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Archive for the ‘Lewis D. Collins’ Category

DVD Review: Texas City (1952).

Posted in 1952, Bud Osbourne, DVD/Blu-Ray Reviews, Johnny Mack Brown, Lewis D. Collins, Lois Hall, Lyle Talbot, Monogram/Allied Artists, Russell Hayden, Warner Archive on February 11, 2024| 1 Comment »

Directed by Lewis D. Collins
Produced by Vincent M. Fennelly
Written by Joseph F. Poland
Director Of Photography: Ernest Miller
Film Editor: Sam Fields
Music by Raoul Kraushaar

Cast: Johnny Mack Brown (Marshal Johnny Mack Brown), James Ellison (Jim Kirby), Lois Hall (Lois Upton), Terry Frost (Trag), Lane Bradford (Hank), Lyle Talbot (Captain Hamilton), Marshall Reed (Yarnell), Pierce Lyden (Marshal George Markham), Lorna Thayer (Aunt Harriet), Bud Osborne, Bill Coontz, John Hart

Seemed like a Lyle Talbot kind of day, so I pulled out Monogram’s Texas City (1952) starring Johnny Mack Brown — a solid little Western produced toward the end of Brown’s run at Monogram.

After a series of Army gold shipments are held up, Marshall Johnny Mack Brown is brought in to investigate. He suspects that the crooks are using the ghost town of Dawson City as their base. There he meets Lois Upton (Lois Hall), a young lady who’s just come West after inheriting the town’s dilapidated hotel and Jim Kirby (James Ellison), a young man who arouses Johnny Mack’s suspicions. 

This one’s got everything: gold shipment robberies, a ghost town, a cave hideout (with a secret entrance behind a grandfather clock), a pretty girl from back East, Bud Osbourne driving the stage and, of course, Lyle Talbot as a crooked cavalry officer.

One of my favorite things about the Johnny Mack Brown Monograms is his hat. (Never underestimate the power of a good hat in a Western.) Conversely, Lyle Talbot’s hat is just terrible. He must’ve made somebody mad in the Monogram wardrobe department.

Lois Hall was in three Johnny Mack pictures, a couple Whip Wilson things, two Durango Kids, some Sam Katzman serials at Columbia and Republic’s Daughter Of The Jungle (1949). She’s usually terrific, but she doesn’t have a lot to do in this one. James Ellison had been in the early Hopalong Cassidy pictures, I Walked With A Zombie (1941) and a series of Lippert Westerns co-starring Russell Hayden. Not long after Texas City, Ellison would leave the picture business for real estate.

John Hart appears as a cavalryman in the opening shootout — about a year before he (temporarily) replaced Clayton Moore on The Lone Ranger. Lorna Thayer, who plays Lois Hall’s aunt, later played the waitress who winds up on Jack Nicholson’s bad side in Five Easy Pieces (1970).

Texas City is one of nine Monogram Westerns included in Volume 4 of Warner Archive’s Monogram Cowboy Collection. It has all three pictures Lois Hall did with Johnny Mack Brown.

Texas City was beautifully shot by Ernest Miller, making good use of locations we’ve all seen a hundred times. So it’s nice to see Miller’s work well-presented here. Though it obviously wasn’t given what we’d call a full restoration today, the transfer is excellent. These Monogram Western sets are wonderful, one of my favorite things Warner Archive has done. If you don’t have ’em, you’re really missing out. Highly, highly recommended.

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DVD Review: Colorado Ambush (1951).

Posted in 1951, DVD/Blu-Ray Reviews, Johnny Mack Brown, Lewis D. Collins, Lois Hall, Lyle Talbot, Monogram/Allied Artists, Myron Healey, Warner Archive on September 11, 2023| 1 Comment »

Directed by Lewis Collins
Produced by Vincent M. Fennelly
Screenplay by Myron Healey
Director Of Photography: Gilbert Warrenton
Film Editor: Fred Maguire
Music by Edward J. Kay

Cast: Johnny Mack Brown (Johnny Mack Brown), Myron Healey (Chet Murdock), Lois Hall (Janet Williams), Tommy Farrell (Terry Williams), Christine McIntyre (Mae Star), Lee Roberts (Gus), Marshall Bradford (Ben Williams), Lyle Talbot (Sheriff Ed Lowery)

Lois Hall came up recently when Imprint Films announced their upcoming Blu-Ray set Tales Of Adventure, Collection Two — which has her starring in Republic’s Daughter Of The Jungle (1949). And since I’ve been meaning to revisit the Warner Archive Monogram Cowboy Collection sets, why not take a look at one of Miss Hall’s Johnny Mack Brown pictures? Conveniently, all three are on Volume 4 of that terrific series.

