UNDER COLORADO SKIES

UNDER COLORADO SKIES (1947). Director: R. G. Springsteen. in TruColor. 

Bank teller and medical student Monte Hale (Monte Hale) is in the bank when it's robbed, and becomes the chief suspect not only in the robbery but the murder of the bank president. One of the real perpetrators is Jeff Collins (John Alvin of This Side of the Law), who happens to be the brother of Monte's fiancee Julia Collins (Lorna Gray of Daughter of Don Q). In a foolish attempt to protect the woman he loves from the truth, Monte runs off and then encounters a group in a runaway wagon, whom he rescues. These men turn out to be members of the Riders of the Purple Sage singing group (actually the Foy Willing band), who sign him  up without even hearing him sing. Hotel and saloon owner Lucky (Paul Hurst) hires the band, and proves generally helpful to Monte and Julia after she is shot during a stage coach robbery perpetrated by the Marlowe gang. After cutting a bullet out of Julia, Monte is forced to do the same thing for Marlowe (William Haade), the head of the gang, who takes a liking to him. For his part, Monte manages to convince Marlowe that he's really on his side. But will Monte be able to pull off this deception? And what will happen when Julia learns the truth about her miserable polecat of a brother?

Monte Hale

Although forgotten by all but classic B western fans, Monte Hale was another popular Republic studios singing cowboy who had quite a following in his day. His comic book lasted eight years. A big attractive lug, if not quite as handsome as Roy Rogers, Hale was not a bad singer in his own right, had a very deep speaking voice, and more of a kind of "macho" presence than Rogers. His acting can best be described as adequate but ingratiating. Showing her versatility, Lorna Gray is quite different in this than she is in the occasionally villainous roles she would play in serials. This was the very first film for Gene Evans [The Giant Behemoth], who adeptly plays one of the gang members. Busy actor Hank Patterson is also in the cast as Slim, and he has an amusing drunk scene. R. G. Springsteen also directed Black Spurs and many others. The best song number -- there are several -- is Holiday for the Blues.

Verdict: Well-turned-out western musical fare with an appealingly gauche Hale in the lead. **3/4. 

DRUMS OF THE DESERT

Ralph Byrd and George Lynn

DRUMS OF THE DESERT (1940). Director: George Waggner.

Paul Dumont (Ralph Byrd) meets up with the pretty Helene Larouche (Lorna Gray) on his way to become a parachute instructor for the French foreign legion and a romance ensues. Once he arrives in Algeria Paul discovers that one of his best friends, Captain Jean Bridaux (George Lynn), is already affianced to Helene. Adding to the complications is an Arab named Abdullah (William Castello), who wants revenge when his brother is executed for attacking Bridaux. The triangle/soldier story has been told many times both before and after this picture, and this version is no more than acceptable. The leads, especially Lynn [The Werewolf], who gives a committed performance, are adequate; Castello makes a striking Abdullah;  and Mantan Moreland adds to the proceedings, as usual, as the head of a contingent of black paratroopers. From Republic.

Verdict: Little more than a time passer but with some appealing players. **.

HIDEOUT

HIDEOUT (1949). Director: Philip Ford.

City attorney George Browning (Lloyd Bridges) doesn't know that his girlfriend, Betty (Lorna Gray appearing as "Adrian Booth"), is actually in a gang headed by Arthur Burdett (Ray Collins). After stealing the famous Kaymeer diamonds, Burdett left Chicago for the small town of Hilltop, Illinois, where he masquerades as a dead alumnus of the local college. When a crooked gem expert is murdered by some of Burdett's disgruntled associates, George, hoping to become mayor, decides to investigate. Meanwhile, his new secretary, the highly efficient Edie (Sheila Ryan), mightily disapproves of her rival, Betty. Then Burdett decides that certain people who know too much have to be taken care of ... Hideout is a snappy and very entertaining "B" movie with some good performances and an unpredictable screenplay [John K. Butler]. Ray Collins [The Magnificent Ambersons] is terrific as the slimy and sinister, deceptively pleasant Burdett, and Gray and Ryan [Gold Raiders] are both on the money, with Bridges exhibiting both his competence and his winning personality as George. Chick Chandler has a smaller role as Burdett's associate and driver and is fine. Jeff Corey [Seconds] and Alan Carney make an impression as thugs.

