over a barrel, and tells Johnny "yeah, the water is free, but this land is not open range. I own the road that leads to the well. The charge is for using the road. Pay it or get lost."

Johnny tells her he's gonna get the Sheriff, but Belle says "go ahead". She owns him, too. Finally, she tells JMB to go to the town of Lost River. "There's water there", she lies. Johnny finds that out when he gets there, but he also meets "Mary Lee" (Jennifer Holt), who runs the local store. She's trying to keep Lost River from going belly up. Her business depends on the pass-through of the cattlemen, but now that the river has dried up, they don't stop there any more. Mary is a sweet lady, the opposite of Belle Turner, so Johnny sticks around and decides to help her restore the river. He has to sign a contract with Belle, who also owns the only drilling company in the region, because they need a well drilling engine, a modern piece of machinery that tells us we're watching a Hybrid Western (as I've learned they are called). Hybrids took place in a "nether time" of modern day (1942) for theater goers, but for the characters in this movie, it's 1882, even with drilling machines that didn't yet exist.

Belle rents Johnny the drilling engine because she figures he and Mary have no chance of finding water. "That's rivers all dried up," she tells her henchmen. The rental brings her money, which Belle always likes, and when they fail Johnny will leave town and good riddance, she thinks. But then, he decides to use his remaining money to hire a specialist, a hydro-geologist with ample experience in drilling wells. When it looks like they might have success after all, she has her henchmen stampede Johnny's cattle. This leads to an all-hands-on-deck punchout that even involves a catfight between Mary and Belle. Good grief. I don't like seeing women fight (it's bad enough with men), but I suppose Belle has to get her comeuppance. She certainly has it coming to her. When even the stampede doesn't get rid of Johnny, Belle arranges for her men to destroy the drilling equipment, but by this time, the specialist has suggested that dynamite could be used to open a fissure underground, making Belle's plan irrelevant. 

Jimmy Wakely sings a signature version of "Beautiful Dreamer" and Fuzzy Knight provides extended comic relief as an Old West sideshow hypnotist named Solipso, who has a running gag with an Indian named "Hopping Crow" (Earl Hodgins). Crow, having seen Fuzzy's show and finding it fraudulent, wants a refund. He follows Fuzzy throughout the movie, turning up at various points, knife in hand, saying "me wantum money back". Late in the film, Crow discovers that Fuzzy's a real hypnotist after all, when he turns Crow into a Cigar Store Wooden Indian. It's a laff riot, and Crow returns the favor at the end.

Tex Ritter plays "Montana Smith", a gunslinger friend of Mary's who's suspicious of Johnny's motives towards her. Prior to Belle Turner's attempt, he tries to wreck the well engine with a pickaxe, because he thinks Johnny's in love with Mary, who Montana adores. This leads to the obligatory fight between JMB and Tex, which happens in every movie in which they appear together, but these are always resolved with the two becoming friends. Tex sings two songs himself, there is no shortage of music in this movie. And talk about packing a ton of stuff into a one hour script! "The Old Chisholm Trail" is one of the champs in that regard, that's why were going a rung higher this time, with Two Huge Thumbs Up. It's one of the very best Johnny Mack Brown movies so far, and the picture is very good. ///

That's all I know for tonight. I'm still working on Captain Marvel (up to chapter 9 so far), and I'm listening to "The Beach Boys Love You" by The Beach Boys. I hope your week is going well, and I send you Tons of Love, as always.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):) 

Ken Maynard in "Trailin' Trouble", and "Trigger Fingers" starring Tim McCoy and Harley Wood

Last night we saw Ken Maynard again, in a dual role in "Trailin' Trouble"(1937). His main character is "Friendly Fields", a gunslinger who lives with his Ma. Now that's an original take on the stereotype! Friendly isn't your typical gunman. Mom wants him to stop fighting and get himself a job. Her pal the Sheriff (Fred Burns) suggests he try the Bar-X Ranch, run by "Patty Blair" (Lona Andre). Patty's a no nonsense dame, but very young and inexperienced (she took over the ranch from her Dad). She tells Friendly she could use a foreman, but to qualify for the job, he's gotta prove himself by bringing back the cattle that have been rustled. To do so, he'll have to confront "Tom Crocker" (Roger Williams), a fellow rancher and head of the gang who are trying to force Patty off her land. The issue is water rights. Crocker figures if he steals all her cattle, Patty will have no reason to stay, and he figures again that since she's a woman, there is nothing she can do about it.

