This is a big one, folks. After making his B Western, The Forty-Niners (1954), for Allied Artists, William Elliott ended his Hollywood career with five tough little crime pictures for the same studio, released 1955-57. After playing Detective Lieutenant Andy Flynn of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in the first one, Dial Red “O” (1955), he became Andy Doyle in the other four.
The Bill Elliott Detective Mysteries from Warner Archive presents all five films in 16×9 widescreen. Most run about an hour — and have been on the Want Lists of “Wild Bill” Elliott fans for ages. They’ll be on the Warner Archive lineup on Tuesday.
Dial Red “O” (1955) An unhinged vet triggers a citywide manhunt when his soon-to-be-ex-wife gets bumped off. With Paul Picerni and Sam Peckinpah (uncredited as a cook).
Sudden Danger (1955) Elliott investigates a suspicious suicide — and the prime suspect turns out to be a blind man. With Beverly Garland and Lyle Talbot.
Calling Homicide (1956) Elliott connects the dots between a cop-killing and a model’s murder.  With Don Haggerty (who’d appear in the rest of the series), Lyle Talbot and James Best.
Chain of Evidence (1957) A reform school grad is accused of murder. With Haggerty, Timothy Carey and Dabbs Greer.
Footsteps In The Night (1957) A high-stakes poker game ends in murder. Directed by Jean Yarbrough.
Daniel B. and Elwood Ullman, who wrote several of Elliott’s Monogram Westerns, are on hand for these films, and they make the transition from the Old West to the City Of Angels with ease.
You might be interested in these as a curio more than anything else, but they’re cool little movies and Elliott is as terrific as ever. Highly recommended.
Just pre-ordered this! Thanks for the post! I have awful VHS copies of all of these…it’ll be like seeing them for the first time. I remember seeing CHAIN OF EVIDENCE at a local theatre paired up with HOT SHOTS w/Huntz Hall and The Bowery Boys.
Wow, Bill Elliott and The Bowery Boys — THAT’s a good use of an afternoon.
I saw that double bill when I was 7 or 8 years old. Had no idea at the time that Elliott had been a western star and never saw a Leo Gorcey Bowery Boys film until much later. Besides HOT SHOTS, I saw HOLD THAT HYPNOTIST with HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL on the big screen.
It’s funny how I can remember a few of the double features I saw…YELLOWSTONE KELLY paired with Randolph Scott’s WESTBOUND, a Jock Mahoney double bill of THE LAND UNKNOWN and SLIM CARTER and…my favorite double feature of all time would be THE 7th VOYAGE OF SINBAD paired with THE TALL T ! That was a $1 admission well spent.
Very interesting! Thanks for the heads up.
Love John’s memories of his childhood double bills, it’s kind of like how I remember what channels I saw certain movies on when I was young, LOL.
Best wishes,
Laura
How would we manage without you, Toby? Great news! I shall probably need to wait until it is offered (I hope) by Amazon UK to get my copy but it’s a cert.
Thanks.
We now need Warner Archive to carry on reissuing Bill Elliott’s Monogram / Allied Artists westerns as well. That would then be perfection!
I agree. Working on a review of the Fargo DVD these days. Very cool little movies.
I’ve had the Bill Elliott detective films on average quality DVDs for a number of years. They are all good films with plenty of familiar faces in the supporting casts. Anyone who hasn’t seen them should like them a lot, especially if you like Bill Elliott. So this is great news from Warners, to finally have them all in top quality.
But I still prefer Bill as a westerner, and I agree with Jerry, we need more of his Allied Artists films from Warner Archive. Give us a break from Jimmy Wakely, and lets have more Wild Bill.
Wow! The Elliott crime thrillers in widescreen.
It’s kinda ironic for the last few months the pound has been at a high against
the dollar and I have had nothing to order from The Archive for several;
months. My order is going in tomorrow,or as soon as Amazon USA lists it!
Will I wait for it to appear on Amazon UK………NOPE!
As I have mentioned many times before I have given up all hope of the
Republic A Westerns of Elliott,Rod Cameron and Forrest Tucker ever
surfacing on DVD so I have decided to source my own copies through the
“digital underground” The good news is many of these fine films exist in very
fine “off air” transfers many sourced from Encore Westerns.
I have more or less completed my Rod Cameron section now it’s Elliott’s
turn.
Elliott had several. years as a Republic A Western star from 1946-1950
and these years produced some cracking Westerns. He also dropped the
“Wild Bill” tag in favor of “William” Elliott.
These films had excellent production values and good scripts.