Verdict: Snappy Republic crime movie. ***.

THE GIRL WHO DARED

Peter Cookson

THE GIRL WHO DARED (1944). Director: Howard Bretherton.

Ann Carroll (Lorna Gray) and her brother Josh (Kirk Alyn of Superman) are given a lift by the mysterious Rufus Blair (Peter Cookson) to a sort of haunted house party on an island that lies past a causeway. However, the owners of the house, Beau and Chattie Richmond (John Hamilton and Vivien Oakland), never sent out any invitations. While the group is pondering who might have invited people to a non-party, one of a pair of twins (Veda Ann Borg) is found murdered. The phone lines are cut and the causeway is cut off due to a storm. Everything seems to be tied into a theft of radium which someone is killing for. The suspense is quite bearable in this otherwise entertaining if distinctly minor Monogram mystery. The cast is game enough, with Willie Best [My Little Margie] making the best impression (despite the old-fashioned nature of his acting) as the funny and likable manservant Woodrow, along with Peter Cookson [Shadow of Suspicion], who proves once again that he was a criminally underutilized leading man. Roy Barcroft and Grant Withers are also in the cast. Howard Bretherton directed a number of serials, Charlie Chan movies, and Frankie Darro features.

Verdict: The girl who dared what? **1/2 out of 4.

CAPTAIN AMERICA (1944)

The Scarab (Lionel Atwill) vs Captain America (Dick Purcell)

 CAPTAIN AMERICA (15 chapter Republic serial/1944). Directors: Elmer Clifton; John English.

"A shocking exhibition of barbarism!" -- Cyrus Maldor.

District Attorney Grant Gardner (Dick Purcell) is secretly -- actually, not so secretly -- the famous costumed hero Captain America. His adversary, as we know from the first, is the Scarab, who is -- very secretly, except to the audience -- Cyrus Maldor (Lionel Atwill). Maldor first kills off members of an expedition who know too much via a poison known as the Purple Death. He has his men steal a destructive device that brings down a building; uses a scientist's secret of perpetual life to bring one of his henchmen back from the dead; and employs a "Singari blow-gun" to kill off another of his enemies. Later he tries to get a portion of a map that will lead him to a secret city and its treasures. Highlights of this exciting serial include the aforementioned building collapse in chapter one; a bit with a guillotine in chapter five; and a sequence when our hero is nearly crushed by a mine car hurtling down a shaft in chapter six, Another interesting scene has the Scarab brutally whipping John Hamilton, the "chief" from Adventures of Superman. Purcell [Brides are Like That] is quite suitable as Captain America/Grant Gardner; pretty Lorna Gray makes less impression in this than she did in The Perils of Nyoka; and Atwill [The Devil is a Woman], in his classy, elegant and utterly evil performance as Maldor, positively walks off with the picture; his underplaying makes him that much more effective. Jay Novello also registers in his brief turn as a thug. The fight scenes in this are furious and frenetic and very well-done. In the comic books Captain America was a soldier named Steve Rogers, not a D.A. I find this serial a lot more entertaining than the recent movies about this character such as Captain America The First Avenger.

Verdict: Delightful Republic cliffhanger. ***1/2.

FASHION MODEL

Robert Lowery, Tim Ryan, Marjorie Weaver

FASHION MODEL (1945). Director: William Beaudine.

Not long after model Peggy Rooney (Marjorie Weaver of Great Alaskan Mystery) gets into a fight with rival Yvonne (Lorna Gray of The Perils of Nyoka), the latter is found strangled inside the fashion house where they work. Peggy is the first major suspect in the murder, but as more deaths occur, her boyfriend Jimmy (Robert Lowery) catches the eye of dogged Police Inspector O'Hara (Tim Ryan). There's also a missing broach that was given to the dead woman by her rather disinterested fiance, Davis (John Valentine), which engenders a frantic search for the expensive item by Duval (Edward Keane), head of the fashion house, and his employee, Madame Celeste (Dorothy Christy). Fashion Model is a comedy-mystery with a few chuckles, some cold-blooded characters, and an interesting if lower case cast. Tim Ryan could probably have played the role of the inspector in his sleep by now. Robert Lowery registers his usual suave charm, and Marjorie Weaver proves she's definitely no Lucille Ball. Nell Craig and Harry Depp [Black Magic] are fun as a bickering couple who are in the fashion house during the first murder, and Jack Norton nearly steals the picture as the tippling window dresser, Herbert. The most amusing sequence has Herbert trying to undress two mannequins who are actually Peggy and Jimmy in disguise. The ending is kind of nifty and well-done. Dorothy Christy was the evil queen in The Phantom Empire and also appeared in Sons of the Desert with Laurel and Hardy.