That's true, until Friendly Fields shows up. He walks into Crocker's ranch house, wearing a two-gun belt, and "politely suggests" (cause his Mom doesn't want him fighting) that Crocker give back the cattle he stole from Patty's ranch. Crocker says he already sold them, and that it was a case of mistaken cattle identity anyhow: "The brands got mixed up," he says, but what he means is that he was trying to re-brand them. Friendly knows this, and "politely" asks Crocker for three and a half gees to pay for the 70-odd head of cattle.

He brings the cash back to Patty at the Bar-X, who is impressed and hires him as her foreman. But at the beginning of the movie, while he was riding across the range, Friendly was robbed of his hat by a killer named "Blackie Burke" (also played by Ken Maynard). Because we're doing the old Dual Role Routine, when Patty's neighbor "Mrs. Dunn" (Grace Wood) finds a wanted poster in town with Blackie's picture on it, she naturally assumes it's Friendly, hiding under an alias. She comes over to the Bar-X to tell Patty the news, and by now, Tom Crocker and his gang think Friendly is really Blackie, too, so they are also scared of him because he's supposed to have killed "one man for every year of his age". Friendly tries 'splainin to Patty that he's Friendly, not Blackie, and we can't tell if she buys his explanation or not because there's a jump cut to the two of them riding to Crocker's ranch, and when they get there, he's still Blackie to Crocker. It's only later, after a stooge arrives, that Friendly's ruse is revealed. The stooge knows Blackie personally, and he's certain that Friendly's an impostor.

By now, two things happen. Ma shows up at Crocker's ranch. She's been looking for Friendly, and when she sees him fighting again (for by now, a punchout has ensued) she's furious. She's about to drag Friendly away by his earlobe, back to the family home, when the real Blackie Burke arrives, and the stooge henchman tells him that some wimp named Friendly has been impersonating him.

But as we know, Friendly is no wimp. Crocker has already found that out, and Blackie will discover the same. Amazingly, though Maynard's horse Tarzan is seen throughout the film, there are no heroic rescue scenes for him. I hope he got a new agent after this film, but it still gets Two Big Thumbs Up. Filmed entirely at Chatsworth Park, it's highly recommended and the picture is very good. As a bonus, there are two musical numbers by an unnamed group, one on which Ken Maynard plays fiddle and sings. Betcha didn't know he could do that. ////

The previous night, Tim McCoy was back in "Trigger Fingers"(1939), in which he gets to do his own comic relief. Betcha didn't know he could do that. He plays "Lighting Bill Carson", a Federal Secret Service agent, sent to Arizona to stop a gang of cattle rustlers who use trucks to steal their quarry. Local ranchers are complaining, and when "Dad Bolton" and his sweet daughter "Jessie" (Harley Wood) get robbed by bandits on the trail, everyone in town has had enough. Jessie's boyfriend (Bud McTaggart) is the local deputy, but he's just a kid and Dad thinks he's ineffective, so Dad calls the Feds and they send out Lightning Bill, along with a female agent named "Margaret" (Joyce Bryant), and "Magpie" (Ben Corbett), a gruff s.o.b who calls Margaret "Maggie" just to get her goat and keep a running gag through the movie. The trio pose as a band of wandering gypsies so the rustlers won't see them coming.

This is where McCoy gets to show his comic chops, complete with Gypsy accent, clothing and Twirly Moustachio. Add to that the famous McCoy eyeballs and some Silent film makeup, and you have a character tailor made for yuks that would not be PC nowdays but are hilarious nevertheless. Of course, Tim is always a card sharp in any guise, so a part of the deception is for the agents to pass through the ranch lands, offering "card readings" to suspected rustlers, in which McCoy performs a standard card trick in order to james garner the finger prints off the card deck. He has modern CSI skills, as far as dusting fingerprints in the field, but it takes him a while to nail the leader of the gang, whose prints have already been lifted from a  a saddle at the beginning of the movie. His name is "Bert Lee" (Carleton Young), and he's attempting to rustle all the cattle in the Valley, using the efficient method of trucking. There's a five gee reward out for his arrest, but as usual, he's got Dad and Jessie Bolton bamboozled into thinking he's a good guy. He gets the townsfolk riled up to blame the rustling and robberies on the Gypsies. The agents are vastly outnumbered as a hanging posse is formed.

