James Craven

Based on the novel by Chuck Klosterman, Downtown Owl thrusts viewers into small-town Owl, North Dakota, as a motley crew of characters brace for a historic blizzard.

This is a shortened version of the 1945 Republic serial "The Purple Monster Strikes," which was released to television in 1966.

A warlord from Mars recruits an Earth industrialist with a Nazi past to manufacture weapons by means of which Mars can take over the Earth. Feature version of the 1951 movie serial "Flying Disc Man from Mars".

Duke Mullane, manager of a Malayan tin mine, goes to a little-known island to open a new mine in the jungle. Initially, the natives there are friendly, especially dancer Minyora...who proves to be affianced to local ruler King Kiang. Alas, a series of unfortunate incidents changes Kiang's attitude to hostility, and Duke is stranded with his crew, Minyora, and his old flame Lory...who's now engaged to his boss!

In the future (1970) the US sends a mission to the moon to investigate the building of a moon base.

In 1625 France, D'Artagnan joins the king's musketeers, meets three new friends - Athos, Porthos and Aramis - among them and, together, the four quickly find themselves embroiled in court intrigue with Prime Minister Richelieu attempting to sabotage the congenial relationship existing between France and England. Originally produced as a 60-minute episode of THE MAGNAVOX THEATER on CBS as THE THREE MUSKETEERS. This has the distinction of being the first movie specifically made for TV. Later retitled and released theatrically.

British Naval Officer fights pirates on Madagascar.

Doc Lockwood and his gang are trying to take away Autry's contract for supplying horses to the stagecoach line. Parson Brooks joins Autry in an effort to clean up the town of Sadderlock.

Major Daniel Kirby takes command of a squadron of Marine fliers just before they are about to go into combat. While the men are well meaning, he finds them undisciplined and prone to always finding excuses to do what is easy rather than what is necessary. The root of the problem is the second in command, Capt. Carl 'Griff' Griffin. Griff is the best flier in the group but Kirby finds him a poor commander who is not prepared to the difficult decision that all commanders have to make - to put men in harm's way knowing that they may be killed.

Feature version of the 1949 serial, KING OF THE ROCKETMEN: Young member of scientific group uses new rocket-powered flying suit to thwart shadowy saboteur known only as "Dr. Vulcan".

Rocky Lane, Special Investigator for Wells Fargo, shows up just in time to save the stage from being robbed. Unable to find the mastermind, or even the outlaws who rob the stage, Rocky goes undercover as an outlaw.

Mota is a Martian representative, who has come to impose interplanetary law on the Earth (which has become too dangerous); opposing his authority is Kent Fowler, who resists the alien plot, without understanding its details.

Police sergeants Johnson and McManus take on Los Angeles confidence tricksters. Con man Tony Wells, lining up rich widow Jessica Royce as his latest mark, sets up a false paranormal society with other charlatans to convince the credulous Jessica that her late son is speaking to her through their sham seances. When the plan leads to murder, Johnson and McManus must bring the group down before they kill again.

A homicide detective suspects a playwright who bases his play on a murder.

Rosa, the self-serving wife of a small-town doctor, gets a better offer when a wealthy big-city man insists she get a divorce and marry him instead. Soon she demonstrates she is capable of rather deplorable acts -- including murder.

Failed TV pilot short which had an episode name of "Chapter One: The Lion Men of Tanganyika". The end of the short advertised another chapter, which did not materialize.

Prof. Millard pretends to be dead and helps Jeff King ferret out Vulcan, the evil traitor at the science academy. Donning his Rocket Man costume King goes from one hair raising rescue to the next in order to keep the newly invented Decimator out of the clutches of Vulcan and his minions.

Jim Fletcher, waking up from a coma, finds he is to be given a court martial for treason and charged with informing on fellow inmates in a Japanese prison camp during WWII. Escaping from the hospital he tries to clear himself by enlisting the aid of Martha Gregory, widow of a service buddy he was accused of informing on. Helped also by Ted Niles, a surviving fellow prisoner, he gets closer to finding the answers he needs, and becomes ensnared in a grandiose scheme involving his Japanese ex-prison guard, $10,000,000 of US currency forged by the Japanese and a burgeoning crime network poised to wreak havoc throughout southern California.

The female leader of an international crime ring steals a valuable artifact that can give her the power to control men's minds. Federal agents are dispatched to get it back and stop her evil plans.

A stock broker embezzles a million bucks and plans to take off to Shanghai. A number of obstacles stands in his path, however.

Hoppy and his pals arrive in a remote town to investigate the counterfeiting of both U.S. and Mexican money; his only clues are the name "Mordigan" and a drawing of a comet. He quickly finds out that Mordigan is the town "boss"; but what or who is "the comet", and why are Mordigan and his henchmen intent on persecuting a young woman, her drunken brother, and her deathly ill sister-in-law who've also just arrived in town?

Rocky and the Land agent riders need to get an important message to the Army post. The message is stolen but Rocky knows one of the four men on the stagecoach has it. When Rocky and the four get trapped in a shack by the outlaw gang, he learns that one of the four is the gang leader. Rocky has to learn his identity and retrieve the message.

A small-town doctor helps a deaf-mute farm girl learn to communicate.

Robert Ryan leads a group of Allied agents fighting an underground Nazi group in post-war Europe.

In 17th-century England, Charles II, the rightful heir to the kingdom, is driven from his country by militants working for rogue leader Oliver Cromwell. Charles ends up in the Netherlands, where he falls for local beauty Katie and spends his days happily in the quiet countryside. Unfortunately, Cromwell's associate Col. Ingram and his men track Charles down, and the would-be monarch must resort to swashbuckling his way to freedom.

