All Points Bulletin: Looking For Desert Mesa (1935) And Half Way To Hell (1961).

There’s a feature-length documentary in the works on producer/director Al Adamson. Adamson made a number of exploitation pictures in the 60s and 70s — Satan’s Sadists (1969), Five Bloody Graves (1969), Horror Of The Blood Monsters (1970), Dracula Vs. Frankenstein (1971) and many more. His father was Victor Adamson, who made a slew of B Westerns in the 20s and 30s as an actor and director (sometimes under aliases like Denver Dixon). Many of his films are considered lost.

That’s Al Adamson in the lower left.

As a boy, Al appeared in his dad’s Desert Mesa (1935), and they worked together on another no-budget Western, Half Way To Hell in 1961. They made cheap genre movies a family business.

Footage from these films is needed for this documentary on Al Adamson. If you have anything — from a film print to a bootleg VHS, please let me know, and I’ll put you in touch with the producers. Thanks a lot.

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Screening: Gold Of The Seven Saints (1961).

Directed by Gordon Douglas
Starring Clint Walker, Roger Moore, Leticia Roman, Robert Middleton, Chill Wills, Gene Evans, Nestor Paiva, Vito Scotti

Did you ever think you’d happen upon a screening of Gold Of The Seven Saints (1961) in this day and age? Well, thanks to the wonderful folks at The New Beverly Cinema, it’s part of their tribute to Roger Moore. What’s more (no pun intended), they’re running it in 35mm (black and white Warnerscope). It’s August 5 and 6 — and I’d sure love to be there.

The New Beverly Cinema
7165 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036
(One block west of La Brea)

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50s Westerns DVD News #245: The Lion And The Horse (1952) And Cow Country (1953).

Warner Archive has a couple early 50s pictures on the way, both of them worth your time and hard-earned dough. Look at the casts on these things!

The Lion And The Horse (1952)
Directed by Louis King
Starrting Steve Cochran, Wildfire, Ray Teal, Bob Steele, Harry Antrim, George O’Hanlon

The Lion And The Horse was an early exercise in Warnercolor, but don’t hold that against it. I’ve never seen this one, but with Ray Teal and Bob Steele that far up on the cast list, I’m dying to. Steve Cochran played a bad guy more often that not, and this gives him a chance to be likable. Shot in Utah’s Mount Zion National Park, the animals had trouble with the high altitudes and were placed in an oxygen tent from time to time. Director Louis King’s previous picture was Frenchie (1950) with Joel McCrea, and he’d follow it with Powder River (1953).

Cow Country (1953)
Directed by Lesley Selander
Starring Edmond O’Brien, Helen Wescott, Bob Lowery, Barton MacLane, Peggie Castle, James Millican, Robert Wilke, Raymond Hatton, Tom Tyler, Jack Ingram

Cow Country plays like a series Western on a larger scale — and that’s a good thing. Of course, what would you expect from Lesley Selander? James Millican has a great part here, and Robert Wilke is badder than usual. And Peggie Castle alone is worth the price of admission. Recommended.

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50s Westerns DVD/Blu-Ray News #244: Warner Archive Christmas In July Sale – 4 For $44.

Warner Archive has kicked of their Christmas In July Sale — which lets you get four titles for just $44 with free shipping. This is a great, great thing — and it includes Blu-Rays!

Lesley Selander’s Short Grass (1950) with Rod Cameron and Johnny Mack Brown is one to consider. Click the banner to start shopping.

 

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RIP, Elsa Martinelli.

Elsa Martinelli
(January 30, 1935 – July 8, 2017)

Elsa Martinelli was an Italian model and actress. She was “introduced” in The Indian Fighter (1955), which was produced by its star, Kirk Douglas, and directed by Andre de Toth.

In the Fifties and early Sixties, she split her movie career between European pictures and American stuff like Howard Hawks’ Hatari! and Orson Welles’ The Trial (both 1962).

She passed away in Rome today at 82.

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Screening: The Searchers (1956) And Stagecoach (1939).

There’s not a lot I need to say here, is there? Two of the finest Westerns ever made — John Ford’s Stagecoach (1939) and The Searchers (1956), both starring John Wayne — will run at New York’s Film Forum on Monday, August 28th.

And yes, that’s one of the coolest photos to ever turn up on this blog.

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RIP, Skip Homeier.

George Vincent “Skip” Homeier
(October 5, 1930 – June 25, 2017)

Skip Homeier, who passed away on June 25th, is one of those actors who made every picture he was in better — no matter how good, or bad, it would’ve been without him. And from The Gunfighter (1950, above) and The Tall T (1957, below) to Cry Vengeance (1954) and The Ghost In Mr. Chicken (1966), he’s in a whole bunch of my favorite movies.

You’ll find him in about every genre there is, but the vast majority of his feature work was in Westerns — and his list of cowboy credits is remarkable. In The Gunfighter, he pretty much invented the punk-kid-looking-to-make-a-name-for-himself character as we know it — everybody who came after him seemed to be doing a Skip Homeier impersonation. William Witney’s Stranger At My Door (1956) also stands out. As a kid, I knew him as “the guy who gets his face blown off in The Tall T.”

His TV work was more varied, and he was always good — The Rifleman, Death Valley Days, Climax!, The Addams Family and many, many more. But like so many actors that appeared on Star Trek, that’s what most people know him for these days (he’s in two).

In the old days, it was often the character actors who made movies truly special (particularly Westerns). Skip Homeier was one of the absolute best.

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