The Bowery Boys once more frolic about in an "old dark house" setting in Ghost Chasers. The story finds Slip Mahoney (Leo Gorcey) and his gang endeavoring to expose a phoney seance racket. Slip's pal Sach is aided and abetted in this endeavor by a genuine ghost, a jovial 17th-century wraith named Edgar (Lloyd Corrigan). Naturally, no one but Sach ...
Whatever poor Bela Lugosi may have done in a past life, the man did not deserve The Ape Man, arguably the worst of his Monogram horror clunkers. Viewed today, it seems that screenwriter Barney Sarecky and infamous director William Beaudine (whose nickname "One Shot" was earned helming movies like this) were out to humiliate the proud Hungarian ...
Bela Lugosi plays a mad scientist in the jungle who stumbles across a couple of comedians (intended to resemble Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis) and proceeds to use them as lab mice in his experiments. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
The venerable John Carradine gets his first chance to play the fanged count in 20 years (the last time was House of Dracula), albeit in one of the weirdest scenarios ever committed to film. Arriving in the Wild West via stagecoach, Drac installs himself in the home of a pretty rancher (Melinda Plowman) by convincing her (through hypnosis) that he ...
Thirty-two year old Mary Pickford returned to form as America's Sweetheart as Little Annie Rooney, a tough teenager from the streets who gets into mischief with her little gang of ruffians. She has a boyfriend, Joe Kelly (William Haines), whom she is sweet on. But when her father (Walter James) is killed, her brother Tim (Gordon Griffith) thinks ...
Sparrows, Mary Pickford's 1926 release, superbly combines the two elements--sentiment and adventure--that characterized Pickford's best work. At first glance, the film seems to be a horror picture, as satanic potato farmer Grimes (Gustav Von Seyfertitz) crushes a child's doll with his thumb and forefinger and tosses the plaything into the dismal ...
Bowery Buckaroos would have the viewer believe that pint-sized sweetshop proprietor Louie Dumbrowski (Bernard Gorcey), perennial patsy for the Bowery Boys, is actually notorious western desperado Louie the Lout. When sheriff Luke Barlow (Russell Simpson) rides into the Bowery to arrest Louie for murder, the Boys-Slip (Leo Gorcey), Sach (Huntz Hall ...
Blues Busters is a first-rate entry in the otherwise hit-and-miss "Bowery Boys" series. After having his tonsils removed, Sach (Huntz Hall) finds himself blessed with a beautiful singing voice. He becomes a popular crooner, inspiring Slip (Leo Gorcey) to convert Louie's sweet shop into a swanky nightclub (in the Bowery?) Rival club owner Craig ...
Disney's Westward Ho, the Wagons is a leisurely paced western which seems more like a collection of anecdotes than a unified whole. Fess "Davy Crockett" Parker stars as head wagon scout Doc Grayson, who shepherds a group of travellers through hostile Indian territory. Preferring to use brains rather than bullets, Grayson is able to ward off an ...
PRC Pictures' final 1941 release was the auto-racing melodrama Blonde Comet. Virginia Vale stars as female race-car champion Betty Blake, the toast of the European racing circuit. Upon arriving in America, Betty finds she has a staunch rival in the form of devilishly handsome Jim Flynn (Robert Kent). The plot hinges on Jim's attempts to design a ...
Magazine writer and editor Fulton Ousler's stern police commissioner Thatcher Colt came to the screen in April of 1942 courtesy of former investment broker Lester Cutler, veteran actor Sidney Blackmer, and cinematic hack William Beaudine (the latter living up to his nickname "One Shot" by assembling the whodunit within a week or so at Hollywood's ...
Misbehaving Husbands was intended as a comeback vehicle for silent-film comedy great Harry Langdon, who after his fall from grace in the 1920s had to content himself with cheap 2-reelers, featured roles and screenwriting assignments. Langdon plays henpecked store-owner Henry Butler, who decides to save money by designing his window displays ...
Even non-fans of the East Side Kids will get a goodly share of laughs out of the 1943 series entry Clancy Street Boys. The story commences when Muggs McGinnis (Leo Gorcey) learns that his wealthy Uncle Pete (Noah Beery Sr.) is coming to town for a visit. The problem: Muggs' mom (Martha Wentworth) has claimed that she has seven children so that big ...
