DOUBLE CROSS

Kane Richmond

DOUBLE CROSS (1941). Director: Albert H. Kelley.

A cop named Bronson (Richard Beach) is fiddling with a moll named Fay (Wynne Gibson), who works in a club, The Silver Slipper, owned by gangster Nick Taggart (John Miljan of The Ghost Walks). When the place is raided, Fay shoots one of the officers, and Bronson is mistakenly fired upon in return. Bronson's sister, Ellen (Pauline Moore), works in the club and is engaged to Bronson's pal and fellow officer, Jim Murray (Kane Richmond of The Tiger Woman). When Bronson kicks the bucket, Jim comes upon a plan to get kicked off the force so he can go undercover at the Silver Slipper and get the goods on the gang. He tells his fiancee of his plans, but doesn't clue in his heart-broken father (Robert Homans of X Marks the Spot), who happens to be a police captain!

John Miljan and Wynne Gibson

Kane Richmond is perfectly acceptable as Jim Murray, but the acting honors go to the vivid Wynne Gibson as Fay, who loves Taggart not wisely but well. Her best scene has her going off on Taggart when she discovers he's secretly recorded her talking about her crime. Pauline Moore is adequate if bland, John Miljan is fairly snappy as the crime boss who has the mayor in his pocket, and Homans is effective if overall unpleasant as the captain. The movie is relatively fast-paced although the finale seems a little dragged out. This is a cheap production from the poverty row studio PRC (Producer's Releasing Corporation). 

Verdict: Square-jawed Kane Richmond in another cheap thriller. **1/2. 

THE LOST CITY

THE LOST CITY (1935). 12 chapters. Super Serial Productions. Director: Harry Revier.

While this is hardly one of the better serials it does have its entertaining moments. Kane Richmond [The Tiger Woman] stars as Bruce Gordon, an electrical engineer who determines the source of energy that is causing havoc around the world. He traces the signals to Africa and takes off with a party to discover what and who is behind the problem. In a hidden city lost in the jungle, the madman Zolok (William Boyd) is determined to take over the world. He forces an elderly scientist, Manyou (Joseph Swickard) to turn native slaves into giants with his equipment. (These “giants” are simply very tall black men who wouldn't look out of place on a basketball court although everyone in the cast seems abnormally startled by their appearance. The fright wigs they wear make them seem as comical as they are moderately scary.) Sam Baker is the head giant, Hugo.

The wide cast of characters include Zolok's somewhat hulking servant Appolyn (Jerry Frank), Manyou's daughter Natcha (Claudia Dell) – despite the “native"- like name she is actually a blond – assorted bad guys (who cause more problems for our heroes whether or not they're allied with Zolok), an Arab ruler looking for giant slaves, and the campy and vampish Queen Rama (Margot Duse), who blinds Richmond when he refuses her advances and has Natcha hurled into a lion pit in one of the serial's more suspenseful scenes. (There is also a juicy bit involving some descending spikes.) There is also a dog-sized jiggling spider prop that drops a web onto our heroes, and assorted clips of wild animals on the loose.

Richmond is stoic and able, if a bit wooden, as the hero. William Boyd is pretty awful as Zolok, chewing the scenery and spitting out his lines with a fury that may have been meant to suggest madness but only comes off as dreadful overacting. (He makes one appreciate the comparatively understated Charles Middleton as Ming the Merciless even more.) Older and more intelligent-looking than many serial actresses, Claudia Dell somewhat resembles Jeannette Macdonald; you keep expecting Natcha to break into song at any moment. She is not a bad actress, and has a nice moment when she reaches out to tenderly stroke Richmond's hair as he's tending to her. Dell not only played Spanky's mother, she was Octavia in the 1939 Cleopatra and according to imdb.com was the original model for the Columbia logo.

There is quite a bit of bad acting in The Lost City, but a bigger problem is the absence of music. It also doesn't have the color, action or pace of the Flash Gordon serials, being similar only in its absurdities. Still, it's fun enough in its own minor way, and there have, unfortunately, been much worse chapter plays inflicted on the public.

Verdict: Watch Dick Tracy vs Crime Inc. instead. **. 

PASSKEY TO DANGER

Kane Richmond and Stephanie Bachelor

PASSKEY TO DANGER (1946). Director: Lesley Selander.

Tex Hanlon (Kane Richmond) and his fiancee Gwen (Stephanie Bachelor) are an advertising team who have come up with a fashion campaign called "Three Springs." Unfortunately three hoods, formerly known as the Spring Brothers, who committed embezzlement and escaped from jail, think the Three Springs campaign has to do with them. Therefore Tex finds himself being offered huge amounts of money for what he thinks are dresses. Other complications include a blonde, Renee (Adele Mara), who may or may not be a designer with designs on Tex, and the sinister Mr. Warren (Gregory Gaye of Flying Disc Man from Mars) and his thuggish assistant, Bert (Fred Graham of The Giant Gila Monster). 

Richmond with Adele Mara

Frankly, the screenplay for this dog doesn't make a lot of sense. Richmond and Bachelor are perfectly swell for the more insouciant romantic scenes, but are only passable when it comes to anything slightly more dramatic -- not that there's too much of that in this. Gregory Gaye has trouble tossing off vicious bon mots with the kind of skill that came so easily to such as George Sanders. Adele Mara is okay in another of her perky blonde portrayals. Others in the cast include Gerald Mohr of  The Angry Red Planet, John Eldredge of Insurance Investigator and George J. Lewis of Federal Operator 99. The best scene in the movie is the terrific furniture-smashing fist fight between Tex and Bert at the very end. From Republic studios, but you might think it's Monogram. 

Verdict: Features a trio of very dumb "master" criminals. **. 

THE TIGER WOMAN (1945)

Kane Richmond

THE TIGER WOMAN (1945). Director: Philip Ford. 

Private eye Jerry Devery (Kane Richmond) is contacted by a pretty singer at the tony Tiger Club named Sharon Winslow (Adele Mara). Sharon is afraid that something might happen to her husband, the club's co-owner, because of gambling debts, but she also confesses that she is in love with her husband's partner, Steve Mason (Richard Fraser). Sharon and Steve find Mr. Winslow's dead body along with a suicide note, and Steve decides to burn the note so that he can collect on his partner's insurance. Now even the police are sure it was murder -- and maybe it really was. Devery discovers a suspect, Rosie (Donia Bussey), who had a grudge against Winslow and she is arrested, but are things as neatly sewn up as Devery thinks? 

Adele Mara and Richard Fraser

Based on a play, The Tiger Woman -- not to be confused with the cliffhanger serial of the same name -- comes off like an interesting pastiche of various private eye novels. There are no major surprises in the plot but there are some twists and turns along the way and the flick is entertaining. It also features an especially ruthless and sociopathic villainess. Kane Richmond plays the private eye in the insouciant style that was nearly obligatory during the period, and he's perfectly okay on that level. Adele Mara doesn't have to do much but look good, alternately purring and snarling, but she is also okay. Richard Fraser and Donia Bussey offer adept supporting performances, and Cy Kendall [Lady in the Death House] is more than adequate as the fat Inspector Leggett. Although Leggett amd Devery eventually unravel the clues in the case, they generally don't come off as especially intelligent investigators. From Republic Pictures.

Verdict: Private eye pastiche from Republic. **3/4.