Watched THE SAVAGE HORDE last night a top-notch Joe Kane action
Western.
An earlier effort IN OLD SACRAMENTO is one of those rambling complex
Forties Westerns with little action,rather like Raoul Walsh’s SILVER RIVER.
Joe Kane does reward the viewers patience with a stunning,and unexpected
climax.
Elliott really went out on a high note with the striking THE SHOWDOWN.
Directed by the brothers McGowan-Dorrell and Stuart who were mainly
writer-producers. On the strength of THE SHOWDOWN one wishes that
they had directed more Westerns.
A more stark and chilling start to a Western I simply cannot recall.
Film starts with a grave robbery,at midnight during a thunderstorm.
Whole scene owes a huge dept to classic Universal Horror.
Elliott is on the revenge trail and mystery film buffs will spot the identity of
the killer early in the film. Film does have an unexpected conclusion,not as
twisted as that other great Republic revenge Western SAN ANTONE but
interesting nonetheless.
I have a few other Elliott’s to source including Toby’s fave HELLFIRE and
THE FABULOUS TEXAN directed by Edward Ludwig. The Russian born
Ludwig can always make the most routine material interesting his films are
full of neat little touches.
Jerry,you probably know that we have had volume 1 of the Elliott Allied
Artists Westerns from Warner Archive and there are more to follow,
I must admit,sadly that I am underwhelmed by those that I have seen so far,
to me they pale when compared to the Republics.
No doubt you can point me towards the better ones in the bunch.
What i liked about the Republic A Western Elliott’s was his willingness to
play darker more complex characters.
Wild Bill certainly knew when it came time to quit and I feel these crime
films meant that he went out on a high note rather than accept supporting
roles or like that other Allied Artists B Western star Wayne Morris be reduced
to appearing in cheap British B films.
One things for sure his Republic A Westerns are ripe for rediscovery
Good to have your input here, Mike – hope to see you in Birmingham in March?
John, as you probably know, Bill Elliott rides very high in the saddle in my list of favourites. I really like his Columbia and Republic B-westerns generally (they are what made him only just behind Autry and Rogers in popularity with the fans). Then when Herb Yates decided to translate that popularity into bigger budgets and rename him ‘William’, a very fine series of feature-length westerns followed. I have never seen “In Old Sacramento” but you can get pretty good prints of all the rest from Trev Scott in Oz. I like all of them actually but “Savage Horde”, “Hellfire” and “The Showdown” come high on my list of favourite westerns overall. They are that good.
When Bill’s contract was not renewed and he went to work at Monogram the “Wild Bill” moniker was reinstated together with his pair of reverse-draw stag-handled colts. There are those who consider these Monogram / Allied Artists films among the best B-western series ever. That really is for individual taste to determine. But these films come closest to Elliott’s interpretation of his idol, Wm. S. Hart’s, good badman persona. I particularly like “The Longhorn”, “Fargo”, “Kansas Territory”, “Topeka”, “Bitter Creek” & “Vigilante Terror”, although I must say I enjoyed “The Homesteaders” a great deal more for having the print quality put out by Warner Archive! I believe “Waco” would be in that list too except that the copy I have is too dark to fully enjoy (Warner PLEASE!!!).
This could be another great strand – I do hope so as I am really enjoying the discussions on both Toby’s and Colin’s blogs.
The Savage Horde, Hellfire and The Showdown are among my favorite Westerns, too. They’re perfect examples of what 50s low-budget film-making can achieve. It all begins with a good script, which these three certainly had.
Absolutely agree, Toby. Adult scripts too!
One of my top 4 western favorites, Duke, Rand Scott, Joel McCrea & BILL ELLIOTT. Really happy to get the news his detective films will finally be available in excellent widescreen versions. I have these film already but not widescreen versions and the quality isn’t perfect either, looking forward to this.
Week before last I watched Bill’s “Wildcat From Tucson” where Bill not only had to fight evil schemers but also his hothead brother. Great little film that kept my interest. I didn’t even fall asleep, can’t say that for the Eddie Dean film I watched last week.
Note to Laura, last night I watched a double dose of Philip Carey/Fred Sears westerns: Wyoming Renegades & Massacre Canyon. I think Laura will appreciate the end segment of Wyoming Renegades when all the townsfolk women stick their rifles out of windows and shoot up the bank robbers themselves after the menfolk galloped off going “that a-way” out of town to chase the baddies who were in town all the while. The women and wives were the heroes of this movie along with Philip Carey personally defeating Butch (Gene Evans) Cassidy. 2 really great westerns, my only criticism is Sears seems to have a penchant for people killing each other with knives instead of guns. I prefer a showdown.