In Colorado Ambush (1951), somebody’s picking off Wells Fargo riders to get ahold of the payroll. It looks like an inside job, and Johnny Mack Brown is sent to investigate. He soon meets the Williams family — father Marshall Bradford, daughter Lois Hall and son Tommy Farrell — who care for Wells Fargo’s horses and are in charge of transporting the payroll. Only they know when a rider is carrying the money.

Turns out Farrell’s in cahoots with the ruthless Myron Healey and Christine McIntyre to ambush the riders toting the dough. And when Brown and sheriff Lyle Talbot start to sort out the scheme and things go south for the crooks, the bullets fly and the bodies start piling up. There’s not a lot of the cast left breathing at the end of the picture’s 51 minutes.

Monogram’s B Westerns of the late 40s and early 50s were obviously done on the skinny, both time-wise and financially. But there’s usually plenty of shootin’ and ridin’, some great character actors — and of course terrific leads like Wild Bill Elliott and Johnny Mack Brown. What’s more, they tend to be more adult than what you expect from pictures like this. And in the case of the Johnny Mack Brown films, there’s the added benefit of the wonderful hats he wears.

In an interview with Boyd Magers, Lois Hall said of Johnny Mack Brown: “I feel the same thing everybody else says about him…a true gentleman. And a little distant. He wasn’t one to sit around the set. He went back to his dressing room between things. But a very pleasant person.” Brown was evidently as likable on the set as he is on the screen. 

Myron Healey is not only the villain in Colorado Ambush, he was also the screenwriter. His script is pretty clever — how the bad guys know when the riders are carrying the cash is rather ingenious. Healey scripted another Johnny Mack picture, Texas Lawmen (1951).

Lyle Talbot plays the sheriff, an old friend of Brown’s. This was about a year after Talbot appeared as Lex Luther in the serial Atom Man Vs. Superman (1950). It’s always a treat when Talbot shows up in something, and since he made a point of never turning down work, he turns up quite a bit.

Lewis Collins directed dozens of Westerns like this, including some of the William Elliott and Whip Wilson Monograms (oh, and 1950’s Hot Rod) that were being done around the same time Colorado Ambush was released. Collins died of a heart attack in 1956. He’s a bit like Lesley Selander — you can count on him to make a decent, fast-moving Western under about any circumstances.

As I mentioned earlier, Colorado Ambush is included in Volume 4 of Warner Archive’s Monogram Cowboy Collection, a nine-picture set that also includes some Jimmy Wakely films. It gives you all three Brown Westerns co-starring Lois Hall, the other two being Blazing Bullets (1951) and Texas City (1952). The films look great — even though they don’t get an actual restoration, the transfers are very nicely done. Personally, I kinda like some dust or scratches here and there, and there are a few incidents of each in Colorado Ambush. The sound’s excellent. I wish Warner Archive had kept digging around in the Monogram vaults. The stuff they put out are some of the real joys of my collection. 

Colorado Ambush, this set, the Monogram Cowboy Collection and anything else Warner Archive gave us from Monogram is highly recommended. You’re not gonna come across a masterpiece, but you’re certainly gonna be entertained.

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Wild Bill Wednesday #14: Waco (1952).

