Arizona Mahoney 1936 N/R, 58 min. Genre: Western aka: Arizona Thunderbolt
Director: James P. Hogan Cast: Joe Cook, Robert Cummings, Buster Crabbe, June Martel, Marjorie Gateson, John Miljan, Dave Chasen, Irving Bacon, Billy Lee, Fred Kohler, James P. Burtis, Frank Mayo, Jim Mason, Jack Perrin
Arizona Mahoney (Joe Cook), who makes a living being shot out of a cannon in the circus, and his piano-playing partner Phillip Randall (Robert Cummings) decide to settle down in the West, and, with help from the circus elephant, they round up a gang of rustlers.
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Billy the Kid Returns 1938 N/R, 53 min. Genre: Western
Director: Joseph Kane Cast: Roy Rogers, Smiley Burnette, Lynne Roberts, Morgan Wallace, Fred Kohler, Wade Boteler, Edwin Stanley, Horace Murphy, Joseph Crehan, Robert Emmett Keane, George "Gabby" Hayes
Roy Rogers sings and sings in this one where he is mistaken for the famed outlaw and must bring villains to justice to clear his name.
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Fighting Caravans 1931 N/R, 90 min. Genre: Western aka: Blazing Arrows
Director: Otto Brower, David Burton Cast: Gary Cooper, Lili Damita, Ernest Torrence, Tully Marshall, Fred Kohler, Eugene Pallette, Roy Stewart, May Boley, James A. Marcus, Eve Southern, Charles Winninger, Frank Campeau
After young scout Clint (Gary Cooper) avoids jail for troublemaking by talking Felice (Lily Damita) into pretending to be his wife, Clint and Felice head west on a wagon train. As an apprentice scout working for seasoned scouts Bill and Jim (Ernest Torrence and Tully Marshall), all goes well for Clint until Bill and Jim are killed during an Indian raid orchestrated by gunrunner Lee (Fred Kohler). Now it's up to Clint to get things back on track.
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Goin' to Town 1935 N/R, 72 min. Genre: Comedy / Musical
Director: Alexander Hall Cast: Mae West, Paul Cavanagh, Gilbert Emery, Marjorie Gateson, Tito Coral, Ivan Lebedeff, Fred Kohler, Monroe Owsley, Grant Withers, Luis Alberni, Wade Boteler, Mona Rico, Paul Harvey, Lucio Villegas
Dance-hall queen Cleo Borden (Mae West) inherits an oil field from her deceased husband but lacks social graces to enter high society. She takes etiquette lessons and gets into a marriage in name only with Fletcher Colton (Monroe Owsley) to gain social position. But, British engineer Edward Carrington (Paul Cavanagh), who she had fallen for when he surveyed her property, returns to the scene and is now an earl. By story's end, Cleo has divorced Fletcher, married Edward, and lives happily ever after in London.
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Half a Sinner 1940 N/R, 59 min. Genre: Adventure / Comedy / Mystery
Director: Al Christie Cast: Heather Angel, John "Dusty" King, Constance Collier, Walter Catlett, Tom Dugan, Robert Elliott, Clem Bevans, Emma Dunn, Henry Brandon, William B. Davidson, Fern Emmett, Sonny Bupp, Wilbur Mack, Fred Kohler
Schoolteacher Anne Gladden (Heather Angel) escapes the attentions of a gangster by driving off in his car. What Anne does not know is that there is a corpse in the trunk. While the gangster tries to recover his car, Anne meets a stranger and picks him up. Now they discover the body and try to return the car, but both the gangster and the police are on their trail.
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Heart of the West 1936 N/R, 63 min. Genre: Western
Director: Howard Bretherton Cast: William Boyd, James Ellison, George "Gabby" Hayes, Lynn Gabriel, Russell Hayden, Sidney Blackmer, Charles Martin, Billy King, Natalie Moorhead, John Rutherford, Fred Kohler
This is one of the best in the series of Hopalong Cassidy films. Problems come in the form of one of Hopalong Cassidy's neighbors, but the matter is settled when Hoppy roots out the troublemaker.
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Honor of the Range 1934 N/R, 60 min. Genre: Western
Director: Alan James Cast: Ken Maynard, Cecilia Parker, Fred Kohler, Frank Hagney, Jack Rockwell, James A. Marcus, Albert J. Smith, Eddie Barnes, Franklyn Farnum, Slim Whitaker, Al Bridge, Hal Taliaferro
This offbeat Western features Ken Maynard playing two roles: one as good-guy sheriff Ken and the other as his weak and crooked brother Clem. After town bad-guy Rawhide (Fred Kohler) robs the bank and takes Ken's girlfriend, Mary (Cecilia Parker), hostage with help from Clem, Ken is blamed. After a change of heart, Clem tells Ken of Rawhide's hideout. Going undercover, Ken saves the day as Mary plays and organ loudly to distract gang members.
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The Iron Horse 1924 N/R, 119 min. Genre: Drama
Director: John Ford Cast: George O'Brien, Madge Bellamy, Cyril Chadwick, Fred Kohler, Gladys Hulette, J. Farrell MacDonald, Gordon James, James A. Marcus, Delbert Mann, Edward Peil Sr.
The mid-19th-century construction of the transcontinental railroad is the theme of this story, including the triumphs as well as the defeats encountered in this monumental task.
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The Light of Western Stars 1930 N/R, 70 min. Genre: Western
Director: Otto Brower, Edwin H. Knopf Cast: Richard Arlen, Mary Brian, Fred Kohler, Harry Green, Regis Toomey, William Le Maire, George Chandler, Syd Saylor, Guy Oliver, Gus Saville
Ranch foreman Dick Bailey's (Richard Arlen) best friend and owner of the ranch was killed, and when the sister (Mary Brian) of his friend arrives to take over the ranch, she fires him and then rehires him to fight the crooked sheriff (Fred Kohler) who has his own plans for the ranch property. Adapted from a Zane Grey story.
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Mississippi 1935 N/R, 75 min. Genre: Musical
Director: A. Edward Sutherland Cast: Bing Crosby, W.C. Fields, Joan Bennett, Queenie Smith, Gail Patrick, Claude Gillingwater, John Miljan, Edward Pawley, Fred Kohler, Dennis O'Keefe
With a Rogers and Hart score to back him, Bing Crosby shines as Tom Grayson who is rejected by his Philadelphia family and becomes a singer with the troupe on a Mississippi riverboat under the command of Commodore Jackson (W.C. Fields). This story was based on Booth Tarkington's "Magnolia."
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Other Men's Women 1931 N/R, 65 min. Genre: Drama
Director: William A. Wellman Cast: James Cagney, Grant Withers, Mary Astor, Regis Toomey, Joan Blondell, Fred Kohler, J. Farrell MacDonald, Walter Long, Lillian Worth, Pat Hartigan, Lucille Ward, Pat Harmon, Kewpie Morgan, Bob Perry, Lee Moran
Passions seethe while Lily (Mary Astor) is at one corner of a love triangle involving railroad workers Bill (Grant Withers) and Jack (Regis Toomey)–and Jack is her husband. The two men fight on a train, Jack falls off the engine, and his injuries leave him permanently blind. Later, a torrential rainstorm hits the area, and a railway bridge is threatened by the swelling waters. Bill tries to save the bridge by stalling a train on the bridge to give it extra weight. But, Jack takes over, throws Bill off the train, and drives the train to the bridge where it crashes into the water, bringing about his demise.
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The Painted Desert 1938 N/R, 59 min. Genre: Western
Director: David Howard Cast: George O'Brien, Laraine Day, Ray Whitley, Stanley Fields, Fred Kohler, Lloyd Ingraham, Maude Allen, Harry Cording, Max Wagner, Lee Shumway, William V. Mong, Lew Kelly
A young Laraine Day is the only highlight of this remake (at least in part) of the 1931 film. Bob McVey (George O'Brien) and girlfriend Carol Banning (Laraine Day) work on their tungsten mine, but there are bad people out there who want it for themselves.