In looking at the credits on IMDB, it was interesting to read that Harley Wood, who plays Jessie and is only 26 here, went on to become a songwriter. In 1967 she wrote the famous Christian anthem "Let There Be Peace On Earth (And Let It Begin With Me), which I have sung in choir on numerous occasions. Amazing! You never know where our 60 minute Westerns will lead you. She's also great in this movie, which gets Two Big Thumbs Up and is a must-see for Tim McCoy's Gypsy impersonation. The picture is very good.

That's all I know for tonight. I'm listening to "Gotterdammerung" by Wagner, conducted by Herbert von Karajan. I also listened to "Free Hand" and "Power and the Glory" by Gentle Giant. I'm almost done reading Paul McCartney's "The Lyrics, which I highly recommend. I hope your week is off to a good start and I send you Tons of Love as always.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Buster Crabbe as Billy the Kid in "Law and Order", and "Moontide" starring Jean Gabin and Ida Lupino

Last night we watched "Law and Order"(1942) another in the series of Billy the Kid Westerns starring Buster Crabbe. As the movie opens, Billy and his sidekicks "Fuzzy" (Al St. John) and "Jeff" (Dave O'Brien) are being chased by a U.S. Cavalry Troop. As usual, they're suspected of every crime in the area, and when they're caught and taken back to the Army fort (after Fuzzy tries faking his death to avoid arrest), the boys discover that the lieutenant at headquarters is a dead ringer for Billy. They could be twins, in fact, because it's the old Dual Role Routine with Buster playing both parts. This works to their advantage when Billy gets the better of his guard and runs back to the lieutenant's office, where he forces the LT to change clothes with him, then ties him up and escapes with Jeff and Fuzzy. Billy figures he did no wrong since they shouldn't have been arrested in the first place.

While resting on the way back to their hideout, Billy finds a letter in the LT's uniform, from his aunt, "Mary Todd" (Sarah Padden), inviting the lieutenant to her wedding. Billy figures he'd better attend in the LTs place (since they're lookalikes), otherwise, someone might wonder why the LT didn't show up, and get suspicious. But when Billy, Jeff and Fuzzy go to visit Aunt Mary, they discover a plot by Charles King to carry out a false marriage to someone other than her fiance. You see, Aunt Mary is blind. She doesn't know what her fiance looks like, so King, who's the justice of the peace in town (huge lol!), and is also a crook (big surprise) is gonna marry his pal to Aunt Mary, so they can get her money. Mary is the richest woman in town.

King starts to suspect that Billy - posing as the lieutenant - isn't who he says he is. King figures he's an impostor and sends his henchman "Turtle" (John Merton) out to kill him. This leads to some true hilarity as Turtle and some other thugs try and fail, three times, to kill Billy because by now, the real LT has gotten loose and has ridden into town to re-arrest Billy, and Turtle and his boys keep shooting the wrong guy. In addition to Charles King, you also get Ted Adams in this film, as a good guy! Yep, he's the Sheriff, and an honest one at that. How the heck did that happen? Billy's problem is that he has to keep the real LT from arresting him while trying to stop the marriage of the fake fiance to Aunt Mary. A solution presents itself when the boys find another letter from Mary, this time to her niece. They use it to trap the faker, who doesn't know Aunt Mary has a niece. This one is a super-cheapie from PRC, so there's no saloon and no town exteriors, though there is an entrance mock-up to the fort, but on the other hand you've got Buster, Al St. John  and Dave O'Brien, the best trio since The Rough Riders, and you also have Charles King and Ted Adams in the same movie, both with prime roles, so casting-wise, it's an embarrassment of riches. Two Big Thumbs Up for "Law and Order" (no "Billy the Kid" in the title this time). Filmed at Walker Ranch, the picture is good but soft. ////