Thanks for the feedback, Johnny! Very recently saw WYOMING RENEGADES and I agree, the unique ending was my favorite part of the movie. Will be watching for MASSACRE CANYON, great cast. Sure loved Sears’ BADMAN’S COUNTRY!
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Bill Elliott movie!
Best wishes,
Laura
Sorry Guys,
I just cannot get too excited about the Allied Artists Elliott series.
I watched VIGILANTE TERROR recently and thought that it was one of
the worst B Westerns that I have ever seen.
TCM UK showed THE FORTY NINERS last week and I did not rate that
one either. Oddly enough that film was one of the last B Series Westerns
to play as a support feature at one of the major cinema circuits in England.
It went around with THE SEA CHASE.
I will support other volumes in the Warner Archive series but I just hope
there are better films in the series. The much talked about “barbed wire”
scene in FARGO I found laughable, to say the least.
To me the Allied Artists films pale against the Republic A pictures which
I thought had pretty decent budgets and production values.
They also had far better directors and writers too!
Not that I dislike all of Bill’s B Westerns,the Wild Bill Hickok films that I have
seen I really enjoyed. ACROSS THE SIERRAS (out as a Sony MOD) is
excellent,a re-working of THE VIRGINIAN with stellar work from formidable
bad guy Dick Curtis.
Good to know THE SHOWDOWN has other admirers what a tough,complex
Western with Elliott downright scary at times.
I do wish Sony would put their B Westerns in volumes or at the very least
two films on one disc.I would love to see more of the Columbia Elliott’s and
of course more Buck Jones in the stunning quality that they have provided
us with so far. We all need a bit more Buck in our lives, this guys films were
streets ahead of all that “singing cowboy” nonsense that would follow.
I expect,and no doubt will get an avalanche of flak regarding all this
but healthy debate among Western fans is what this blog is all about.
The quality does waver quite a bit on these Monogram Elliotts, but the good ones are quite good — and to me, the series as a whole is terrific.
Of course, thanks to films like Hellfire, he’s such a favorite of mine, I’d watch him in anything.
Backtracking slightly but I was very interested in Jerry’s comment that
William S Hart was Bill Elliott’s idol.
This is interesting because Hart’s often director Lambert Hillyer worked
quite a bit with Elliott later on.
I find Hillyer a rather interesting director and would love to see more of
the films that he made with Elliott.Certainly some of the films Hillyer made
with Buck Jones were outstanding.
Unlike say Joe Kane,Lesley Selander,George Sherman and William Witney
Hillyer never really made the transition into A features. He was considerably older than those guys and had a sort of breakthrough with DRACULA’S
DAUGHTER now a cult favorite and much praised for it’s erotic subtext.
He also directed the Karloff/Lugosi effort THE INVISIBLE RAY.
I have found some of his B Westerns full of dark textures and often really
creepy characters.
Another guy I really admire who worked with Jones is Louis King a
director that I have increasing admiration for.
Like Hillyer a veteran from the silent era.
Watched King’s ROAD GANG (out as a Warner Archive MOD) recently;
what a totally cracking B movie with a Dalton Trumbo script to boot!
A deeply religious man King’s films often have a high moral tone,but he
never “preaches” to his audience his films are full of humor (often very
dark) and have incredibly taut pacing. ROAD GANG is fast furious,in fact
the film never lets up…..everything a great B Movie should be.
PRISON FARM is another gem from King but sadly not out on DVD.
Other great Louis King B pics are PERSONS IN HIDING,ILLEGAL
TRAFFIC,UNDERCOVER DOCTOR and TIP OFF GIRLS all worth going
the extra mile to track down.
Just thought I’d note that the Elliott Detective films are up for sale on
Amazon USA-just search for Bill Elliott Mysteries.
Just ordered mine so I’m in a better mood today!
Also up on Amazon USA is Harmon Jones CITY OF BAD MEN,released
yesterday. Nice reproduction of the poster art.
Though not as good as THE SILVER WHIP and A DAY OF FURY two
of Jones’s other films much covered by Toby;CITY OF BAD MEN is well
worth a look if only for the cracking cast alone.
The Spanish DVD of a few years back was a decent transfer with a few
minor imperfections in the mid-section of the film.
Thanks for the tip, John K. I will now keep an eye out for them appaering on Amazon UK’s website for sale.
John K, we’ll just have to agree to differ on Bill Elliott’s westerns from Monogram. Toby’s summation just about corresponds with my own feelings about these films.
