Frank Jaquet

In TV's pioneer days when kids idolized the Lone Ranger, the Texas Kid was a knight errant of the frontier leading the fight for law and order alongside his Mexican companion Pepe. In this rarely-seen TV pilot, the Kid and Pepe intercede on behalf of the murdered rancher's daughter, openly defying the landgrabbers in a cow town so lawless that rustlers operate in broad daylight! Shot at the Corrigan Ranch in 1950, TEXAS KID co-starred Mercury Records recording artist John Laurenz as Pepe and stuntman Hugh Hooker as the Kid. Hooker, a specialist in stunts involving horses and stagecoaches, often doubled Gene Autry and even produced a few movies, including the low-budget gem . That movie's star was Hugh's teenage son Buddy Joe Hooker, whose own subsequent, stellar stunt career inspired HOOPER (1978), Burt Reynolds' hit comedy tribute to movie stuntmen.

When newcomers Whip and Bob break up a saloon fight they are made town Marshals. This puts then in the middle of the range war between large ranch owner Howard and the small ranchers. Everyone thinks Howard is the culprit but Whip believes otherwise.

6.1/10

Five O. Henry stories, each separate. The primary one from the critic's acclaim was "The Cop and the Anthem". Soapy tells fellow bum Horace that he is going to get arrested so he can spend the winter in a nice jail cell. He fails. He can't even accost a woman; she turns out to be a streetwalker. The other stories are "The Clarion Call", "The Last Leaf", "The Ransom of Red Chief", and "The Gift of the Magi".

7.2/10

Mrs. Hoyle, a retired school teacher, resides in a hotel bought by Morganti, a gangster, who evicts most of the tenants but allows Mrs. Hoyle and Angela Brown, a dance-hall girl to remain. Mrs. Hoyle's influence for good is felt quickly by Morganti and all of his henchmen with the exception of Rogan. Ther latter, despite Morganti's orders to go straight robs a market with his accomplice Slatterty. Mrs. Hoyle is arrested when the robbery money and jewels are found in her apartment.

6.3/10

A frustrated former big-city journalist now stuck working for an Albuquerque newspaper exploits a story about a man trapped in a cave to revitalize his career, but the situation quickly escalates into an out-of-control media circus.

8.1/10
9.2%

A man believe to have murdered a woman, escapes from the insane asylum to find if he was the one to actually kill her using the scarf she was wearing.

6.8/10

A prospector discovers natural cement and suggests it should be used for a new dam. But this is the last thing the badmen of Trail End want, as they have a monopoly of the wagons needed to haul rocks to the site. A pretty sheriff notwithstanding, it's a job for a singing marshal.

6.6/10

Frank Bigelow is about to die, and he knows it. The accountant has been poisoned and has only 24 hours before the lethal concoction kills him. Determined to find out who his murderer is, Frank, with the help of his assistant and girlfriend, Paula, begins to trace back over his last steps. As he frantically tries to unravel the mystery behind his own impending demise, his sleuthing leads him to a group of crooked businessmen and another murder.

7.3/10
8.8%

The Biddle brothers, shot while robbing a gas station, are taken to the prison ward of the County Hospital; Ray Biddle, a rabid racist, wants no treatment from black resident Dr. Luther Brooks. When brother John dies while Luther tries to save him, Ray is certain it's murder and becomes obsessed with vengeance. But there are black racists around too, and the situation slides rapidly toward violence.

7.4/10
9%

A cop poses as a member of a stolen-car ring to capture the men responsible for the murder of his fiancee's brother.

5.4/10

Bringing Bart Calhoun (Marshall Reed) to justice for his complicity in a robbery/murder, Johnny assumes that his job is over. Not by a long shot! Calhoun's arrest leads to the uncovering of a wide-ranging conspiracy to smuggle silver from Mexico to the United States.

5.7/10

A greedy businessman tries to block the building of a new railroad in his area.