Posted in 1952, Beverly Garland, Daniel B. Ullman, DVD/Blu-Ray Reviews, I. Stanford Jolley, Lewis D. Collins, Monogram/Allied Artists, Rex Reason, Sam Katzman, Warner Archive, William Elliott on July 24, 2019| 12 Comments »

Directed by Lewis D. Collins
Produced by Vincent M. Fennelly
Written by Daniel B. Ullman
Director Of Photography: Ernest Miller
Music by Raoul Kraushaar
Film Editor: Sam Fields

Cast: Wild Bill Elliott (Matt Boone), I. Stanford Jolley (Curly Ivers), Pamela Blake (Kathy Clark), Paul Fierro (Lou Garcia), Rand Brooks (Al), Richard Avonde (Pedro), Pierce Lyden (Farley), Lane Bradford (Wallace), Terry Frost (Will Richards), Stanley Price (Sheriff), Stanley Andrews (Judge), Michael Whalen (Barnes), Ray Bennett (Bull Clark), House Peters Jr. (Doctor)

__________

Seems like it’s time for a Wild Bill Wednesday. So let’s go to Waco (1952).

A little backstory. William Elliott and Republic Pictures parted ways in 1950. It wasn’t long before Elliott started making low-budget Westerns at Monogram. By the time the series was over, Monogram had become Allied Artists, 1.85 had become the standard aspect ratio for American cinema, and the B Western was dead. These 11 pictures — Waco was the second — made sure the B Western went out on a high note.

Matt Boone (Elliott) leaves Waco, Texas in a hurry after killing the crooked gambler Bull Clark (Ray Bennett) in self defense — he knows he won’t get a fair trial. Boone falls in with a gang of outlaws and is shot and captured when a bank job in Pecos goes wrong. Two of Waco’s prominent citizens bring Elliott back to Waco. They believe in his innocence (they saw Clark draw first) and need him to clean up their town. He’s elected sheriff. Only trouble is, his old gang (led by I. Stanford Jolley) and the gambler’s daughter (Pamela Blake) aren’t too keen on the idea.

These Monogram and Allied Artists pictures are a bit darker, more “adult,” than your typical B Western. The budget limitations are certainly obvious, but William Elliott’s as reliable as ever — and in this one, he gets to play the “good badman” type of role he liked so much, patterned after William S. Hart.

I’m a peaceable man and I’m not lookin’ for trouble. I’m not runnin’ from it neither.”

Waco comes from a pretty tight script by Dan Ullman. Ullman wrote plenty of 50s Westerns, from programmers like Kansas Pacific (1953) with Sterling Hayden to the excellent Face Of A Fugitive (1959), starring Fred MacMurray. It was directed by Lewis D. Collins, who started with silent shorts, made a boatload of pictures and passed away a few years after this one.

Pamela Blake’s part here doesn’t give her a whole lot to do. She stayed plenty busy — everything from This Gun For Hire (1942) to the serial Ghost Of Zorro (1949) at Republic to Live Wires (1946), the first Bowery Boys movie, to The Sea Hound (1947), a Sam Katzman serial at Columbia. Waco was her last feature — she worked on TV for a while, then retired to raise a family. I. Stanford Jolley, who’s got a great part here as a not-as-bad-as-you-thought outlaw, appeared in hundreds of Westerns, including a number of these Elliott pictures. It’s always a plus when he turns up in the credits (or in the back of a crowd working without credit).

Waco is part of Warner Archive’s terrific The Wild Bill Elliott Western Collection. Shot at Corriganville and the Iverson Ranch by ace cinematographer Ernest Miller, it looks terrific on DVD. Monogram struck prints of these pictures in “glorious sepia tone,” and while I’m a stickler for preserving the original presentation, I’m glad Warner Archive stuck with black and white. Sepia doesn’t always come off well on TV. The set treats these cheap little movies with the kind of respect they (and William Elliott himself) certainly deserve. It’s great to see them looking so clean and sharp. Highly recommended.

Dan Ullman would write, produce and direct a remake of Waco — the Regalscope picture Badlands Of Montana (1957) starring Rex Reason and Beverly Garland.

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DVD Review: Canyon Ambush (1952).