Verdict: It's not Blood and Black Lace but it has its moments. **.

UP IN THE AIR

Darro, Renolds, Moreland, and Coffin have a conference

UP IN THE AIR (1940). Director: Howard Bretherton.

Frankie (Frankie Darro) is a page boy in a radio studio who tries to impress new receptionist Anne (Marjorie Reynolds of The Time of Their Lives) by pretending to be a producer, which doesn't sit well with her or with their boss, Mr. Farrell (Tristram Coffin). Farrell and others at the station are having problems with difficult, bitchy radio singer Rita Wilson (Lorna Gray of The Perils of Nyoka) but those problems abruptly end when she's shot dead by an unknown person during a rehearsal. Will Anne be chosen to go on in her place? Will Frankie and his buddy Jeff (Mantan Moreland) unveil the murderer before the police do? Yes, it's another Darro-Moreland mystery comedy from Monogram studios, full of flavorful actors but without much of a story. Gordon Jones (The Green Hornet) is a lousy cowboy singer; Dennis Moore (The Purple Monster Strikes) is a gag writer; Dick Elliott is Hastings, the station owner; and John Holland (The Girl in Black Stockings) -- also Alice's handsome boss on an episode of The Honeymooners -- is Sam Quigley, another executive. Neither of the "girl" singers really do justice to the snappy number "Conga;" the best scene has Mantan Morelamd doing a soft shoe routine.

Verdict: Very likable leads but where's the decent script? **.

FLYING G-MEN

The Black Falcon goes into action!

FLYING G-MEN (15 chapter Columbia serial/1939). Directors: James W. Horne; Ray Taylor.

Four famous sky hawks have now become G-Men, working for the Air Division of the FBI/Department of Justice. Their assignment is to track down the members of a deadly espionage ring and discover who its leader is. When their friend Ed McKay (William Lalley), who's invented a remote control pilot-less bomber, is killed, they vow to track down his murderer with the aid of his young son, Billy (Sammy McKim), and grown sister, Babs (Lorna Gray). The sky hawks decide that one of them should take on the costumed identity of the Black Falcon, so that he can sort of operate outside the law and really get the goods on the bad guys. One of the foursome is killed off in the first chapter, leaving Hal (Robert Paige), Bart (Richard Fiske), and John (James Craig) to become the Falcon. [Hiding the identity of the hero as opposed to the villain had been done the year before in The Lone Ranger, and later in The Masked Marvel.] It is hard not to notice the resemblance between the Black Falcon and comic books' Blackhawk, but the latter character did not actually appear until 1941 [Republic did a serial version of Blackhawk in 1952], meaning the Black Falcon came first. Although the individual cliffhangers tend to be nothing special, Flying G-Men is still a very fast-paced and highly entertaining serial, with lots of lively fist-fights and some exciting aerial action as well. Paige makes an appealing protagonist, and Fiske and Craig are stalwart enough as his colleagues. Lorna Gray would have to wait three years until Perils of Nyoka to make an impression as the evil Vultura; in this she isn't given enough to do. An uncredited Tom Steele has some dialogue passages early in the serial as a bad guy, and Nestor Paiva turns up as one of the saboteurs. Sidney Cutner's rousing music complements the action beautifully. Paige was in Blonde Ice and Son of Dracula; Fiske did The Spider's Web and Perils of the Royal Mounted; and James Craig was in everything from Winners of the West to The Cyclops. Young McKim was also in Dick Tracy's G-Men.

Verdict: Punch-fests and action galore! ***.

FEDERAL OPERATOR 99

FEDERAL OPERATOR 99 (12 chapter Republic serial/1945). Directors: Spencer Bennett; Yakima Canutt.