6.4/10

Daring Cabellero was the third of producer Phil Krasne's Cisco Kid "B" westerns. Duncan Renaldo and Leo Carrillo return as Cisco and Pancho, roles they'd carry over into a popular 1950s TV series. Once more stumbling into a dangerous situation, Cisco and Pancho risk their own necks by saving an innocent man from hanging. Eventually, our heroes learn that a corrupt political machine is behind the killing. Leading lady Kippie Valez is cast as "herself," which must have meant more in 1949 than it does today. Unlike the subsequent TV series, Daring Caballero does not end with the leading actors reciting their standard mantra "Oh, Pancho! Oh, Cisco!"

7/10

Jenny Marsh is a hard-luck dame who's just finished five years in the slammer for killing a man. Jenny's not exactly the murdering type -- she did the deed while defending her jailbird lover, Harry, which is probably one reason she's attracted the attention of her parole officer, Griff Marat. In fact, Griff is so taken with Jenny that he gets her a job caring for his ailing mother, but although Jenny tries to fly right, she's not yet over Harry.

6.6/10
8.9%

Mobster Thomas Nagle and his gang take over a ship to use running guns and counterfeit money into Lisbon.

6.7/10

U.S. agent Major Tom Blake is sent to Tripoli to uncover who it is in Washington that is tipping off the pirates as to what's being shipped where. A fast-moving story with lots of sabers and rapiers.

5.5/10

Director Henry King's WWII drama about American soldiers occupying a tiny Italian village stars John Hodiak, Gene Tierney, William Bendix, Richard Conte, Glenn Langan, Harry Morgan and Eduardo Ciannelli.

6.7/10

Governor Price sends Sunset Carson to investigate a smuggling ring which is baffling the Border Patrol. Newspaper woman Ann Morton is working incognito in the saloon waiting for a break on ...

7.4/10

After having been framed by gamblers, Muggs is barred from riding in horse races. Snce he can no longer race, he takes up a collection so Ma Brown, who owns the horses won't have her stable foreclosed on. However, one of the gamblers involved in the frame falls for Ma Brwn's daughter, and decides to come clean and confess to the police about the frame. The other gamblers hear about it and set out to shut him up and discredit Muggs and Ma Brown once and for all.

5.2/10

In a small African port, a tawdry bar is run by a old man named Webb Fallon. Fallon is actually a vampire, but he is becoming weary of his "life" of the past few hundred years.

6/10

An eccentric wealthy man is murdered, and the police set out to find his killer.

6.7/10

Lawyer Butler, wanting Jeff Carson's ranch, has the Sheriff and his gang frame the bank holdup on him. Then they kill a witness that could free Carson and blame the murder on his son Sunset. But Sunset escapes, frees his father, and then sets a trap to catch the real killers.

7.6/10

An interesting entry in Republic Pictures' long-running "Red Ryder" B-Western series, this film is not about hardy settlers braving the Colorado winters, as the title would suggest. Instead it's a sort of Reform School Western about a couple of wayward Chicago boys (Billy Cummings and Freddie Chapman) taken in by Ryder's indomitable aunt, "The Duchess" (Alice Fleming.) The boys escaped their very own "Fagin," Bull Reagan (Roy Barcroft), and were given a second chance on the lady's Western ranch. Unfortunately, Reagan returns to do a bit of cattle rustling, once again luring the boys into becoming his accomplices.

7/10

A cowboy investigating his brother's murder finds himself going up against a banker who holds the deed to the cowboy's family ranch.

5/10

Duke Fergus falls for Ann 'Flaxen' Tarry in the Barbary Coast in turn-of-the-century San Francisco. He loses money to crooked gambler Boss Tito Morell, goes home, learns to gamble, and returns. After he makes a fortune, he opens his own place with Flaxen as the entertainer; but the 1906 quake destroys his place.

6.3/10

Hoping to find a fortune in stolen gold bullion, railroad detective Sunset Carson (Sunset Carson) goes undercover as an outlaw to infiltrate the gang responsible, but winds up being hired as the sheriff of Gunsight by town founder George Layton (Frank Jaquet).