Posted in 1952, DVD/Blu-Ray Reviews, Johnny Mack Brown, Lewis D. Collins, Monogram/Allied Artists, Phyllis Coates, Warner Archive on September 29, 2017| 20 Comments »

Directed by Lewis Collins
Written by Joseph Poland
Director Of Photography: Ernest Miller
Music by Raoul Kraushaar

Cast: Johnny Mack Brown (Himself), Lee Roberts (Sheriff Bob Conway), Phyllis Coates (Marian Gaylord), Hugh Prosser (George Millarde), Dennis Moore (Henry Lockwood), Marshall Reed (Macklin)

__________

The last of Johnny Mack Brown’s B Westerns for Monogram, Canyon Ambush (1952) is pretty much exactly what you’re picturing in your head — a pretty solid little picture shot at Iverson Ranch. In it, Brown’s a government agent who rides into Border City to help bring a masked rider to justice. There’s plenty of ridin’ and shootin’ all over the hallowed grounds of the Iverson Ranch, and Phyllis Coates is on hand to give the picture an extra boost — and plenty of curb appeal.

The screenplay’s by Joseph Poland, who wrote a ton of B Westerns (Autry, Wayne, Elliott) and serials (Dick Tracy Vs. Crime Inc., Batman And Robin and Atom Man Vs. Superman).

At the time Canyon Ambush was in production, Monogram was in the process of becoming Allied Artists. William Elliott stayed and made a few more pictures with the typical Monogram team (Lewis Collins, Thomas Carr, Ernest Miller, etc.); Johnny Mack Brown retired.

Canyon Ambush is available on DVD from Warner Archive’s Monogram Cowboy Collection Volume 5. The three-disc set also includes Brown and Raymond Hatton in The Texas Kid (1943), Partners Of The Trail (1944), Law Men(1944), Ghost Guns (1944), Gun Smoke (1945), Frontier Feud (1945), Border Bandits (1946) and Raiders Of The South (1947). Canyon Ambush looks terrific, stunning at times. The contrast levels are beautiful, giving us a chance to really take in the wonders of the Iverson Ranch. (One more thing: Johnny Mack Brown has a really cool hat in this one.)

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50s Westerns DVD/Blu-ray News #202: Our Best Of 2015.

Posted in 1953, 1956, 1957, Alan Ladd, Allan Dwan, Anne Francis, Ben Johnson, Brian Donlevy, Charles Bronson, Charles Haas, Daniel B. Ullman, DVD reviews, releases, TV, etc., Edgar Buchanan, Edwin L. Marin, Forrest Tucker, George Stevens, Jim Davis, John Agar, Kino Lorber, Leo Gordon, Lesley Selander, Lewis D. Collins, Lippert/Regal, Lloyd Bridges, Mara Corday, Olive Films, Panamint, Paramount, Peggie Castle, Pre-1950, Randolph Scott, Republic Pictures, Rhonda Fleming, Richard Boone, RKO, Robert Mitchum, Rory Calhoun, Sam Fuller, Skip Homeier, Thomas Carr, Universal (International), Warner Archive, William Claxton, William Elliott, William Witney on January 8, 2016| 28 Comments »

Abile Town signed still

First, thanks to everyone who sent in their picks — we had a larger turnout this year. Your responses were very thorough, and they made it clear to me what a good year this was for 50s Westerns on DVD and Blu-ray — you brought up tons of em. Here are the Top 10, ordered by the number of votes they received.

Abilene Town (1946, Blu-ray, Panamint Cinema)
This one topped the list in a big way. I was so stoked to see this fairly obscure Randolph Scott picture rescued from the PD purgatory where it’s been rotting for years — a lot of you seemed to feel the same. Mastered from 35mm fine-grain material, it’s stunning.

Shane (1953, Blu-ray, Eureka)
The Blu-ray release from Paramount made last year’s list, and this UK release was a strong contender this time around. Eureka gives us the opportunity to see what Paramount’s controversial 1.66 cropping looked like.

The Wild Bill Elliott Western Collection (1951-54, DVD set, Warner Archive)
I’m pretty biased when it comes to this one, and I was happy to learn that others were as pleased with it as I was. One of the greatest Western stars goes out on a high note, even if it is a low-budget one.

The Quiet Gun (1956, Blu-ray, Olive Films)
It’s hard to believe this was a 2015 release, since it was on Olive Films’ coming-soon list for such a long time. These Regalscope movies look great in their original aspect ratio, and for my money, this is the best of the bunch.

