Happy Birthday, William Witney.

William Witney
(May 15, 1915 – March 17, 2002) 

William Witney was born 108 years ago. He was a true innovator in how action makes its way to the movie screen. He was working at Republic Pictures, and while on location for the 1937 serial The Painted Stallion, the director, Ray Taylor, was too drunk to work. Witney took over at just 21.

Watching Busby Berkeley put together one of his famous dance numbers, Witney realized that fight sequences could be choreographed and shot the same way. He under-cranked the camera to speed up the action — merely fast became death-defying. He experimented with the best place to put the camera car when tracking a chase — along the side of the car or stagecoach vs. shooting head-on, with horses charging straight at the camera.

After serving in a Marine combat camera unit in World War II, Witney returned to Republic for his last serial, The Crimson Ghost (1946), then took over the Roy Rogers movies. Dialing up the action, putting less emphasis on the music and bringing in a decidedly darker, more violent tone, Witney breathed new life into Roy’s final films.

William Witney was a genius, and his contribution the cinema has been pathetically under-appreciated.

Photo up top: William Witney and Cheryl Rogers on the set of Trail Of Robin Hood (1950). Photo courtesy of Jay Dee Witney.

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Happy Birthday, Adele Mara.

Adele Mara (Adelaida Delgado)
(April 28, 1923 – May 7, 2010)

Adele Mara was born 100 years ago today.

She was under contract at Republic Pictures from the mid-40s through 1951. She was in pictures with John Wayne, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, William Elliott, you name it. Prior to Republic, she’d been at Columbia, where she was put in everything from Three Stooges shorts to Crime Doctor and Blondie movies. All sorts of cool stuff.

She was married to writer/director/producer Roy Huggins (Hangman’s Knot, Maverick, The Rockford Files) for over 50 years.

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Breakfast With Monte Hale.

This ad for Quaker Puffed Rice ran in April of 1949, with Monte Hale’s Son Of God’s Country new in theaters. Click on it and it gets bigger.

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Under Colorado Skies (1947).

Directed by R. G. Springsteen
Associate Producer: Melville Tucker
Screen Play by Louise Rousseau
Director Of Photography: Alfred S. Keller
Film Editor: Arthur Roberts
Musical Director: Mort Glickman

Cast: Monte Hale (Monte Hale), Adrian Booth (Julia Collins), Paul Hurst (Lucky John Hawkins), William Haade (Marlowe), John Alvin (Jeff Collins), LeRoy Mason (Faro), Tom London (Sheriff Blanchard), Steve Darrell (Clip), Gene Evans (Red), Ted Adams (Doc Thornhill), Steve Raines (Pony), Hank Patterson (Slim), Foy Willing & The Riders Of The Purple Sage

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From 1944 to 1950, Monte Hale made 19 pictures for Republic. Under Colorado Skies is often held up as his best movie, with his next one, California Firebrand (1948), coming in second.

Here, Monte’s a medical student, working part-time as a bank teller and engaged to Adrian Booth. Booth’s brother is part of the notorious Marlowe gang, and when they rob the bank, Monte’s suspected of being in on it (he doesn’t have the heart to tell Booth her brother’s a crook.)

From there, things get complicated. Booth is shot in a stage holdup. Monte infiltrates the gang. And everyone cooks up an elaborate ruse to bring out the truth and clear Monte. There’s plenty of action along the way, as you’d expect from R. G. Springsteen. Monte and Foy Willing & The Riders Of The Purple Sage do a great version of Bob Wills’ “San Antonio Rose.” And there’s some Iverson location work — in Trucolor.

Hale might be better at action than acting, but he’s got a pleasant singing voice and is extremely likable. In everything from Republic serials to William Elliott and Monte Hale pictures to some The Three Stooges shorts to The Man They Could Not Hang (1939) with Boris Karloff, Adrian Booth (also known as Lorna Gray) is one of my favorites. She’s good here and she looks terrific in Trucolor. Hank Patterson, Hank Miller from Gunsmoke and Fred Ziffel on Petticoat Junction and Green Acres, plays a grizzled old prospector. And Tom London has a good part as the sheriff.

Monte Hale came along as Republic’s B Westerns were rounding third and beginning to wind down, as television took its toll on movies like Under Colorado Skies. By 1954, Republic was finished with pictures like this. This one’s a prime example of the bigger budgets, longer running times (and color) and focus on action that made these later Bs such a treat (similar to the later Roy Rogers movies directed by William Witney).

It’s a shame these films are so hard to track down these days. (Paramount, please do something with these things!) They’re an absolute joy.

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Where’s Monte Hale?

Robert’s Western World is a honky tonk on Nashville’s Lower Broadway. The building was once home of the Sho-Bud Steel Guitar Company, owned by steel guitar virtuosos Shot Jackson and Buddy Emmons. Miss Jennifer and I were there the other night and came across this photo of Monte Hale.

It dawned on me that other than his cameo on Trail Of Robin Hood (1950), there hasn’t been much mention of Mr. Hale over this blog’s 13 long years. That’s an oversight I’ll take care of real soon. Unfortunately, Hale’s Republics, quite a few of ’em in Trucolor, are almost impossible to see nowadays, which is letting him fade out of Western movie history.

