Acting
There's a deficit of good, honest women in the West, and Roy Whitman wants to change that. His solution is to bring a caravan of over 100 mail-order brides from Chicago to California. It will be a long, difficult and dangerous journey for the women. So Whitman hires hardened, cynical Buck Wyatt to be their guide across the inhospitable frontier. But as disaster strikes on the trail, Buck just might discover that these women are stronger than he thinks.
Tex Weaver is working under cover to bring in a gang of bank robbers. When he is killed, Tim Ross, a marksman with Doc Shaw's traveling show, takes over. Posing as a Mexican he lays a trap for the gang.
Billy "The Kid" Bonney is a hot-headed gunslinger who postpones his life of crime when he is befriended and hired by peaceful cattle rancher Eric Keating. When Keating is killed by a rival, Billy seeks revenge, even if it means opposing his old friend, Marshal Jim Sherwood.
Smokin' guns, swingin' fists, and a lovable side-kick can be found in this western.
It's time for the big rodeo and it's Bob of the Allen ranch against Luke Williams of the Barns ranch. With Bob leading after the first day, Sands and Trigger kidnap him to keep him from winning.
When a fellow ranger (Julian Madison) is brutally murdered, the Captain sends Dave Austin to investigate the crime, only to stumble upon a money-laundering scheme in the works. With one eye on the killer (Ted Adams), Austin tries to unravel the racket. But keeping his true identity under wraps could be a problem. Rex Lease and Marion Weldon co-star in this classic Western from prolific director Sam Newfield.
Billy Donovan arrives looking for his sister's killer. When he hires on at the Halloran ranch where the mysterious Phantom has killed all the hands, it's not long before the Phantom shoots him.
Sponsored by The Protestant Film Commission, this religiously-affiliated tale centers around citizen Henry Wood (played by Oscar winner James Dunn from "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"), who loved family and church, gave to the needy, and donated most of his money to charity. Now deceased, his somewhat neglected daughter reflects on his past and ponders that age-old question, did he indeed have such "a wonderful life"?
When Colt kills the men that murdered his father, he escapes his pursuers and joins Wolf and his outlaw gang. After two years Wolf breaks up the gang, deeds his ranch to Colt, and turns himself in. Now an honest rancher, things are going fine for Colt until Wolf's old gang shows up under a new leader. Colt get the Governor to release Wolf claiming the two of them can bring in the gang.
When Hines kills the Colonel for his money, the Colorado Kid is arrested and then found guilt of the murder. Bibben beaks him out of jail and later identifies some of the bills spent by Hines to have been part of the money stolen from the Colonel. The Kid now knows he is the one he is after and heads out to get a confession.
Cowboy puts on a black mask and a black outfit to fight a gang of land-grabbing crooks.
An evil gang is involved in both cattle rustling and the robbing of stagecoaches. Hoppy must stop them without help from the sheriff who turns out be a major outlaw himself.
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.
With the army after him and his partner deserting, Reb decides that a change of scenery would be nice so he heads for Wyoming with Dave.
Jack Randall plays Dunham, a wandering cavalier who comes to the aid of frontier heiress Mary. The girl's legacy is half-ownership of a prosperous saloon, the other half controlled by hissable villain Slater. With the help of no less than two comic sidekicks, Dunham cuts the villain down to size.
El Puma, a Mexican desert guide, escorts an archaeological expedition headed by Professor Lucius Lloyd through the Indian badlands of Mexico. Marian, the professor's niece accompanies the party as only she can translate the Aztec writings in the diary of her father, murdered on a similar expedition six years previous. The professor is murdered by a knife, and the weapon is recognized as the property of El Puma. Magpie, a Federal Investigator, knows that El Puma is really "Lightnin' Bill' Carson, a former federal agent who has been missing since Marian's father was slain. The reluctant Magpie believes that his old pal is guilty. Carson sets out to prove otherwise.
Jeff arrives in town to see the Sheriff only to find him just killed. The culprit is Clay Wheeler. When Jeff becomes friendly with Letty, Clay sends his man Ortega to kill him. Jeff foils the attempt and gets him to confess that Clay was the killer. With only old-timers Lafe and Bill to help, Jeff heads after Clay and his gang.
Nancy Evans, lovely circus owner, has a ranch that she's never visited, but for sentimental reasons won't sell to Mike Abbott. Her partners, secretly in league with Abbott, sabotage the circus to force Nancy to sell the ranch; instead, she goes there to live. Will her neighbors, the Three Mesquiteers, be a match for the secret swindlers? And what's so valuable about that run-down ranch anyway?
Escaping from the law once again, Billy, Fuzzy, and Jeff ride to the ranch of Jeff's uncle only to find another family living their. They soon learn of Cobb Allen's scheme where he sells a ranch, makes sure the rancher can't pay off his note, kicks him out, and resells the ranch. But Billy has a plan to recover the ranchers' money and he sends Fuzzy to town with a fake map to a gold treasure.
The Saturday matinee crowd got two cowboy stars for the price of one in this lavishly budgeted western serial starring former singing cowboy Dick Foran and Buck Jones. The latter contributed deadpan humor to the proceedings, making Jones perhaps the highest paid B-western comedy relief in history. The two heroes defend the Death Valley borax miners from an outlaw gang headed by Wolf Reade. An extraordinarily strong cast -- for a serial, at least -- supported the stars, headed by Charles Bickford as Reade, Leo Carillo, Lon Chaney, Jr., and silent screen star Monte Blue. Leading lady Jeanne Kelly later changed her name to Jean Brooks and starred in the atmospheric RKO thriller The Seventh Victim (1943). Universal claimed to have spent $1 million on this serial and made sure to get their money's worth by endlessly recycling the action footage in serials and B-westerns for years to come.