The previous night, we saw an interesting if offbeat Noir that focused on a relationship rather than a crime. In "Moontide"(1942), the great French actor Jean Gabin ("Pepe le Moko", "Touches Pas au Grisbi", "Grand Illusion") stars as "Bobo", an itinerant seaman ashore in a California coastal town. His friend "Tiny" (Thomas Mitchell) is looking for him in a seedy bar. Tiny is desperate to find Bobo because he relies on him for money and leadership. Tiny is a mooch and a psychological weakling, but his size and crude bearing makes him a formidable adversary when crossed. He leaves the bar still in search of Bobo, who shows up a little while later with his dog (a boxer), and proceeds to pretty much empty the joint of booze. He drinks so much that the bartender asks him to stop. After that, he hits on a dame and gets in a fight with her boyfriend. Tiny finally comes back and finds him, and they leave to go bar hopping. This sequence is a montage, showing Bobo dancing, fighting and drinking until he blacks out, which is depicted by "room spinning" photography.

Bobo wakes up on a bait sale barge in the wharf, not knowing how he got there until two Chinese fisherman pull up in their boat and explain that they met him the night before and gave him a place to stay. They offer him a job as a bait salesman in exchange for a dollar a day and a bottle of sake and he accepts, telling another friend "Nutsy" (Claude Rains) that it's a good enough life for him, a place to live and easy work. Tiny comes by and asks Bobo to go with him to San Francisco. He wants status and the high life, on Bobo's back of course. Bobo tells Tiny "no, I've got all I need right here, a dollar a day and a bottle". Then Tiny pulls out a blackmail (donald) trump card: "Hey Bobo, do you know there was a murder here at the wharf last night? Yeah, some old guy named Pop Kelly. He got strangled, and I know you don't remember what happened last night, but I do. I was with you, and I'd like to keep my mouth shut, but I'd also like it if we went to San Francisco if you get my drift." He's insinuating that Bobo strangled Pop Kelly in a drunken rage. The possibility of this is shown in the spinning room blackout scene, but its only that - a possibility. We know Bobo is a brawler, but is he a killer too?

He avoids Tiny after that, and the next time we see him, he's hanging out with Nutsy on the beach. It's late at night, and suddenly they see a fully clothed woman walking into the ocean. The implication is obvious; she's going to drown herself, and Bobo runs into the water to save her. Thus begins the main theme of the movie, Bobo's chance for love and redemption. The woman in the water is "Anna" (Ida Lupino), a waitress at a local cafe. We never find out why she wanted to kill herself, but once she's rescued by Bobo, he becomes her salvation. She comes back to life and cleans his filthy bait barge. They even buy drapes and do some interior decorating, once they decide its their Forever Home.

In the daytime, a doctor (Jerome Cowan) comes by on his boat, which needs repair. Bobo knows engines, and makes a new friend in the process. He tells the Doc, and Nutsy too, that he's thinking about marrying Anna.They think its great that Bobo is settling down, but when Tiny gets word of it back at the bar, he redoubles his blackmail threat, by suggesting again to Bobo that he ditch Anna and move to San Francisco with him. When that doesn't work, he shows up drunk at the bait barge when Bobo isn't there, and attacks Anna. This leads to the final confrontation between Bobo and Tiny over the blackmail. That's all I'm going to tell you about the plot, but it's quite a story and while it isn't a crime film, per se (as noted), the naturalistic acting, especially by Jean Gabin, give the film not only a sense of realism but the feeling that you're watching an actual melodrama play out in front of you. The way Gabin and Lupino speak to each other is like conversation rather than dialogue. The black and white photography is appropriately at the darker end of the grey scale, and the settings appear to be on sound stages. The movie has the feel of a play, with exaggerated supporting players ala Orson Welles. It's great stuff stylistically, and in plot, but the main draw is the acting.

Two Big Thumbs Up for "Moontide". Watch it for something a little different. It's highly recommended and the picture is razor sharp. //// 

That's all for the moment. I'm listening to "The Good Earth" by Manfred Mann's Earth Band, and I send you Tons of Love, as always.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):) 

Bob Steele in "Wild Horse Valley", and "West of Nevada" starring Rex Bell and Al St. John

Last night, we watched Bob Steele in "Wild Horse Valley"(1940). There's trouble at the Kimball Ranch in Placerita. A break in the fence has caused several horses to run loose. "Dad Kimball" (Lafe McKee) blames it on the provocation of a wild stallion named The Pirate. He has his foreman "Baker" (Ted Adams) order the ranch hands to repair the fence, but the fact that Ted Adams is the foreman should raise your antenna right away. Dad has lost 200 horses so far, and will be out of bidness soon, if he can't get rid of The Pirate. Then Bob Steele and his pal "Shag" (Jimmy Aubrey) happen by. Bob is looking for his horse, which has been stolen by an unknown party. Bob hears about Pirate from Dad and his sweet daughter "Ann" (Phyllis Adair), and when he goes looking for the wild horse, he sees that it is, in fact, his stolen horse. Dad doesn't believe him at first, and offers a reward of one thousand semolians for the killing of Pirate. Bob is certain that Pirate is his horse, and isn't responsible for the break in the fence, or the missing horses. He asks Dad for one chance to capture Pirate, and......

Now wait just a cotton pickin' minute! We've heard all this before! You might remember a Tom Tyler movie from about a month ago called "Coyote Trails", in which a horse called The Phantom was accused of the very same thing. I'm tellin' ya it's the same script, substituting Bob Steele for Tom Tyler. At any rate, this version was good too. Lafe McKee plays Dad the Horse Rancher in both movies. If I had to choose, I'll take the Tom Tyler version, but watch this one too. Two Big Thumbs Up.

Okey dokie, sorry to cut you off at the pass, but we more-or-less reviewed that movie the last time. We had no such problem the previous night, which saw us back with Rex Bell in "West of Nevada"(1936). Rex and his sidekick Al St. John are ridin' though the Alabammy Hills, with Rex kidding Al about his latest foiled romance, when Al's stomach starts grumblin' (a St. John trademark). Shots ring out, interrupting the hunger pangs, and the two cowpokes ride out of the rocks to the trail and see a runaway wagon blazing full tilt, being chased by a gang of bandits. On the wagon are two men, a taxidermist named "Haldain" (Steve Clark) and his Indian helper "Bald Eagle" (Dick Botiller), who's been shot. Rex and Al dispatch the gunmen with some quick trigger work of their own, and Rex uses his knife to extract the bullet from Bald Eagle's chest. Then they all ride back to town for more treatment, where Haldain's daughter "Helen" (Joan Barclay) is a nurse. Haldain doesn't trust doctors or anyone else, and Rex starts to think he's hiding something when he and Al help carry in his cargo of stuffed animals, which weigh a ton.

After helping Haldain, and while Bald Eagle is recovering, Rex rides into town to see if any mail has come for him, as he's expecting a letter from his Dad. "Steve Cutting" (Forrest Taylor), who runs the bank as well as post office, says "no, we haven't got anything for you", but then he double checks when he sees Rex doesn't believe him. "Oh yes, now I remember, we do have one letter in your name." When Rex takes the letter back to Mr. Haldain's house, he sees that its been previously steamed open. The letter, indeed from his Dad, references a shipment of gold that will benefit the local Indians. It's left unstated what this has to do with Rex and Al, but we'll find out soon enough. Meanwhile, banker Steve Cutting calls one of his henchmen into his office. "Find out what that guy is up to" he says of Rex. The henchman says "I can do better than that, I can kill him", but Cutting says "not yet, not until we find out where the Indians' gold is." His bank is about to go under because he's stolen and spent all the money of his depositors; he needs that gold from the Indians, and is going to try to steal it, even though it's on their land and he'll be risking his neck. As noted, Mr. Haldain doesn't trust anyone, and when Cutting - doing his best Snidely Whiplash impersonation - tells daughter Helen that Rex is a crook out to steal the gold himself, she believes him. Rex is still curious why the stuffed animals were so heavy, and he sneaks into Haldain's workshop to discover that the specimens are stuffed with gold nuggets.

After that, he catches up with Helen and convinces her that he's not a gold thief, but by this time, Steve Cutting and his men have lured Bald Eagle into a trap, and are gonna force him to tell where the gold is. We weren't overly impressed with Rex Bell the first time we saw him, but he's really good in this one. Al St. John is his usual comic self and is also used for what romance there is, after he falls in love with "Rose Gilbury" (Georgia O'Dell), the ranch cook. They make for a goofy couple, but Al is continually being called upon by Rex for help with the bad guys, and he has a running gag about "being interrupted", ahem, in his "lovemaking" as he puts it, and it's funny (not risque) but they use it too many times. The location photography at Lone Pine is beautiful, with snow capped mountains as a backdrop for the Alabammy Hills. Two Big Thumbs Up for "West of Nevada" as Rex Bell joins our company of Top Cowboys. We're gonna need him, too, as I'm finding it harder to locate films we haven't seen by our Big Three of Johnny Mack Brown, Tom Tyler and Tim McCoy. Ditto for Harry Carey and Ken Maynard, both of whom we haven't seen in a few weeks because I've been unable to dig up new films. I'll keep looking, though, as we've gotta have our Westerns, as much a staple of life as air, water and tortilla chips.

That's the whole shebang for this go-round. I'm listening to another album I've never heard before, the first one by The Strawbs, if you can believe that. I say "if you can believe it" because I'm a huge (pronounced yoooge) Strawbs fan, and have all the cds from their classic period, or I thought I did, until I discovered that "Dragonfly" was not their first album as I thought. At any rate, entitled simply "Strawbs", it's quite good, and full of the folky material that marks their early work. It almost sounds like a Dave Cousins solo record, as he wrote all the songs and the instrumentation is mostly acoustic guitar and voice. 

I hope you have a nice holiday weekend and I send you Tons of Love, as always.  

Bob Steele and Charles King in "Last of the Warrens" and "West of Rainbow's End" starring Tim McCoy

Last night we had Bob Steele going up against Charles King in "Last of the Warrens"(1936). Bob is a fighter pilot returning from WW1, and in the opening scene we see him shot down over Santa Clarita, a town in northern France. His family and friends think he's dead. He's been sending them letters every week to let them know he's okay, but has received no replies. He asks his nurse at the army hospital why this is, but she can't explain it. When he returns home, everyone is surprised to see him, none more than his Dad, who is overjoyed. Dad's lost the mortgage on the family ranch, but the seemingly big-hearted Charles King (wearing a suit and tie and clean cut!) has been kind enough to keep him on as foreman. King owns the general store in town, and as we know, general store owners are high on the list of Western criminals. But King couldn't be a bad guy this time, could he? Oh, he's bought the mortgage on Dad's ranch, but that doesn't mean he's been rustling Dad's cattle so that Dad won't be able to make his payments, does it? You've gotta be joshin' me! What's that you're saying? King also has a secret grudge? I can hardly believe it. He's the last member of his family as well, and their rivalry with the Warrens dates back a generation. King believes they put his family's ranch out of business and has been seeking revenge ever since.

But what King wants most of all is Bob's girl "Mary Burns" (Margaret Marquis). When Bob was assumed dead, King courted Mary, and there's a scene early on where he's trying to sweet talk her into marriage. She's a clerk at King's store, and he soft pedals his proposal, hat in hand like a true gentleman, his hair clean, cut short and slicked back, with his nice suit on. This is as close to King's look from his silent film days as you're ever gonna see, ditto his acting range, which is more subtle than you might imagine. But no matter how much he tries to persuade her, Mary isn't buying. She tells him, "I'm grateful for the job, and for keeping Dad as your foreman, but I don't love you". What is she, nuts? How can she not love Charles King? He even tries the old "you'll grow to love me over time" routine, but she doesn't want it, because she's still pining for Bob Steele. When he arrives back in town after being thought dead, King is incensed. He immediately sends two honchos out to kill Bob, but they fail, so he sets a trap for Bob's Dad and shoots him himself. Then he wraps Dad's body in a sheet and quick-buries it under a pile of leaves in Placerita Canyon.

But Dad isn't as dead as King thought. He frees himself and walks back to the ranch, where the local doc and his old pal "Grizzly" (Horace Murphy) nurse him back to health. By this time, Bob is onto King and swears to take him down if he can prove King is the guy who shot Dad. King gets scared (omg! who wrote that into the script?) and hires a new gunman, a big old scary lookin' galoot named "Slip Gerns" (Blackie Whitford), who's been hanging out at the town saloon. To show King he's getting his money's worth, the big guy produces a wanted poster that shows his picture and a reward offer: "Wanted for Murder, Dead or Alive". King is impressed and hires Gerns on the spot, with instructions for him to kill Bob Steele. "Consider it done," Gerns says, but just when he's getting ready to do it, a huge twist occurs. I can't tell you what it is, but you'll like it, and you'll love this movie, which gives us a different side of Charles King in his biggest role yet. We're becoming big fans of Bob Steele too, just for his overall Bob Steele-ness. I like that they don't portray him as a lawman, which wouldn't work because of his stature and youthful look, but as a scrappy good guy instead. Two Big Thumbs Up for "Last of the Warrens". The picture is worn but sharp.  

The previous night, we watched Tim McCoy in "West of Rainbow's End (1938). Tim plays a retired railroad marshal (his characters are always named Tim) who is called in to investigate, after a senior marshal named "Lighting Ed" (Frank LaRue), is killed while trying to solve the murder of a train engineer. Lightning Ed was beloved in town, so Tim stops in at Sally's Donut Shop to inquire about him. Sally's becomes the centerpiece of the film, as Tim learns a lot about the gang that runs the town, headed up by the land office manager "George Reynolds" (Walter McGrail) and his henchmen, who conduct train and mail robberies, and are trying to force Sally's Ma and Pa off their ranch so they can sell the land to the railroad. The henchmen in this movie look like real-life sociopaths; they don't have the "Charles King factor" of affable evilness, but man are they lowdown, shoot-em-in-the-back types. Reynolds their boss is a crumb bum who never does his own dirty work, and of course, the saloon owner (Reed Howes) is in on the deal.

When McCoy shows up, one honcho is chosen by the boss to take him out, but the guy gets his hat handed to him again and again. You'd think Reynolds would choose someone else, but no, he keeps sending this one guy. He looks like a real life Western badman, but of course he's no match for McCoy, who always unwraps a stick of gum before getting ready to draw. This is one of his contemporary Westerns. Sally (Kathleen Eliot) wears 1930s dresses, and as mentioned a lot of the film takes place in her cafe, where the donuts are always fresh. Tim likes the apple pie, and when Sally runs out of it, she invites him home (Mom makes all the pies), and of course that starts the romance, such as it is. Tim McCoy generally doesn't do the romantic front (too stoic), but Kathleen Eliot (who plays Sally) must've been the producer's daughter because she gets maximum screen time and she's an actress with only three credits. She's good though, and it makes for a nice angle to have a donut shop as the unofficial headquarters for a Western. Two Big Thumbs Up for "West of Rainbow's End".

That's basically all I know. I listened to a album by an obscure band called "Home", featuring Laurie Wisefield from the Mark II lineup of Wishbone Ash, which is how I came to discover it. I was watching a 1976 Ash concert from Rockpalast on Youtube and was very impressed with Wisefield's playing (his Strat tone is incredible), and I discovered he was originally from this other band, which also featured Cliff Williams who went on to play bass for AC/DC. The album is called "The Alchemist" by Home, and while it isn't perhaps a classic, as such, it does have a nice, consistent light-prog sound that is very appealing in the vein of, say, Barclay James Harvest or even Kansas. Give it a listen if you shall. I'm also continuing to watch "Captain Marvel" with Tom Tyler. By chapter 5, The Scorpion has lured Marvel into Bronson Cave, where he's promised to reveal his identity behind the mask. But it's all a trap, and when Marvel gets inside, The Scorpion and his henchmen use the metallic scorpion device to turn the inside of the cave into molten rock, which is filling the cave and will kill Captain Marvel if he can't get out. We know that he can withstand just about anything, but he may have met his match this time. Or not.

I hope you are having a good week despite the awful news and the general state of America and the World, and I send you Tons of Love, as always.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)