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Woman They Almost Lynched (1953, Blu-ray, Olive Films)
It makes me feel good to see Allan Dwan get some attention, and stellar presentations of his work, like this one, should continue to fuel his (re-)discovery.

Man With The Gun (1955, Blu-ray, Kino Lorber)
A solid Robert Mitchum Western, with the added punch of a terrific 1.85 hi-def transfer. This is a lot better movie than you probably remember it being.

rod-steiger-sara-montiel

Run Of The Arrow (1957, DVD, Warner Archive)
This really knocked me out — I’d somehow missed out on what a great movie this is. It took me a while to get used to Rod Steiger and his affected accent, but this is prime Sam Fuller.

The Hired Gun (1957, DVD, Warner Archive)
Black and white CinemaScope is a big attraction for me, so I’d been waiting for this one for years. It was worth the wait.

Stranger At My Door (1954, Blu-ray, Olive Films)
A really cool little movie from Republic and William Witney. It was Witney’s favorite of his own pictures, and it’s pretty easy to see why he’d be partial to it. His work here is masterful.

Star-in-the-Dust_15

Star In The Dust (1956, Blu-ray, Koch)
Koch out of Germany is treating us (or those of us with a Region B player) to some great Universal 50s Westerns on Blu-ray. This one was released in Universal’s 2.0 ratio of the period. Some found it a bit tight, but it’s a gorgeous presentation of a movie not enough people have seen.

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Wild Bill Wednesday #11: Kansas Territory (1952) DVD Review.

Posted in 1952, Daniel B. Ullman, DVD/Blu-Ray Reviews, Fuzzy Knight, Lewis D. Collins, Monogram/Allied Artists, Peggy Stewart, Warner Archive, William Elliott on October 21, 2015| 35 Comments »

Shamokin_News_Dispatch_Thu__Jan_8__1953_

Directed by Lewis Collins
Produced by Vincent M. Fennelly
Story and Screenplay by Dan Ullman
Cinematography: Ernest Miller

Cast: Wild Bill Elliott (Joe Daniels), Peggy Stewart (Kay Collins), House Peters, Jr. (Ralph Carruthers), Lane Bradford (Fred Jethro), Stan Jolley (Slater), Fuzzy Knight (Cap), John Hart, Lyle Talbot

__________

The last couple years, we’ve compiled lists of our favorite 50s Western DVD releases for that year, which I post on this blog. Well, I’m gonna go ahead and reveal my pick for the best DVD release of 2015 — Warner Archive’s Wild Bill Elliott Western Collection.

kansasterritory3

After The Showdown (1950), William Elliott and Republic Pictures parted ways. It wasn’t long before Elliott entered into a deal with Monogram Pictures to make some low-budget Westerns. In the end, there were 11 of them — with Monogram becoming Allied Artists midstream.

They’re a bit darker and more “adult” than your typical B Western. While the budget limitations are obvious, Elliott’s as reliable as ever — and he’s got some top-notch support from folks like Harry Morgan, Peggy Stewart, Myron Healey, Phyllis Coates, Denver Pyle, Beverly Garland, John Doucette and Fuzzy Knight. I love these little movies.

Kansas Territory still

Kansas Territory (1952) is one of the better ones. Elliott journeys to Kansas, even though he’s wanted there on an old Civil War charge, to find out who killed his brother. Along the way, he learns his sibling went bad and probably deserved what he got. That, of course, doesn’t stop Wild Bill from tracking down the killer.

Elliott’s determination to get his revenge puts a hard edge on his usual “peaceable man” image. We know he’s a good man, but he’s got some dirty business to tend to — and it’s become an obsession. Dan Ullman’s scripts for these pictures (and for the Elliott detective films that followed) are very tight, and he manages to find something a little different to toss at a familiar plot point.

$_57

Shot at the Iverson Ranch by ace cinematographer Ernest Miller, under the working title Vengeance Trail, Kansas Territory looks great. Monogram struck prints of these pictures in “glorious sepia tone,” and while I’m a stickler for preserving the original presentation, I’m glad Warner Archive stuck with black and white. Sepia doesn’t always come off well on TV. This set is terrific, giving you eight of the 11 pictures on three DVDs. For me, it’s hard to avoid watching them all in a hard-riding, popcorn-munching binge. A must.

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50s Westerns DVD News #196: The Wild Bill Elliott Western Collection.

Posted in 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, Beverly Garland, Daniel B. Ullman, Denver Pyle, DVD reviews, releases, TV, etc., Lewis D. Collins, Monogram/Allied Artists, Myron Healey, Phyllis Coates, Thomas Carr, Warner Archive, William Elliott on September 28, 2015| 28 Comments »

Maverick LC

After a stint at Republic Pictures that resulted in some terrific Westerns (including a personal favorite, 1949’s Hellfire), William Elliott made his way to Monogram. By the time the series was over, Monogram had become Allied Artists and 1.85 had become the standard aspect ratio for American cinema. And the B Western was dead. These 11 pictures made sure it went out on a high note.

Rebel City LC

Warner Archive has gathered eight of these films for a three-disc set — The Wild Bill Elliott Western Collection.

The Longhorn (1951)
Waco (1952)
Kansas Territory (1952)
The Maverick (1952)
Rebel City (1953)
Topeka (1953)
Vigilante Terror (1953)
The Forty-Niners (1954, widescreen)

Following these rather adult B Westerns, Elliott would make a dynamite series of detective pictures (again for Allied Artists) then go into retirement. Cancer would take him in 1964.

For me, this is the DVD release of the year. It’s due October 13. Between this set and the double feature that’s already out, you’ll have everything but Bitter Creek (1954), which WA promises for a later release. Essential stuff.

Thanks to John Knight for the tip.

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DVD Review: The Longhorn (1951).

Posted in 1951, Daniel B. Ullman, DVD reviews, releases, TV, etc., Lewis D. Collins, Monogram/Allied Artists, Phyllis Coates, William Elliott on October 17, 2011| 7 Comments »

Yesterday was William Elliott’s birthday, so it seems about time to finish up a piece I started a while back on The Longhorn (1951), the first of 11 films “Wild Bill” made for Monogram Pictures (later known as Allied Artists). It’s available on DVD from VCI, packaged with Charles Starrett’s first Western, Stampede (1936), as Cowboy Heroes Volume 1.

Elliott’s a cattle rancher planning to cross-breed his Longhorn cattle with Herefords. Before its 70 minutes are up, The Longhorn treats us to a cattle drive, a double cross, rustlers and Phyllis Coates. Not to mention plenty of gunplay. The plot has a few twists, so I’m keeping this spoiler-free.

For a cheap cowboy picture aimed at the Saturday matinee crowd, The Longhorn has plenty going for it. For starters, it boasts a tight, surprisingly adult script by Dan Ullman. Ullman wrote a slew of 50s Westerns, from programmers like Kansas Pacific (1953) with Sterling Hayden to the excellent Face Of A Fugitive (1959), a favorite of many who frequent this blog. The Longhorn was directed by Lewis D. Collins, who started with silent shorts and passed away a few years after this one. (By the way, Monogram paired Ullman and Collins on the cool Hot Rod in 1950.) Then there’s the cinematography by Ernest Miller, another veteran of the silents, who shot hundreds of B pictures and TV shows before his death in 1957. One of his standout credits is Sam Fuller’s The Steel Helmet (1951).

With so much talent on either side of the camera, how could The Longhorn miss? These six Monogram/Allied Artists pictures were Elliott’s last Westerns, and he went out on a high note — even if it’s a low-budget one.

This series was released in sepia tone, which gave the pictures an extra bit of class. William Elliott always supplied quite a bit of class, too. The VCI DVD of The Longhorn, unfortunately, isn’t presented that way, opting for standard black and white. Can’t say I blame them — sepia tends to monkey with the contrast, but it’d be nice to see how these films looked in theaters. The transfer here is fine, probably from 16mm — clean and complete, if a bit soft. My only real complaint is that VCI didn’t follow this up with the other Monogram Elliotts. (Are these things PD?) Bitter Creek (1954), which co-stars Beverly Garland, has been on my Want List for ages.

In summary, The Longhorn is a good example from the last days of the series Western, showing real toughness and maturity. VCI has given us a nice DVD. And most important, you can never go wrong with Bill Elliott. Recommended.

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