795 thoughts on “Site Index”

1. STEVE/JOHN
   1 The Duke having made the Big Time the main B movie cowboys who appealed to us Belfast kids in the 1950s to the best of my recollection were Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Johnny Mack Brown, and William Boyd [aka Hopalong Cassidy] with the likes of Lash LA Rue, Whip Wilson and Allen Rocky Lane behind them in popularity. Most of these heroes had also a monthly comic strip issued with short stories of their adventures.

   2 I always considered Roger the most entertaining and his publicists obviously agreed with me as they proclaimed him The King of the Cowboys although until I saw Steve’s video I didn’t know that they had actually managed to get one of his movies so named. Certainly John’s box office rankings info confirms that Roy transcended the actors’ B list However professional comedians would at times make fun of him as they considered him a bit of a ‘dandy‘ because of the fancy garb that he wore in his movies. Indeed some of them nicknamed him ‘The Brylcreem Cowboy’ because they joked that he applied the Brylcreem dressing to keep his hair in place when he was involved in screen fights.

   3 Neither did I realise until I saw your posters that George Gabby Hayes was in so many of Roy’s movies. Overall the posters that I liked the most were those for Susanna Pass, Southward Ho, Arizona Kid and especially Saga of Death Valley. Best stills were Roy, Trigger and I presume Mary Hart, the solo still of Roy starting to draw his gun, the one of Roy, Trigger and the guitar and of course Roy with Hope and Jane Russell.

   4 To be honest though I would not have included Dark Command and Son of Paleface as the Top 2 as I believe in as far as possible giving only a performer’s ‘bread and butter’ movies high placings in any appreciation of him/her. Anyway although my favourite Rogers movie The Trail of Robin Hood was excluded the video was for me a nice 9.3/10 trip down Memory Lane. I must close though by commending that delicious opening quote which was both funny and observant.
   PS I agree with John that Trigger got excellent billing and indeed I always thought that little Asta should have been billed before Myrna Loy in The Thin Man series. As it is all I can say is that Trigger was lucky that he was Roy’s horse and not Spencer Tracy’s !

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   1. Hi Bob, thanks for the review and comment. As I was telling John this video was difficult because I couldn’t get ratings from all my sources. I included Dark Command and Son of Paleface because I felt these were going to be the only two that most viewers might recognise and might appreciate something familiar. And they were easily the highest rated.

      Seems that Trigger was just as famous as Roy back then. I had to include him in the final photo with Roy and taking a bow too. 🙂

      Glad you liked the posters and stills. More b-western legends on the way. Enjoy the posters the ratings will be scattershot at best.

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      1. 🙂

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2. Steve (and Bob)

   I just watched you Roy Rogers video. Thanks for doing this one. Must have been tough to get ratings.

   I congratulate you on doing a video on one of the really big stars in old Hollywood. Not Roy, but Trigger. I noticed how Trigger became more and more prominent in the posters, getting equal billing with Roy, something Dale never managed. Bob’s into the ego problems among old-time stars, so were there ego problems between Roy and Trigger? I don’t blame Trigger for being out of sorts on billing. He literally carried Roy to stardom.

   As for the ratings, no surprise that Roy’s supporting roles in Son of Paleface and The Dark Command rate at the top, but what about the actual “Roy Rogers” movies. I don’t agree with your ratings. I understand that these ratings are going to be very subjective. Many western traditionalists dismiss much of Roy’s peak work as being a corruption of the western what with all the music and comedy elements. I don’t agree. I think his career peaked in 1945 and 1946 when he was working with Dale as his leading lady (the two of them had a nice screwball comedy chemistry) with Gabby on hand and the Sons of the Pioneers helping with the songs.

   Roy’s own favorite among his films was My Pal Trigger (I imagine Trigger’s fav also). Home in Oklahoma deserves a mention because of a strong crime plot centering on former Autry and Rogers leading lady Carol Hughes murdering her uncle for his ranch only to have the old geezer’s will leave the ranch to an orphan kid he had taken under his wing. Poor Carol now has to off the boy also.

   The best Rogers film in my judgment, though, is Don’t Fence Me In. This is basically a musical-comedy, but it has a terrific plot idea. The character who is mentioned in the title song, Wildcat Kelly, is an old-time outlaw who was shot and buried in 1910. The state paid a reward. An old man dies in an eastern city, but makes a deathbed confession that Wildcat Kelly is actually not dead. A big city newspaper sends ace reporter Dale out west to dig out the truth. She discovers and reveals that Wildcat indeed did not die in 1910, but is old Gabby who is working on a dude ranch run by Roy. But the plot really thickens when the state’s governor orders Wildcat’s grave to be opened and it is found that there was a corpse buried. The murderer sends gangster hitman Marc Lawrence to rub Gabby out to shut him up.