7.3/10

Jerry Blake (aka Federal Operator 99) teams-up with Joyce Kingston to thwart the plans of escaped crime boss Jim Belmont.

7.7/10

Gallant Cisco "kidnaps" murder suspect Ellen from the authorities, then sets about to prove her innocence, all with the cooperation of a sympathetic sheriff.

6.3/10

Chinese detective Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) solves a murder linked to the occult. This movie had an alternative title: Meeting at Midnight.

6.6/10

Through flashbacks, the story of a Nazi war criminal is exposed.

7/10

A landowner tries to drink his neighbor's molybdenum milkshake and winds up having him killed. It's up to Allan Lane to find out what happened and apprehend the culprits.

6.5/10

Cowboy Sunset Carson teams up with Frog Millhouse on a routine supply trip to Placer City. Before long, the duo find themselves ambushed by a team of dastardly highwaymen embroiled in an extortion ring. Sunset and Frog must then go undercover to set things right for a mining town under siege. Galloping hooves, spittin' six shooters, and all manner of disreputable behavior ensue.

7.3/10

Western from director Spencer Gordon Bennet. To combat the lawlessness in her town, school teacher Carrie Stokes writes to her former students in search of a lawman. Johnny Revere arrives and starts to clean up the town. But things go bad when he is hit on the head and loses his memory.

5.6/10

FBI Agent Kendall Gaige goes undercover on a South Seas island in order to expose the underhanded and exploitative business practices of Steve Landrau. In the course of his investigation Gaige is introduce to the Paris-educated native princess Tahia, who believes that he has arrived to save her people from poverty. A romance, of course, ensues as Gaige attempts to expose Landrau before his cover is blown.

5.1/10

A doctor and his staff in a hospital on the Philippine island of Corregidor shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor try to treat the sick, injured and wounded as American and Filipino troops desperately try to beat back a ferocious Japanese attack.

5/10

Ambassador Joseph Davies is sent by FDR to Russia to learn about the Soviet system and returns to America as an advocate of Stalinism.

5.4/10

Boston pharmacist Tom Craig comes to Sacramento, where he runs afoul of local political boss Britt Dawson, who exacts protection payment from the citizenry. Dawson frames Craig with poisoned medicine, but Craig redeems himself during a Gold Rush epidemic.

6.4/10

The plot revolves around a group of ex-convicts who try to start life anew by relocating in a small town under assumed names. The mayor of the town welcomes the former cons with open arms, helping them re-open a dormant canning factory and encouraging them to hire other reformed criminals.

5/10

Daggett is out to stop the completion of an oil well. He cheats Foster at poker and then forces him to delay the drilling. But the Mesquiteers are on the job with Lulaby posing as a cleaning lady to get evidence.

6.6/10

A beautiful heiress is an excellent poker player. Her comfortable life changes when her father and his fortune die during market crash of the 1800's.

5.9/10

A radio saleswoman (Ruth Terry) helps a singing cattleman (Gene Autry) trap a shady meat buyer with a bogus broadcast.

6.8/10

A government agent goes undercover in order to apprehend a saboteur who caused a plane crash.

5.2/10

Four married sisters face motherhood, financial, marital and family issues together.

6.4/10

A wealthy businessman's irresponsible son and a down-on-her-luck model enter into a marriage of convenience, and end up falling in love.

5.9/10

Harry Langdon and Charley Rogers star in this 1941 Monogram comedy, about two bumbling brothers who take jobs at a New York food cannery and accidentally lose a valuable diamond inside a can of pork-and-beans.

5.8/10

Northern lawyer John Reynolds travels to New Orleans to try and clean up the local crime syndicate based around a lottery. Although he meets Julie Mirbeau and they are attracted to each other, the fact that her father heads the lottery means they end up on opposite sides. When her father is killed, Julie becomes more and more involved in the shady activities and in blocking Reynolds' attempts at prosecution.

