DANGERS OF THE CANADIAN MOUNTED

Does Ethan Hunt get in these situations? Yes!

DANGERS OF THE CANADIAN MOUNTED (12-chapter Republic serial/1948). Directors: Fred C. Brannon; Yakima Canutt. Colorized. 

At the border of Canada and Alaska, Mort Fowler (Anthony Warde), who reports to an unseen "chief," is out to do anything he can to stop the completion of a highway. He is afraid homesteaders will rush in en masse and prevent him from finding a treasure somehow left behind by Genghis Kahn! Kahn's ship is hidden in the forest, but the treasure itself is secreted in the Cave of a Thousand Tunnels. Out to stop Fowler and his associates from their nefarious schemes are Sgt. Chris Royal (Jim Bannon) of the Mounties, his partner Corporal George Hale (Phil Warren), pilot Bobbie Page (Virginia Belmont), and others. 

Anthony Warde faces the smiling Buddha

Dangers of the Canadian Mounted is another thrilling, fast-paced Republic serial with lots of action and exciting cliffhangers. Royal clings to a plane in pursuit of Fowler at one point before said plane goes into a dive, deals with an out-of-control forest fire, is nearly fried by an electrical trap in a doorway in an abandoned hotel, and rescues Bobbi from a runaway station wagon careening towards a cliff. In the climax in the caves, Royal nearly succumbs to a flood of poison gas coming from a smiling buddha. Anthony Warde gives the best performance as the persistent bad guy, the identity of the chief comes as a minor surprise, there's a great final  sequence in a saloon, and the whole enterprise is lots of fun. One can't help but think of Tom Cruise decades later getting involved in the same outlandish kind of derring do. (At one point Royal throws himself on top of a speeding train, but manages not to break his legs or neck.)

Verdict: Another highly entertaining Republic serial. ***1/4. 

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN

Franky (Glenn Strange) goes after Lou Costello

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948). Director: Charles Barton. 

Wilbur (Lou Costello) and Chick (Bud Abbott) work for a shipping company and are told to bring two items to a House of Horrors without fail. One item is a coffin that contains the living Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi of The Corpse Vanishes) and the other is a crate that holds Frankenstein (Glenn Strange), whom the vampire has under his control. Meanwhile Sandra (Lenore Aubert of The Catman of Paris) romances Wilbur because she wants to put his simple-minded brain in Frankenstein's body so that the monster will be more easily manipulated. Two other people get involved in the frenzied, comical action: Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.), who turns into the Wolfman when the moon is full and warns the boys about what's going on with Drac and Franky; and Joan (Jane Randolph of The Mysterious Mr. M), an insurance agent for the shipping company. Will poor Wilbur become subjected to a brain transplant?

Gruesome twosome: Bela Lugosi and Lenore Aubert

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is practically a textbook case of how to do a spoof the right way. The trick is that everyone pretty much plays it straight except for the two stars, who by this point were old hands at their comical schtick. The movie is not only consistently funny, but even exciting and suspenseful at times, and is also very well-produced. Frank Skinner's excellent score makes the most of every sequence. Other cast members include Frank Ferguson as the testy owner of the House of Horrors (whose exhibits turn out to be alive), and Charles Bradstreet as the handsome Professor Stevens, who works with Sandra but has no idea what she's really up to. 

Verdict: Classic comedy with the fellows in top form and a very adept and enthusiastic supporting cast. ***1/2. 

UNDER CALIFORNIAN STARS

Roy Rogers 

UNDER CALIFORNIAN  STARS (1948). Director: William Witney. 

Roy Rogers is celebrating his tenth year in pictures and goes home to his ranch for a special radio broadcast. There he learns that his employee, Cookie (Andy Devine), has hired another of his relatives, Caroline (Jane Frazee) but at least this one is pretty. Roy also befriends a little lame boy, Ted (Michael Chapin), whose evil stepfather Lige (Wade Crosby), helps his employer, Pop (George Lloyd), kidnap Trigger for ransom. Ted doesn't tell Roy all that he knows for fear of reprisal, but helps save the day in the end. 

Rogers with Jane Frazee

This is an amiable Roy Rogers Western that benefits greatly from pleasing players and from a a score cobbled together from various sources and composers. Jane Frazee is appealing but perhaps not quite distinctive enough. Michael Chapin also went on to have a number of credits, mostly on television. The lovable Andy Devine gets a few laughs in this, and Trigger -- the only one billed above the title aside from Roy -- goes through his dramatic paces as well. Of course there are the Sons of the Pioneers and a few catchy songs, the best of which are "Dust" and the title tune.  

Verdict: Songs and sentiment plus the thrashing hooves of Trigger! **3/4. 

MYSTERY IN MEXICO

Jacqueline White and William Lundigan

MYSTERY IN MEXICO (1948). Directed by Robert Wise.

When one of his colleagues, Glenn Ames (Walter Reed), disappears, insurance investigator Steve Hastings (William Lundigan) flies down to Mexico to try to find him. He isn't certain if Glenn might be involved in dirty business concerning a stolen necklace, so he attaches himself to Ames' sister, Vicky (Jacqueline White), to see what she knows -- he's also not certain about her. Vicky is a nightclub singer who goes to work for club owner John Norcross (Ricardo Cortez), who has a jealous girlfriend named Delores (Jacqueline Dalya) --she makes a play for Steve even as Vicky is fighting her attraction to him. When a bartender (Armando Silvestre) who may have information regarding Glenn is killed in a suspicious accident, Steve realizes he is on the right track and there may well be danger involved. 