   Besides this interesting plot, there is excellent screwball byplay between Roy and the troublesome Dale, and a really first rate score. Besides the title tune, sung several times, there is Tumbling Tumbleweeds, My Little Buckaroo, The Last Roundup, and several other lively tunes. Dale has a nightclub dancing scene. Trigger even gets into the musical swing of things, dancing to Comin’ Through the Rye, and taking part in and dominating the large scale production number final.

   All in all, Roy’s best and should be at least in number three, although I might put it in the number one position myself.

   Roy shouldn’t be underestimated as a box office attraction in his day. He rated in the top ten in 1945 and 1946 (when he had Gabby & Dale supporting him) and in the top 25 from 1944 to 1950.

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   1. John, this was a tough video to do, apart from the IMDB and Maltin I could only find scattered ratings on only a handful of these films from other sources. Maltin must have been a fan he has ratings on all of these films and zilch for poor old Buck Jones.

      This is one instance where I wish I was collaborating with someone who knew these films (ditto for Jones and Autry). I had to accept the ratings blindly and hope these were among his best films.

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      1. Steve

         While it is very difficult to get good ratings on B westerns, two points–

         1—–note how many vote. If only 7 or so are voting, take that into account versus a not very large number but still enough to get some sort of cross-section, such as 50 to 70 votes. Generally more voters pull ratings down a bit probably because you are moving past the “I love everything he did” fans.

         2—–for serials, The Files of Jerry Blake is a great source. I don’t think you would go wrong by relying on his opinions. I find him always well-balanced. I think IMDB pulls over most of his reviews on their critic section.

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         1. Hey John, thanks for the serial link, good site, lots of detailed analysis on classic serials but there are no ratings that I can see.

            I’m preparing a video on Buster Crabbe but like you’ve pointed out the fewer votes are resulting in higher scores on some pretty obscure (to me) films and serials. Currently IMDB has The Sea Hound as Crabbe’s highest rated movie or serial and Billy the Kid’s Round Up at no.2, I may be wrong but I doubt these two are his best films or serials. I’ve only watched Crabbe in the Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon serials and as IMDB is the only site to rate all of his films there’s not much I can do except go by these ratings and move his best known serials into the top 5. In other words – Help! 🙂

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            1. Steve
               “Help!”
               Okay. I am taking this literally. Jerry Blake (not his real name, but a character in a serial) did give his best list in reply to a question on his board. Here is his list.
               The Fighting Devil Dogs (1938)
               Gang Busters (1942)
               Spy Smasher (1942)
               Flash Gordon (1936)
               Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars (1938)
               Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940)
               Zorro’s Fighting Legion (1939)
               Hawk of the Wilderness (1938)
               Tim Tyler’s Luck (1937)
               King of the Texas Rangers (1941)
               Perils of Nyoka (1942)
               Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941)
               Overland Mail (1942)
               Burn ’em up Barnes (1934)
               Daredevils of the Red Circle (1939)

               These are not in order, as Jerry in his review of King of the Texas Rangers mentioned that this was his favorite Republic serial. Hope this helps. I would assume with over 500 serials, this group gets **** out of ****

            2. Steve

               Now I’m not in Jerry’s league, but I have seen most of the serials anyone considers among the best, and most of the average to bad and even awful group. Here is my top ten–
               Flash Gordon (1936)]
               The Flying Devil Dogs (1938)
               Daredevil’s of the Red Circle (1939)
               Zorro’s Fighting Legion (1939)
               Mysterious Dr. Satan (1940)
               King of the Texas Rangers (1941)
               Perils of Nyoka (1942)
               Gang Busters (1942)
               The Crimson Ghost (1946)
               King of the Rocketmen (1949)

               In my judgment, The Sea Hound is probably just about Crabbe’s worst serial. As for B westerns, Crabbe’s best are the Zane Grey one’s in the 1930’s which he did with a young Randolph Scott. The 1940’s PRC Billy the Kid things are really low budget and forgettable on the whole.
               Hope this helps you some. Good luck.

            3. John, thanks for your input. What I’ll do is move Crabbe’s 4 most famous serials to the top 5. Flash Gordon at the top, a score of 7.8 should be more than enough for that creaky old serial (and I still enjoy watching them). Come on that’s a higher score than some of John Ford’s classic westerns!