6/10

The dangers of the dread venereal disease syphilis are depicted in this earnest drama from the 1940s. The story centers upon an intrepid health commissioner who is out to get rid of the tawdry hookers responsible for spreading the disease.

5.2/10

A reporter and a lawyer investigate a women's prison and help an inmate who does not belong there.

5.9/10

When his friend Professor Kingsely (Ridges) is at deaths door, brain surgeon Dr. Sovac (Karloff) saves his life by means of an illegal operation that transplants part of injured gangster Red Cannon's brain. Unfortunately, the operation has a disasterous Jeckll and Hyde side effect and under certain conditions the persona of Cannon emerges. Sovac soon learns of the duel personality and of half a million dollars the gangster has hidden away. He attempts to find the money through the manipulation of his friend, an attempt that brings Kingsley closer to madness as he alternates between a meek professor of english and a brutal gangster out for murderous revenge on those who tried to kill him.

6.3/10
10%

As suggested by its title, Behind the News was a "stop the presses!" yarn set in a big-city newsroom. Lloyd Nolan is top-billed as a cynical reporter with a penchant for sticking his neck out too far. Frank Albertson costars as a cub reporter fresh out of journalism school, whose presence is resented by Nolan and his fellow workers. But it is Albertson who, after running afoul of the law, is instrumental in breaking up a ring of racketeers. Behind the News was remade by Republic as Headline Hunters (55).

5.2/10

German Julius Reuter (Edward G. Robinson) sends 19th-century news by carrier pigeon and then by wire, founding a news agency.

6.9/10

True story of the doctor who considered it was not immoral to search for a drug that would cure syphillis.

7.4/10

In this light and lovely romantic musical, a Hungarian woman attends a Viennese fair and buys a card from a gypsy fortune teller. It says that she will meet someone important and is destined for a happy marriage. Afterward she gets a job as a baker's assistant. She then meets a handsome army drummer who secretly dreams of becoming a famous composer and conductor. Unfortunately the military forbids the young corporal to create his own music. But then Ilonka secretly sends one of the drummer's waltzes to the Austrian Emperor with his weekly order of pastries. Her act paves the way toward the tuneful and joyous fulfillment of the gypsy's prediction.

6.8/10

Marital comedy in which a department store mannequin is mistaken for "the other woman".

5.4/10

Embittered after serving time for a burglary he did not commit, Joe Bell is soon back in jail, on a prison farm. His love for the foreman's daughter leads to a fight between them, leading to the older man's death due to a weak heart. Joe and Mabel go on the run as he thinks no-one would believe a nobody like him.

6.9/10

Dr. Henryk Savaard is a scientist working on experiments to restore life to the dead. When he is unjustly hanged for murder, he is brought back to life by his trusted assistant. Re-animated he turns decidedly nasty and sets about murdering the jury that convicted him.

6.9/10
8%

When American newspaperman and adventurer Henry M. Stanley comes back from the western Indian wars, his editor James Gordon Bennett sends him to Africa to find Dr. David Livingstone, the missing Scottish missionary. Stanley finds Livingstone ("Dr. Livingstone, I presume.") blissfully doling out medicine and religion to the happy natives. His story is at first disbelieved.

7/10

Anita, engaged to solid Don Barnes, is swept off her feet by magician Arturo. Before you can say presto, she's his wife and stage assistant on a lengthy world tour. But Anita is annoyed by Arturo's constant flirtations, and his death-defying stunts give her nightmares. And forget her plan to retire to a farmhouse. Eventually, she has had enough and disappears.

5.9/10

Naive and idealistic Jefferson Smith, leader of the Boy Rangers, is appointed to the United States Senate by the puppet governor of his state. He soon discovers, upon going to Washington, many shortcomings of the political process as his earnest goal of a national boys' camp leads to a conflict with the state political boss.