Jerry Blake (Marten Lamont) -- AKA Operator 99 -- and assistant Joyce Kingston (Helen Talbot) vs. crime lord Jim Belmont (George J. Lewis) and his moll Rita Parker (Lorna Gray). At least Belmont appreciates some of the finer things in life, such as classical music. He plays the Moonlight Sonata as a henchman begins to torture a countess (Elaine Lange) with fire. Hal Taliaferro is distinctive as the gunsel Matt. Among other plots, Belmont tries to get his hands on some jewels and a prized Stradivarius. Joyce is almost cremated in chapter three, and strung up to face a giant propeller in chapter four. [There are a couple of recycled cliffhangers as well.] Federal Operator 99 has an interesting cast and characters, including Jay Novello as a diamond cutter and Tom Steele as several thugs and others. Lorna Gray was in many other serials, including Daughter of Don Q and The Perils of Nyoka.

Verdict: Fast-paced and with great fight choreography. ***.

DAUGHTER OF DON Q

DAUGHTER OF DON Q (12 chapter Republic serial/1946). Directors: Spencer Gordon Bennet and Fred C. Brannon.

The pretty sports celebrity Delores Quantero (Lorna Gray playing as Adrian Booth), one of many descendants of Don Quantero, is unaware that an old Spanish land grant actually leaves millions of dollars of real estate to his heirs. One of them, Carlos Manning (LeRoy Mason), is aware of this, and with the aid of his main henchman Donovan (Roy Barcroft), sets out to murder the other heirs. Cliff Roberts (Kirk Alyn) is an intrepid  reporter who aids Delores and tries to find out why someone is killing off all of her relatives. This is a nifty idea for a serial, and Daughter of Don Q makes the most of it. Although comparatively colorless, the villains in this are especially evil  -- at one point they are going to make it look like a perfectly innocent man committed embezzlement and then suicide. The serial also has a sense of humor. When one nasty gunsel falls out of a window to his death, it turns out that he made a living by proposing to wealthy women and absconding with their fortunes before the wedding. "I wonder if any of the ladies he left at the church will attend his funeral," someone quips. There are many good cliffhangers; one of the best has Delores hanging onto a shower curtain after she's knocked out of a window as it begins to slip off the rod notch by notch ... The feisty Delores, who gives as good as she gets, gets hit on the head so often it's a wonder she even knows who she is by the end of the serial! Although there is nothing elaborate or especially unique about Daughter, it's still terrifically entertaining. Lorna Gray played the villainess in Perils of Nyoka and Barcroft was the bad guy in Manhunt of Mystery Island, another superlative Republic serial.

Verdict: Maybe not a classic but fast-paced and action-packed from start to finish. ***1/2.  

THE PERILS OF NYOKA

THE PERILS OF NYOKA (1942). 15 chapter Republic serial. Director: William Witney. 

This is a rousing, well-done cliffhanger serial that's supposed to take place in a desert land but looks more like sunny California. Who cares -- if you want logic, look elsewhere. Nyoka (Kay Aldridge) is on a search for her father, and for the Tablets of Hippocrates, which are supposed to impart the secrets of banishing all ills from mankind. Looking for the tablets for her own evil purposes is Vultura (Lorna Gray, pictured), whose henchmen include Charles "Ming the Merciless" Middleton and Tristram "Rocket Man" Coffin. However, Aldridge has hunky Clayton Moore of Lone Ranger on her side so she's not complaining. In the meantime, Gray shows off her shapely legs in her revealing costumes. Vultura has Satan, the dumb, hokey gorilla to aid her, while our heroine has Jitters , an adorable monkey, and Fang, a German shepherd, to help her out. Highlights include Satan literally bringing the house down by smashing at some pillars; Vultura putting Nyoka to the rack; a bit with some descending spikes; Nyoka suspended over a fire pit by her own father; a swinging pendulum that nearly cuts a bloody swathe through Nyoka; and -- best of all -- a thrilling bit with our lass being blown out of a tunnel and off of a cliff by a sudden wind storm! Vultura and Nyoka have some great cat-fights in every other episode. Ken Terrell of Attack of the 50 Foot Woman also has a small part, as he frequently did in these things. Ditto for William Benedict. Highly effective musical score and a great theme. NOTE: This was rereleased as Nyoka and the Tiger Men; it was not a sequel. 

Verdict: Great fun! ***.