               As for the rest, there is a W.C. Fields comedy with Crabbe billed third – You’re Telling Me – Fields fan Leonard Maltin gives it 9 out of 10, the average rating for that film was 7.6 so that will go in position no.2.

               As for the rest of the westerns and serials, I’m going to lop off half a point on each one and fill up the rest of the top 20. I’m also going to check out the poster artwork and make sure the best posters get showcased regardless of ratings, I mean we’re not going for historical accuracy here, most of these b-westerns have near enough the same plot and only a handful of people in the whole world can tell the difference, probably. 😉

            4. Steve

               On Buster Crabbe, I think the Flash Gordon serials and the Buck Rogers serial are almost entirely what he is remembered for today to the extent he is remembered. I don’t think you can go wrong by rating them as his best. By the way, the original Flash Gordon serial is on our National Film Registry for artistic, cultural, and historical significance.

3. 1 Great opening tribute to Cyd from the legendary Astaire. Cyd is of course undoubtedly best known as the leggy dancing partner of the likes of Gene and Fred and although I admired her technical brilliance in those roles, as an actress I liked her best for her portrayal of Robert Taylor’s love interest in Party Girl (1958) with its strong gangster theme.

   2 Cyd in fact made a number of dramatic films and the beauty of your video is that it covers some of them such as Party Girl, Tension, Twilight for the Gods and Two Weeks in Another Town as well as her musicals and I am sure that many people would not hitherto have associated her with non-musical films such as Dino’s The Silencers. The only movie that I have personally known Cyd to get first billing in is the 1961 French/Portuguese movie Black Tights co-starring Maurice Chevalier [which is not in your video].

   3 Such a sexy actress was obviously a godsend to poster creation and there are many fine ones in this video my own favourites being those from Meet Me in Las Vegas, Band Wagon and Silk Stockings. I also liked what I thought were very unusual ones for Ziegfeld Follies and Fiesta though the former was an ensemble movie and the latter an Esther Williams flick, and naturally the Party Girl poster pleased me.

   4 Fine stills were the captivating one from Meet Me in Las Vegas, the Astaire/Cyd ones from Band Wagon and Silk Stockings, the animated one from It’s Always Fair Weather, that with Kelly and the hat from Singin’ in the Rain and the sexy closing solo shot of Cyd on a couch.

   5 In relation to artistic merit your Top 5 are in my view spot on. Bruce has not done a Cyd Charisse page [and you’ve already scolded him for that] but he has covered all of your main 5 in his Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly pages and gives the 5 an average critic/audience marking of approx. 79% compared with your average of around 82%. Overall I see Cyd’s as a 9.5/10 video well worth a couple of viewings.

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   1. STEVE

      My immediately preceding post about Cyd Charisse was meant primarily for you – sorry for omitting your name

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      1. Thank you Bob, appreciate the rating, review and observation, glad you liked the video. Cyd is a long time favorite of mine and I knew I was going to get round to her eventually, Debbie Reynolds would have been included in this group of videos if she hadn’t sadly died in december.

         When I was putting this together I realised that unlike the other musical stars in this group Cyd had not had top billing on any of the films she was in, apart from the ballet movie you mention ‘Black Tights’ directed by Terence Young of all people (director of three classic Bond movies).

         I’ve seen Party Girl but I can’t remember it much, ditto Meet Me in Las Vegas, I would like to see them again I think they’re in my collection.

         I haven’t seen Two Weeks in Another Town and I’d like to check that one out too.

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         1. Hey Steve….Two Weeks In Another Town is on my list of movies to watch….the rest…which are mainly musicals will get watched as I stumble across them at my many local libraries. 🙂

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         2. Steve

            Just watched your Cyd Charisse video and as IMDB is kaput, will comment here.