8.1/10
9.6%

Alexander Graham Bell falls in love with deaf girl Mabel Hubbard while teaching the deaf and trying to invent means for telegraphing the human voice. She urges him to put off thoughts of marriage until his experiments are complete. He invents the telephone, marries and becomes rich and famous, though his happiness is threatened when a rival company sets out to ruin him.

6.9/10

A southern aristocrat clashes with a driver transporting stolen slaves to freedom.

6.4/10

The future is bleak for a troubled boy from a broken home in the slums. He runs away when his step father breaks his violin, ending up sleeping in the basement of a music school for poor children.

6.9/10

A trucker with a pregnant wife fights a New York mobster's protection racket.

6.1/10

On the day of his funeral, a dedicated smalltown doctor is remembered by his neighbors and patients.

7/10

Jessie, a young working class woman who seeks to improve her life by marrying her boyfriend, only to find out that he is no better than what she left behind.

6.5/10

A San Francisco astrologer correctly predicts a ship passenger's death and then helps the police look for the murderer.

5.9/10

A rustler's son (Roy Rogers) courts a rancher's daughter (Mary Hart) during a range war.

6.6/10

The young Austrian princess Marie Antoinette is arranged to marry Louis XVI, future king of France, in a politically advantageous marriage for the rival countries. The opulent Marie indulges in various whims and flirtations. When Louis XV passes and Louis XVI ascends the French throne, his queen's extravagant lifestyle earns the hatred of the French people, who despise her Austrian heritage.

7.4/10

Deputy Commissioner of Correction Mark Braden finds a reform school in terrible condition and assumes control himself. He wins the boy's cooperation by being fair and falls in love with gang leader Frankie's sister Sue. This aides disgruntled employees in challenging Braden.

6.6/10

Romeo and Juliet story set amidst horseracing in Kentucky. The family feud of lovers Jack and Sally goes back to the Civil War and is kept alive by her Uncle Peter.

6.3/10

Heiress Nancy Crocker Fleming will only receive her inheritance if she marries a "plain American." Her late father was afraid a foreign gigolo would steal her heart and money. So Nancy pays Tony Anthony, working on a WPA road project, to marry, then divorce her. When Nancy inadvertently drives off with Tony's dog, Tony seemingly kidnaps her to retrieve the pooch, which leads to a cross-country race between the two to reach Reno and the divorce court since neither one wants to be the second to file papers.

6.2/10

When a young boy disappears, a man desperate for the offered reward money turns up with an identical child.

6.3/10

Torchy, Steve, and Gahagan are on the trail of a bank robber aboard an ocean liner traveling from New York to L.A. via the Panama Canal.

6/10

Real-life mother and son entertainers Grace and Peter Lind Hayes star as a mother and her son. She’s a fading Broadway star working as a maid to prep for a possible comeback role and he’s the offspring who wants to follow in mom’s footsteps.

5.3/10

In a burlesque of the radio program "One Man's Family", Tim pays a visit to his fiancée, Irene Carr, to meet her family. He is ignored, insulted and relieved of his cash for a raffle in which he is not allowed to participate, and is finally deserted when Irene and all of her family walk out of the house and leave him all alone. This happens after two of her cousins stage a wrestling match, and a food-fight at the dinner table.

Comedic short featuring Shakespeare's notable characters; many performing musical numbers. An assistant director is told to read all Shakespeare’s works in order to mine them for potential film plots. Falling asleep on the job, he dreams of various Shakespearean characters coming to life from the pages of giant books and singing and dancing in celebration of their "goin’ Hollywood." The characters appearing include Romeo, Juliet, Juliet’s Nurse, Puck, Peter Quince, Hamlet, Old Hamlet’s Ghost, Falstaff, Antony, Cleopatra, and Macbeth. Shakespeare appears toward the end of the film to object, but he is quickly convinced by his characters to join a big song and dance routine. Includes passing references to a number of familiar Shakespearean scenes including Hamlet’s "to be or not to be" soliloquy, Romeo and Juliet’s balcony scene, Hamlet with Yorick’s skull, and Enobarbus’ speech on Cleopatra’s barge.

6.4/10