Laura, you need to treat yourself to Mr. Elliott somewhere down the line. Perhaps start with one of those republic ‘A’s that John K has been talking about. Cracking stuff!
Hi Laura and Jerry,
So glad that this thread is still going strong.
Laura I cannot recommend the Republic Elliott’s highly enough,I have 4 of
them with the other 6 to follow shortly.
THE SHOWDOWN is an exceptional Western by Anyone’s standards.
There are three of his Columbia Westerns available through Sony’s MOD
series I have two of them.
ACROSS THE SIERRAS is excellent and as mentioned before a re-working
of THE VIRGINIAN………great fun if you know the original (s)
HANDS ACROSS THE ROCKIES is very good as well. Typical of films
directed by Lambert Hillyer (Elliott made a whole raft of films with Hillyer)
there are plenty of dark shadings to this film as well as a couple of really
creepy characters.
THE RETURN OF DANIEL BOONE I have yet to get,I avoided this one
because of the dreadful “generic” packaging from Sony.
When will these marketing guys ever learn that decent artwork SELLS
DVDs. Anyway it’s another Hillyer directed film which means that I want it
added to the fact that someone on imdb considers it the best of Elliott’s
Columbias.
I note that Hillyer made lots of thrillers too some starring Jack Holt,yet
another task to source some of these through my contacts in the “digital
underground” From what I have seen of Hillyer’s work his style is perfect
for “Noir”
I am really enjoying Sony’s Buck Jones re-issues such a joy to see films
over 80 years old in such sparkling quality.I love Hillyer’s style in these films very short takes with really fluid editing. I hope Sony release THE MAN
TRAILER considered by many to be the best of Buck’s films with Hillyer.
There must be other Buck fans out there considering the clip that Sony
are putting them out at.
Oh,I forgot to mention that MEN WITHOUT LAW directed by Louis King
another favorite director of mine is another outstanding Jones Western.
Yep! I would prefer these films as double features but when we get these
wonderful films in this pristine quality who am I to complain. Just love that
Buck Jones!
Thanks much for all this great info!
My dad is following this thread and mentioned he had seen a couple Elliotts and wasn’t impressed, he said maybe he’d seen the wrong ones. Maybe they were the Allied Artists titles! Am making note of these Republics so I can be sure my first Elliot film is a good one. 🙂
Best wishes,
Laura
Laura, if you start out with Hellfire (1949) or Showdown (1950), you’ll see what our excitement is about. (I feel like an evangelist when it comes to Hellfire, which given its spiritual theme, is appropriate.)
For me, it’s Elliott’s terrific voice and overall coolness that make him a favorite. He underplays, and with a good script and director, it’s really effective.
I have been aware of HELLFIRE since about 1990. I caught part of it on TV and made mental note of the title. Just a few weeks later another TV station began showing Republic and Columbia westerns. I was able to tape HELLFIRE and THE OUTCAST, with John Derek, and the George Montgomery TEXAS RANGERS. They were in black and white, though, and I was thrilled to find them a little later on legit VHS releases in color.
I was able to record most of Wild Bill’s Republic A’s and filled in the holes in the collection with bootlegs and commercial releases from Republic Home Video.
I was familiar with Bill Elliott. Seeing these movies on TV, I had vague memories of watching his movies on TV in the late 50’s. I remembered his backwards guns and plaid shirts. It must have been the Allied Artists movies because I remember seeing his detective movies also. So I have bought this Detective Collection. (Even though I have had four of them on tape for years.)
So I have watched HELLFIRE a lot over the years. But it still took me quite a few viewings to realize that the dark haired dancing girl, that dances by in the first scene revealing Bill Elliott playing cards was, pre-Doll Brown, Mary Windsor.
THE PLAINSMAN AND THE LADY is another terrific Elliott Republic. It was out on VHS from Republic Home Video. The cast includes Vera Ralston, Andy Clyde, Joseph Schildkraut, Don ‘Red’ Barry, and Gail Patrick. The ‘Lady’ in the title is not Vera Ralston’s character but Gail Patrick’s bad-girl. The outdoor photography is impressive and the use of music is different than usual. This is especially true in the scenes where Wild Bill confronts Don Barry’s character, but never actually talks to him.
I also suggest picking up VCI’s DVD Vol 12 of the RED RYDER series. It’s a triple feature with two Elliott’s and one Rocky Lane. The Elliott’s are written by Robert Williams. One of the stories has a print the legend plot that predates Fort Apache and Liberty Valance. I have read that Williams ghosted RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY.