Tag Archives: Monogram Pictures

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Western Wednesdays: The Range Busters (1940)

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SYNOPSIS:
After a series of mysterious murders at the Circle T Ranch, owner Homer Thorp [Horace Murphy] decides it is best to enlist some outside help to track down the phantom killer. When Thorp himself is shot, his daughter Carol [Luana Walters] insists there be action taken. In comes the Range Busters consisting of “Crash” Corrigan [Ray “Crash” Corrigan], “Dusty” King [John “Dusty” King] and “Alibi” Terhune [Max “Alibi” Terhune] with his dummy Elmer to unravel the mystery and they immediately engage in a brawl with Torrence [Leroy Watson] and his henchmen.
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The Charlie Chan Films

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The Charlie Chan film series from 1931-1949 went through three lead actors and two studios over 44 films while still maintaining consistent popularity with moviegoers. In this episode of “the Online Movie Show,” James L. Neibaur, author of “The Charlie Chan Films,” discusses the appeal of Hollywood’s most popular private eye.

The episode can be heard here.

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The Bootleg Files: Up in the Air

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BOOTLEG FILES 668: “Up in the Air” (1940 Monogram feature starring Frankie Darro and Mantan Moreland).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: On public domain labels.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A lapsed copyright.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: It would be great if this little film was digitally restored.

The 1940 Monogram Pictures feature “Up in the Air” may not be the best film of its era, but its surplus amount of ideas crammed into a compact 62-minute running time certainly makes it the busiest. Part-mystery and part-comedy, with musical numbers and a strange mix of egregious and progressive attitudes on race, this little B-level production has more pep than most A-grade flicks.
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The Bootleg Files: Let’s Go Collegiate

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BOOTLEG FILES 642: “Let’s Go Collegiate” (1941 comedy with Frankie Darro, Keye Luke and Mantan Moreland).

LAST SEEN: It is on YouTube and other video sites.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: On public domain labels.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: A lapsed copyright doomed this to public domain hell.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Wouldn’t it be nice if The Criterion Collection offered it as a digitally restored presentation?

During the 1940s, the low-rent Monogram Pictures reigned as the king of the second features. Back in the day, this studio churned out scores of B-movies that helped support the major studios’ prestige productions. (In that era, you didn’t just go to the theater and see a single flick, but you got a main feature plus a second feature and an assortment of newsreels, cartoons and short subjects.)

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