Monte’s one of the few Western stars I got to meet. He gave me a “Shoot low, they might be crawlin'” sticker (like that one above) that I sure wish I still had.

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Happy Independence Day!

Here’s a lobby card from Republic’s Bells Of Capistrano (1942) to mark the Fourth Of July (1942).

Gene Autry entered the Air Force a few days after principal photography wrapped on this one. It was his last picture till he picked things up after the war with Sioux City Sue (1946). He only made five films for Republic before moving over to Columbia for the rest of his film career.

Here’s wishing you all a fun, safe Independence Day!

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Blu-Ray News #341: Bullfighter And The Lady (1951).

Directed by Budd Boetticher
Starring Robert Stack, Joy Page, Gilbert Roland, Virginia Grey, John Hubbard, Katy Jurado, Paul Fix

Indicator has announced a special edition of Budd Boetticher’s wonderful Bullfighter And The Lady (1951) for a July Region B release. You get both Boetticher’s complete 124-minute cut and the 87-minute version released by Republic. John Wayne produced the picture, which landed Boetticher (and Ray Navarro) an Oscar nomination for Best Original Story.

You also get a slew of extras:
• Audio commentary with Glenn Kenny & Farran Smith Nehme
• My Kingdom For… (1985) Boetticher’s autobiographical documentary about bullfighting
• Interview with Mary Boetticher (2022)
• An Evening With Budd Boetticher audio recording
• Limited edition booklet

The Olive Blu-Ray was nice, a bare-bones release of the extended cut. It certainly deserves this deluxe edition. It’s a great, great film. Highly, highly recommended.

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Blu-Ray News #336: Hell Canyon Outlaws (1957).

Directed by Paul Landres
Starring Dale Robertson, Brian Keith, Rosanna Rory, Dick Kallman, Don Megowan, Mike Lane, Buddy Baer

Mr. Banker, a DVD/Blu-Ray label out of Germany, has announced their upcoming release of Paul Landres’ excellent Hell Canyon Outlaws (1957).

This nasty, terrific little Western, originally distributed by Republic, has been way too hard to find over the years (though you could get a decent copy from Sinister Cinema). I swore I’d release it on Blu-Ray myself if I ever won the lottery. Now, maybe that’s not necessary.

I don’t buy a lot of import DVDs and Blu-Rays, and I’ve never heard of Mr. Banker, but this is one worth taking a chance on. Highly recommended.

Thanks to Mr. John Knight for the news.

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Talking Johnny Guitar With Robert Bellissimo.

It was an honor to be the guest on Robert’s podcast yesterday. He turned it around quick, and it’s ready now. Check it out.

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Roy Rogers And Trucolor And DVD And Blu-Ray (Updated).

THIS IS AN UPDATE OF A POST FROM JULY OF 2012. It continues to be a really popular post, and it seemed due for a refresh. This will be further updated as time goes on.

Henry Cabot Beck of True West Magazine and I were emailing back and forth about the color Roy Rogers pictures (Trucolor, to be precise), how wonderful they are, and how terribly they’re represented on DVD. It’s a matter that has been beaten to death on a number of newsgroups, which shows just how important this really is. With these pictures in mind, a hastily-constructed post seemed in order.

The official releases worth your time and money are (where appropriate, clicking on the art will take you to a seller):

DVD

Bells Of Coronado (1950) is the only Roy Rogers picture Lions Gate got around to putting out on DVD during their handling of the Republic Pictures catalog. Unfortunately, Olive Films’ time with the Republic titles didn’t result in a single Rogers disc.

Bells Of Coronado is a good one, with Dale Evans, Trigger, Grant Withers and Pat Brady adding their usual support. William Witney lends his masterful direction, the songs are great and the Trucolor looks good. I think this is out of print, but it’s still listed here.

VCI’s Roy Rogers Western Double Feature Volume 1 presents Under California Stars (1948) and The Bells of San Angelo (1947) — both uncut and both looking just fine. California features Jane Frazee and Andy Devine, while San Angelo has Dale Evans, Andy Devine and Bob Nolan and the Sons of the Pioneers. Witney directed both. It’s also a deal, available through their website for just four bucks! Trailers are even included. So mosey on over and pick one up.

 

Springtime In The Sierras (1947) came out from Film Chest (in 2016) and The Film Detective, transferred from a complete 16mm print. It might be a bit soft, but it’s a good one and it’s complete.

 

 

 

 

 

BLU-RAY

Kino Lorber took over from Olive Films and released some nice stuff, including a couple of color Rogers films, from restored materials. They’re available on both Blu-Ray and DVD, and both feature commentaries from some Bozo named Toby Roan. They’re absolutely beautiful.

Sunset In The West (1950) looks incredible. It’s got Penny Edwards instead of Dale Evans, and there’s terrific  support from Gordon Jones, Will Wright and Paul E. Burns. The climax, with Trigger chasing down a locomotive, has some really amazing stuntwork.

Trigger Jr. (1950) has Dale Evans, Pat Brady, Gordon Jones, Grant Withers and Foy Willing And The Riders Of The Purple Sage. It really focuses on Trigger, so there’s a lot of great horse stuff in it.

I wish this was a lot longer post, with the rest of the color Rogers pictures listed. But at this time, Paramount owns the rights and no one has licensed anything. Maybe someday.

Till then, “may the good Lord take a liking to you.”

 

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