JUBILEE TRAIL

JUBILEE TRAIL (1954). Director: Joseph Kane.

A dance hall gal who calls herself Florinda (Vera Ralston) and a "nice" gal named Garnet (Joan Leslie), recently married, develop an unexpected friendship that lasts from 1845 New Orleans to California in the days just before and after it became a state and on the verge of the Gold Rush. The main story of this meandering "epic" from Republic pictures has to do with Garnet's brother-in-law trying to kidnap her young son after her husband's death, and the chaos that results. Along the way there are Indians on the warpath and assorted romantic complications. Richard Webb, Forrest Tucker, Buddy Baer, Barton MacLane and Jim Davis are also in the cast. Pat O'Brien has a notable turn as "Texas," a kind-hearted drunk with a secret. Leslie is okay as Garnet; Vera Ralston is oddly appealing as Florinda. Jubilee Trail isn't awful but it isn't memorable, either.

Verdict: A trail you may not want to wander along. **1/2.

KING OF THE COWBOYS

Roy Rogers behind bars

KING OF THE COWBOYS (1943). Director: Joseph Kane.

Rodeo star Roy Rogers, playing himself, is importuned to quit the show so he can go undercover to find some WW2 saboteurs. His sidekick, Frog Milhouse (Smiley Burnette),  goes along with him and they hook up with another show of which Judy Mason (Peggy Moran of Horror Island) and her pal Ruby (Dorothea Kent of Young Fugitives) are a part. The gals work with Maurice  (Gerald Mohr) -- the "Mental Marvel" -- who does a mind-reading act via which he communicates with his fellow spies. James Bush plays Dave Mason, the show manager, who may not be on the side of the angels. Lloyd Corrigan plays Karley, the governor's private secretary, who is definitely not on the side of the angels.

Kent, Moran and Mohr

King of the Cowboys is often mistaken as Roger's first starring role, but he starred in a great many films-- mostly for Republic Studios  --  before he made this one. The plot in this "modern" nominal western is negligible, but Rogers has a nice voice and the film's highlights are the musical numbers: "I'm an Old Cowhand;" "Ride, Ranger, Ride;" and especially "Prairie Moon." An odd moment occurs when the governor (Russell Hicks) tells Roy how his last agent was killed and that his final words were "following May." Rogers, who is not too swift, assumes that May was some hot tamale, says "sounds like nice work," and shows absolutely no concern for the agent who was murdered! Otherwise, Rogers is pleasant, handsome and bland, and Burnette is only mildly amusing. The two gals don't get much to do, but Mohr and Corrigan are as professional as ever. Irving Bacon, Ethel's dad on I Love Lucy, has a small role as well. In addition to other Roy Rogers features, as well as co-directing a couple of serials, Joseph Kane also helmed Jubilee Trail for Republic.

Verdict: Odd mixture of cowboys and spies with some good songs. **1/2. 

ROMANCE ON THE RANGE

Roy Rogers

ROMANCE ON THE RANGE (1942). Director: Joseph Kane.

Roy Rogers (Roy Rogers of Arkansas Judge) is the foreman of the Arrowhead ranch. One of his buddies is murdered by poachers who are out for furs. The owner of the ranch, Joan Stuart (Linda Hayes), at first wants to hire a private detective to investigate, but instead goes out west, incognito, with her maid, Sally (Sally Payne), who has been corresponding with Roy's pal, Pat (Pat Brady), through a lonely hearts club. Pat and Sally are happy to finally meet, but Roy, not realizing that Joan is his boss, makes some tactless remarks about spoiled city women with too much money and no common sense. But meanwhile, he and his buddies have to capture the bad guys.

Linda Hayes with Roy

The trouble with Romance on the Range, a Republic Roy Rogers programmer if ever there were one,  is that there isn't much romance and most of the picture consists of fairly dull horse chases and shoot-outs that are not done nearly as well as in the classic Republic serials. Rogers gets by, as usual, on his looks and charm, and he doesn't have a bad voice when he warbles some unmemorable country ditties with the Sons of the Pioneers.  Linda Hayes appeared in a couple of "Mexican Spitfire" movies and did a number of westerns; this was her penultimate feature. Sally Payne amassed 57 mostly minor credits.