This action film, follows the travails of two chorus girls as they try to leave South America and get back home. Their journey begins when they are stranded in a Latin American village. They talk the purser of a clipper ship into letting them board his clipper ship. He has taken a fancy to one of the women, so it wasn't too difficult. Upon the ...
Originally titled Emergency Landing, PRC's Robot Pilot affords an early leading-man opportunity to Forrest Tucker. He plays a test pilot, working on behalf of inventor Emmett Vogan. When Vogan's radio-controlled plane proves a failure, Tucker valiantly offers to keep trying. Carol Hughes and Evelyn Brent are the anxious ladies who await the ...
William "One Take" Beaudine sat in the director's chair for the independently produced Born to the Saddle. Chuck Courtney plays a young horse trainer who goes to work for the truculent Donald Woods. Courtney believes that Woods was responsible for the death of the boy's father, and hopes to exact revenge if his suspicions are confirmed. Instead, ...
Ghosts on the Loose (which features no ghosts whatsoever) is perhaps the best-known of Monogram's "East Side Kids" series. This time, Muggs (Leo Gorcey), Glimpy (Huntz Hall), and the rest of the kids offer to decorate the honeymoon cottage of Glimpy's sister, Betty (Ava Gardner), and her new husband, Jack (Rick Vallin). Unfortunately, the boys end ...
Lassie's Great Adventure is the feature-film version of a three-episode cliffhanger, originally presented on the Lassie television series. It all begins when the faithful collie accompanies his master Timmy (Jon Provost) to the market. While nosing around the vegetables, Lassie wanders into a van, which is promptly locked up. By the time she makes ...
Silent film stalwart Neil Hamilton heads the cast of the PRC "special" Federal Fugitives. Hamilton plays secret service officer Captain Madison, assigned to investigate the deaths of three of his colleagues in highly suspicious plane crashes. Posing as an airplane manufacturer, Madison keeps a watchful eye over two sinister types (Victor Varconi, ...
Director William "One Take" Beaudine puts his all-character-actor cast through their paces in Men of San Quentin. J. Anthony Hughes plays a prison guard who tries to put new reforms into effect when he becomes a warden. Naturally, Hughes' efforts are undercut by a handful of hardbitten cons and jealous fellow guards. His efforts pay off when ...
William "One Shot" Beaudine's companion piece to the equally nonsensical Billy the Kid vs. Dracula represents a memorable closing to the eccentric "Z"-movie auteur's amusing body of work. The hare-brained concept finds the legendary outlaw Jesse James (John Lupton) stumbling into the decrepit lair of Maria Frankenstein (Narda Onyx) -- not the ...
Hugh Beaumont and Ruth Warrick star in this drama about a bank president and his wife, and their earnest attempt to find out just where their marriage went wrong during a time of deep personal crisis. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Will Hay plays Benjamin Stubbins, an unsuccessful and incompetent English lawyer with a tendency to tip the bottle and an inability to pay any of the considerable debts he has managed to accumulate. His wealthy family, of course, disapproves of him and has taken custody of his daughter so that she will receive a proper upbringing. Stubbins does ...
The attractive physiques of Tom Neal and Carol Hughes are generously displayed in the PRC comedy The Miracle Kid. Neal is cast as Jimmy, a young boxer who surprisingly wins a bout with the established champ. The loser claims that he was "jinxed" by Jimmy in the ring, whereupon Our Hero is exploited by a group of health faddists adhering to the ...
While the Hollywood output of director William "One-Take" Beaudine was largely uninspired, he turned out several first-rate efforts while employed in England in the mid-1930s. Beaudine's Boys Will be Boys stars the inimitable Will Hay, cast in his standard role as a pompous, ineffectual schoolmaster. Upon learning that the father (Gordon Harker) ...
We guarantee every item's condition, as described on Alibris. If you are not satisfied that an item is as described, return your purchase for a refund.
Portions of content provided by All Music Guide or All Movie Guide. © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All Music Guide and All Movie Guide are registered Trademarks of All Media Guide, LLC.