            Cyd is in the running as the queen of Technicolor in the Studio era. After a brief run in bit parts, she went to MGM and Technicolor, starting apparently with a chorus girl dancing gig in Thousands Cheer, but beginning in earnest with her appearance in Ziegfeld Follies. She made 9 color movies in the 1940’s, and all 13 of her 1950’s movies were in color, for a total of 22 color films through 1959. But when it comes to percentages, she might be at the top as 29 of her total of 37 roles were in color movies, as were 27 out of her 32 starring or featured performances.
            Charisse started off as mainly a specialty dancer, with her sexy appearance in Singin’ in the Rain hoisting her to star status. The Band Wagon followed the next year.
            I am somewhat surprised that movies like Black Tights and Deep in My Heart were not on your list, both with significant dancing performances, but Easy to Love is. Her appearance there is a very brief unbilled inside-joke cameo. After her real life hubby Tony Martin loses Esther Williams to Van Johnson, he runs into Cyd with the implication that things will heat up despite her being on screen for only 30 seconds or so.
            As for the ratings, Singin’ in the Rain and The Band Wagon are the obvious #1 and #2. Personally, I would question Brigadoon being that high. It seemed to me that MGM did not do all that well with this subject. The Scotland highlands were obviously a soundstage. I would replace Brigadoon with Party Girl. I am frankly surprised that Party Girl did so poorly among your critics as it usually gets decent reviews and is a Nicholas Ray cult film. Its rating of 7.2 on IMDB seems much better to me than the rating you came up with. I am also interested (and surprised) that Ziegfeld Follies does so well in comparison, let’s say, to Word and Music. Follies has a mediocre score and unfunny comedy skits. Words and Music has a terrific score. I guess Follies rates so high because it has no plot to criticize for those who consider plots in musicals more important than the music.

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            1. Hi John, no more IMDB message boards, they will be missed. But we will always have Paris… sorry, I meant Bruce’s Movie Cafe Americain.

               Party Girl got one score of 2 out of 5 from a source which pretty much ruined it’s chances, I should have brought it in line with the other sources which would have given it an average rating of 6.8, that would have placed it at about no.9. Party Girl did reach no.10 on Bruce’s Robert Taylor page with an average score of 7 from his sources. It’s been ages since I saw that film and I want to see it again.

               As for Ziegfeld Follies and Words and Music, the former received a score of 4 out of 5 from the same source that gave Party Girl 2 out of 5, which gave it an edge over Words and Music, the highest scores I could get for that was 7.2 and 6.6 the rest hovered around the 6 mark.

               While I enjoy watching Silk Stockings more than Brigadoon, the latter did get slightly higher ratings at my sources. The top 3 are my favorites from Cyds films. Only 2 films received the full whack 10 out of 10 from my sources and they were The Band Wagon and Singin’ in the Rain.

               Thanks for checking out and reviewing my video, much appreciated.

            2. A link to my Cyd Charisse video –

               https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7stQTybNgrY

            3. Hey John…. well…we currently do not have a page on her but when we do we will make sure to include the ones Steve so carelessly forgot…..lol.

               As for Brigadoon…..it is in my database… with a 75.5 rating which is good enough to crack my Gene Kelly page Top 10.

               Good comments on Ms. Cyd.

      2. 🙂

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   2. Hey Bob….good breakdown on Cyd’s movies and Steve’s video on her….great information.

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4. Cogerson

   Because my computer was down, I didn’t get an opportunity to comment on Mary Tyler Moore in the immediate days after her death. While she did have a movie career, and appeared in an Oscar winning film and received a best actress nomination, she was mainly a TV star, peaking in the 1960’s and 1970’s. It was certainly my reaction watching the outpouring of affection in the week following her death, not only on TV, but by friends, especially women friends, that she meant more to folks in America than probably any movie star of the same period.
   It is my impression, off a memory which tracks back to the 1940’s, that in the old days movie stars were the most famous and beloved stars. Now this is no longer true. Especially among female performers, the torch passed in the 1960’s to TV stars, and after the cable era to music stars. I doubt any movie star stirs up the excitement of a Lady Gaga.

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   1. Hey John….nice tribute to MTM. You might be right about the torch being passed from movies to tv. In my case I grew up watching her on tv….seems either The Dick Van Dyke Show or The Mary Tyler Moore Show was always being run on television rerun land. In my mind she and Ron Howard are connected…as I grew up watching both of them on two different shows. As a kid…I remember thinking that it was pretty cool trivia to know. Rest in Peace Mary Tyler Moore…you are missed!

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5. BRUCE & STEVE
   I will later be viewing Steve’s Edna Mae video with great excitement **and then will be leaving what will be my final post on this site until 9 days time as am off to sunnier climes for a holiday with the family. When I come back I’ll touch base with you both so that I can catch up on any new pages/videos produced in my absence

   **BOB’s PERSONAL FAVOURITES:

   Sports personality: Roger Federer
   Actor: Richard Widmark & Gregory Peck
   Dramatic actress: Joan Crawford
   Male Singer: John McCormack & Elvis Presley
   Female Singer/light entertainment actress: Edna Mae Durbin & Doris Day

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