Gabby Hayes 

Pat Brady basically played himself in 73 movies and TV shows, most if not all with Roy Rogers. Ditto for Bob Nolan. Edward Pawley [Thirteen Women] plays the head bad guy, Jerome Banning, in this, and serial specialist Roy Barcroft is also in the cast. And we mustn't forget -- although we should certainly try to -- Gabby Hayes [From Broadway to Cheyenne], Rogers' grizzled, old and somewhat misogynous sidekick whose antics have not worn well with time. He did manage to get one -- only one -- laugh out of me, however. Romance on the Range is a "modern-day" western -- it does not take place during the days of the Wild West.

Verdict: Not much to this cheap oater but Rogers is always pleasant. *1/2. 

WALL STREET COWBOY

WALL STREET COWBOY (1939). Director: Joseph Kane.

Roy Rogers, playing himself in this "modern" western, never actually gets to Wall Street, so banish those images of the cowboy walking into the boardroom and busting ass. Instead Roy learns that there's gold on his property, and there are nefarious forces who want to acquire the land and cheat him out of it. Gabby Hayes -- as "Gabby," naturally -- is along for the ride as Rogers' pal, and we've got the perennial Pierre Watkin as the no-nonsense, blustering John Hammond, who always seems ready to be furious with Roy and his pals until his daughter, Peggy (Ann Baldwin), intercedes. Craig Reynolds [The Perils of Pauline] plays a lawyer-type helping the bad guys who gets socked by Roy, Adrian Morris [Fighting Marines] is another creep, and Louisiana Lou, a singer in a bar, is played by, well, Louisiana Lou. Roy [Son of Paleface] substitutes for a downed jockey at one point and rides in a steeple race.

Verdict: About standard Roy Rogers movie. **.

FIGHTING MARINES

FIGHTING MARINES (1935). 12 chapter Mascot serial. Directed by B. Reeves Eason and Joseph Kane.

Grant Withers and Adrian Morris star as a Marine corporal and sergeant who come up against a saboteur named the Tiger Shark who works out of Halfway Island. Ann Rutherford, who is nearly unrecognizable from her gig as “Polly Benedict” in the Andy Hardy series, plays the love interest, although there ain't much romance in this serial. The Tiger Shark is after a gyro-compass [“designed to aid blind flying”] invented by Rutherford's brother. The Tiger Shark wears goggles and a black leather aviator's outfit and flies an auto-gyro – he's certainly more striking and heroic in appearance than either of the potato-headed heroes. The opening sequence with the Marines fighting pirates on Halfway Island is busy but dull, and the rest of the serial, alas, isn't much better. Aside from a well-done sequence involving a closing, crushing wall, the cliffhangers are pretty lame and there are far too many flashbacks. This is a mostly by-the-numbers serial that fails to sustain suspense even though the identity of the villain is withheld until the very end. Mascot did some pretty good serials with John Wayne as star, but Fighting Marines is a major disappointment.

Verdict: Several hours of your life that you can't get back! *1/2.

UNDERSEA KINGDOM

UNDERSEA KINGDOM (1936). 12 Chapter Republic Serial. Directed by B. Reeves Eason and Joseph Kane.

Ray “Crash” Corrigan stars as an adventurer who winds up in the middle of a civil war in an alleged Atlantis under the sea. Although there is supposed to be a roof above, or cavern surrounding, Atlantis, we never see any evidence of it; Atlantis – “10,000 feet below sea level” -- simply appears to be an island with sky and not water above. This is another serial in which the hero has an admiring little pal, Billy (Lee Van Atta), whose real father is an elderly professorial type. The two warring leaders of Atlantis include Unga Khan, who wants to raise his weapons tower to the upper world where he can cause worldwide disasters, and the High Priest Sharad, who is described as “kindly” even after he demands Crash kill an opponent he bested in the arena. Crash winds up as the head of Sharad's army, a bizarre development to be certain. One of the best scenes has Khan's soldier Lon Chaney Jr. tying Crash to the front of his tank and driving right through the gates of Sharad's city. But this is a notorious cheat, as in the next episode the formerly closed gates are now open as the tank goes through! Another suspect development has Crash instruct Billy to climb on his back as he straddles a tightrope and nearly plunges both of them to their doom. Lois Wild is the nominal love interest as Diana.

Verdict: Undersea Kingdom may be watchable, but it isn't very good. **.