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Riders of the Purple Sage 1925 N/R, 56 min. Genre: Western
Director: Lynn Reynolds Cast: Tom Mix, Warner Oland, Beatrice Burnham, Fred Kohler, Arthur Morrison, Harold Goodwin, Marian Nixon, Mabel Ballin, Wilfred Lucas, Anne Shirley
Based on Zane Grey's novel, Texas Ranger Jim Lassiter (Tom Mix) is after the man who abducted his sister and her daughter. Jim takes on a job at a ranch where love blooms and finds out that the man he's after is now a judge in town. Good silent flick.
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The Texas Rangers 1936 N/R, 95 min. Genre: Western
Director: King Vidor Cast: Fred MacMurray, Jack Oakie, Jean Parker, Lloyd Nolan, Edward Ellis, Stanley Andrews, Irving Bacon, George "Gabby" Hayes, Fred Kohler, Richard Carle, Frank Shannon, Benny Bartlett, Frank Cordell, Jed Prouty, Elena Martinez
Following the Civil War, outlaws Jim Hawkins (Fred MacMurray) and Wahoo Jones (Jack Oakie) opt out of their criminal activities and turn to the side of law and order when they become Texas Rangers. Later, Jim and Wahoo conspire to capture a former cohort Sam McGee (Lloyd Nolan) whose gang is creating terror throughout the area. Followed by "The Texas Rangers Ride Again" and remade in 1949 as "Streets of Laredo."
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The Vigilantes Are Coming 1936 N/R, 226 min. Genre: Western
Director: Ray Taylor, Mack V. Wright Cast: Robert Livingston, Fred Kohler, Kay Hughes, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Raymond Hatton, Robert Warwick, William Farnum, Bob Kortman, John Merton, Lloyd Ingraham, William Desmond, Yakima Canutt
Russians, under the leadership of General Burr (Fred Kohler), set out to colonize California using Cossack soldiers. But, there is resistance out there in the person of a church organist (Don Loring) who dons a black mask, calls himself "The Eagle," and leads a gang of misfits in pursuit of the Russians. There are plenty of cliffhangers in this 12-episode serial.
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The Way of All Flesh 1927 N/R, 94 min. Genre: Drama
Director: Victor Fleming Cast: Emil Jannings, Phyllis Haver, Donald Keith, Belle Bennett, Jackie Coombs, Fred Kohler, Gordon Thorpe, Philippe De Lacy, Mickey McBan, Betsy Ann Hisle
Emil Jannings won the first Best Actor Academy Award for his portrayal as a bank teller who was mugged and presumed dead. The Oscar was for his work not only in this film but also for "The Last Command" (1928). (In the first years of the Academy Awards, they were presented for a two-year period.) This story was remade in 1940.
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West of the Pecos 1935 N/R, 68 min. Genre: Western
Director: Phil Rosen Cast: Richard Dix, Martha Sleeper, Samuel S. Hinds, Fred Kohler, Louise Beavers, Willie Best, Maria Alba, Pedro Regas, G. Pat Collins, Russell Simpson, Maurice Black, George Cooper
Comanche attacks and villains, as well as being accused of cattle rustling, are just part of the problems of Pecos Smith (Richard Dix). After rescuing Ril (Martha Sleeper)–who has disguised herself as a boy during her trek west–he must add her to his list of problems. Based on a Zane Grey novel and remade in 1945. Robert Mitchum made his film debut in this film.
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| 1. Arizona Mahoney (1936) aka: Arizona Thunderbolt
2. Billy the Kid Returns (1938)
3. Fighting Caravans (1931) aka: Blazing Arrows
4. Goin' to Town (1935)
5. Half a Sinner (1940)
6. Heart of the West (1936)
7. Honor of the Range (1934)
8. The Iron Horse (1924)
9. The Light of Western Stars (1930)
10. Mississippi (1935)
11. Other Men's Women (1931)
12. The Painted Desert (1938)
13. Riders of the Purple Sage (1925)
14. The Texas Rangers (1936)
15. The Vigilantes Are Coming (1936)
16. The Way of All Flesh (1927)
17. West of the Pecos (1935)
In The News
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