The film is about an unemployed banker, Henri Verdoux, and his sociopathic methods of attaining income. While being both loyal and competent in his work, Verdoux has been laid-off. To make money for his wife and child, he marries wealthy widows and then murders them. His crime spree eventually works against him when two particular widows break his normal routine.

An orchestra leader turns sleuth to clear his ice-skating girlfriend for murder.

Redwood Valley residents raise $50,000 for blasting a mountain tunnel to bring a new railroad there. Town leader Bidwell engineers a plot to steal the money and to blame it on the Reno Kid (Bob Steele) who has recently broken out of prison in order to clear himself of false charges that sent him there and caused him to lose his ranch. The badly-wounded sheriff turns his badge over to Red Ryder. Reno visits his wife, Molly and their ailing son Johnny, and Red, also wounded, is brought there by Little Beaver. There, Red begins to believe Reno's story about being innocent. Written by Les Adams

In this western, a cowpoke gets in an argument; a scuffle ensues leaving the cowboy to believe that he killed his opponent. He is so wracked with guilt that he travels to the ranch of the dead man's sister, gives himself a new name and begins helping her. Rustlers come; he stops them. Trouble ensues after she learns his true identity. A scuffle ensues. She wings him with a gun; he disarms her. Later she hears the real murderer bragging about his crime during a fight with the hero.

A Martian invader crashes his spaceship conveniently close to the workshop of a scientist who is developing an interplanetary craft. If the extraterrestrial Purple Monster can complete the rocket ship and return to Mars, he will be able to start a full-scale invasion of Earth. Good thing Craig Foster sets out to thwart the Monster's mission!

A documentary/drama about the training of bombardiers during WWII. Major Chick Davis proves to the U.S. Army the superiority of high altitude precision bombing, and establishes a school for bombardiers. Training is followed in semi-documentary style, with personal dramas in subplots. The climax is a spectacular, if somewhat jingoistic, battle sequence.

A movie serial in 12 chapters: The famous comic strip character is on a mission to protect a secret tunnel passage between China and India.

Frenchwoman Michele de la Becque, an opponent of the Nazis in German-occupied Paris, hides a downed American flyer, Pat Talbot, and attempts to get him safely out of the country.

A beautiful heiress is an excellent poker player. Her comfortable life changes when her father and his fortune die during market crash of the 1800's.

Mining executive Neal Wallace arrives to investigate the losses at a gold mine and is immediately framed for murder. The murderers then incite a lynch mob but the Sheriff lets him go. Wallace eventually convinces the Sheriff of his innocence and the two then work together to get the gang that is looting the gold ore.

An American joins the British Royal Air Force just before Pearl Harbor is attacked, and falls in love with a beautiful English girl.

Secret Service Major Steel is one of the few men in America aware of the fact that Captain Albright is also Captain Midnight, daring masked aviator dedicated to fighting gangsters and enemies of America.

Henry Courtney, a wealthy importer is found murdered and the famous DeNormand necklace has been stolen. The false testimony of two witnesses, Rand and Hobbs, puts Jim O'Brien in the shadow of the hangman's noose. Martha Courtney, widow of the murdered man and Jim's former sweetheart is convinced he isn't guilty, and promises crooked lawyer Roger Lanning the necklace - which Jim doesn't have - if he can arrange for Jim's escape. Rand and Lanning killed Courtney, but Lanning doesn't know that Rand has the necklace.

Cultured Mario and outlaw Lucien, twins separated at birth, join forces to avenge their parents' death at the hands of evil Colonna. Because each feels all the same sensations experienced by the other, swordplay is difficult for them. Worse yet, raised very differently, they struggle to find common ground between their conflicting personalities. But to defeat their enemy, the two will have to overcome the obstacles and work as a team.

An American pilot impulsively joins His Majesty's Royal Air Force in Britain in an attempt to impress his ex-girlfriend.

A jewel thief and a con artist are rivals in the theft of a valuable diamond and gem necklace in Bombay and as the Japanese Army invades China.

Rodeo contestants Johnny King and Corrigan meet, their fathers having been members of the Range Busters. When Johnny is knocked unconscious, time reverts to their father's era and the Range Busters are soon involved in the scheme to get Railroad right-of-way across Mother Slocum's ranch. When she is tricked into signing a release, the Range Busters find their job more difficult as the Sheriff is in with the crooks.

Serials usually spawned feature film versions, but with this film, it was the other way around. A 1932 Buck Jones Western, White Eagle was made into a serial nine years later, again starring Jones in the title role, a (supposedly) Native American Pony Express Rider defending his people against a gang of evil Whites.

Columbia's 12th serial of 57 total (following 1940's "Deadwood Dick" and ahead of 1941's "White Eagle") is another of director's James Horne's "classics" where he evidently figured that the same reactions that served him well in Laurel and Hardy films would work well in action serials where he has all hands, heroes and villains alike, doing some kind of over-the top "take", no matter the situation. This loose adaptation of an Edgar Wallace story finds Michael Bellamy (Kenne Duncan in his Kenneth Duncan period) inheriting Garr Castle, but his brother, Abel Bellamy (James Craven, as usual making Oil-Can Harry look smooth), has him imprisoned unjustly and moves into the castle himself. When Michael's wife, Elaine Bellamy (Dorothy Fay), fails to return after visiting Abel, her sister Valerie Howett (Iris Meredith), accompanied by their father,