A man (Boris Karloff) is framed for murder by gangsters and then executed, but he is brought back to life through the efforts of a scientist (Edmund Gwenn) who seeks to learn what the man experienced while dead. The revivified fellow confronts those responsible for his demise, with fatal results. Solid performances (including Ricardo Cortez …
Monogram Monday: Hidden Valley (1932)
Likeable cowboy star Bob Steele is the lead in this unusual western, directed by his father, Robert N. Bradbury. It’s a lost-race tale in which Bob Harding (Steele) is framed for the murder of an archaeologist who possesses a map to the valley of the title, which supposedly contains gold, silver, turquoise, and opals. Harding …
Read the full post →“Monogram Monday: <em>Hidden Valley</em> (1932)”
Sunday Fun: Trophy
Gunsmoke Ranch(Republic, 1937)
It’s another land swindle, this time with refugees from a flood being duped into buying land already condemned to flooding by a planned dam. Can the Three Mesquiteers outwit the scheming Phineas T. Flagg (Kenneth Harlan)? And will Stony’s romance with a settler’s daughter (Julia Thayer) have a happy outcome? Lullaby and Elmer provide some …
Read the full post →“<em>Gunsmoke Ranch</em>(Republic, 1937)”
The Fighting Trooper (1934)
Stalwart Kermit Maynard has the lead role in this low-budget northern, as Trooper Burke, a Mountie in pursuit of a noted outlaw (LeRoy Mason) who apparently killed the first officer who tried to apprehend him. But more is going on than at first appears to be the case. Will the trooper get his man? Maynard …
The Son of Dr. Jekyll (Columbia, 1951)
When the son of the notorious Dr. Jekyll is inspired to undertake some experiments of his own along the same lines as those of his father, deadly happenings suggest that history may be repeating itself. But who in fact is responsible for the crimes? Louis Hayward does well in the lead, even if he is …
Read the full post →“<em>The Son of Dr. Jekyll</em> (Columbia, 1951)”
Sunday Fun: Easterns
South of Death Valley (Columbia, 1949)
Rather than a put-up battle between ranchers and sheepherders or farmers, this Durango Kid outing features a fomented conflict between ranchers and miners. When Steve Downey (Charles Starrett) seeks to reopen the mine that was owned by his murdered brother-in-law, the crooks behind the killing commit another, with Steve framed for the crime, and it’s …
Read the full post →“<em>South of Death Valley</em> (Columbia, 1949)”
Sunday Fun: Oops!
The Fighting Parson(1933)
A cowboy prone to a little misbehavior masquerades as a parson but faces difficulties when a criminal recognizes him, and things get even more complicated when the real parson shows up. As is common in Hoot Gibson’s films, there’s a large element of comedy in the proceedings, as the viewer watches the cowboy squirm in …