Lundigan looks for clues

An early film directed by Robert Wise, Mystery in Mexico is pleasant, well-acted, and moves swiftly at a little over an hour's running time. It is also extremely minor-league. Lundigan could do this type of material in his sleep, Cortez is suitably oily and makes a rather loathsome villain, and Jacqueline White is  perfectly adept as the heroine. White was a pleasing leading lady who had a handful of credits and whose most famous film is Narrow Margin. Released by RKO.

Verdict: Acceptable if decidedly minor mystery. **1/2. 

SUNSET CARSON RIDES AGAIN

Sunset Carson and Pat Starling

SUNSET CARSON RIDES AGAIN (1948). Director: Oliver Drake.

Sunset Carson, playing himself, hopes to raise money for a school in the area, and comes upon the idea of holding a boxing match. His sinister employee, Sam (John Cason), who plans to kill Sunset and take off with the proceeds, will fight a professional, but when this man is injured someone else has to take his place. A newcomer named the Kansas Kid (Al Terry) is chosen to fight Sam. Sam knows something that Sunset doesn't: the Kansas Kid is actually Bob Ward, who thinks that Sunset murdered his father. Also at stake is Sunset's wonder horse Comanche, who will go to the winner of the boxing match. 

Al Terry with Pat Starling

Sunset Carson did a series of westerns for Republic studios before he was fired for alleged malfeasances. Sunset Carson Rides Again was done by the bargain basement Yucca Pictures. Carson was 6 ft 6 and nice-looking but he lacks the charm and acting skill -- if that's the word -- of Roy Rogers. Sunset doesn't sing, but Al Terry reveals a very nice voice, as does Pat Starling playing Sunset's sister, Joan, when they do a duet of "Paradise Trail." Despite being in CineColor, there isn't much to recommended in this ultra-cheap western, although it's relatively fast-paced and has some minor action sequences. However, expert fiddler Buddy McDowell of the Rodeo Revelers can imitate birds with his strings! Carson played the same character, himself, in two more pictures and then rode into the sunset until he was resuscitated for a flick called Alien Outlaw in 1985. 

Verdict: Oddly pleasant but utterly mediocre low-budget western. **. 

BILL AND COO

 

BILL AND COO (1948). Director: Dean Reisner.

A monstrous winged creature swoops down to earth periodically to bring death and terror to earth's inhabitants. No, it isn't the monster bird of The Giant Claw, but rather a big black crow known as "the Black Menace." In the town of Chirpendale, a cabbie named Bill loves a pretty bird named Coo and life might be idyllic for them and their neighbors were it not for the Black Menace. In this oddball one-of-a-kind movie all of the characters are played by actual birds -- some wearing little outfits -- on a tiny set. Once the novelty wears off -- after about five minutes -- what's left is a vaguely "cute" but generally tedious time-waster that might amuse very young children -- or not. The problem is that compared to dogs, cats, and chimps, the birds in this don't have a hell of a lot of personality. It gets points for originality, certainly. But it doesn't compare favorable to such all-animal (and animatronics) movies like Babe.

Verdict: For bird lovers -- or bird-brains -- only. **.

G-MEN NEVER FORGET

Clayton Moore

G-MEN NEVER FORGET (12 chapter Republic serial/1948). Directed by Fred C. Brannon and Yakima Canutt.

Notorious criminal Vic Murkland (Roy Barcroft) escapes from jail and joins his gang at the sanitarium of Dr. Benson (Stanley Price). Murkland has come up with an ingenious plan: he has Benson surgically alter his face so that he looks exactly like Police Commissioner Cameron (also played by Roy Barcroft) and then changes places with him, keeping the real commissioner prisoner. This way he secretly keeps interfering with agent Ted O'Hara (Clayton Moore of Lone Ranger fame) and his very capable assistant, Detective-Sergeant Frances Blake (Ramsay Ames) as they try to stymie the plans of the missing Murkland and his chief gunsel Duke Graham (Gil Frye) and others.

Moore and Roy Barcroft

G-Men Never Forget has a more interesting story than many other serials, and some times almost plays like film noir. Moore makes a strikingly handsome and very effective leading man in this, and Ramsay Ames makes a better impression than she does in other productions. With this serial Roy Barcroft, who appeared in a great many serials, is given one of his best opportunities, and he's fine in a dual role. Premiere stunt man Tom Steele also has more to do than usual, not just as a stunt double but as one of Murkland's gang. Douglas Aylesworth is Detective Hayden, whom at one point O'Hara suspects of being in league with Murkland, a fatal error.

Moore and Ramsay Ames

There are the usual thrills and spills, chases and fist fights. An explosion in a tunnel unleashes a torrent of water that nearly swamps O'Hara and he is nearly electrocuted when his truck runs into high voltage wires and explodes. Just as a truck she's trapped in is about to go over a cliff, Frances uses her wits to narrowly escape the death trap. In a surprising development, our hero doesn't save the day when Murkland sabotages a ship and a large heavy piece of its frame falls from a crane and causes death and destruction -- although O'Hara doesn't get a scratch. (This might have been real footage of a shipyard accident, the use of which is in questionable taste if anyone was actually killed.) Co-director Yakima Canutt was a famed stunt man, bit actor, and stunt coordinator who was the second unit director for the chariot race in the 1959 version of Ben-Hur.

Verdict: Snappy, fast-paced serial with the added sex appeal of Moore and Ames. ***.