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The Phantom Empire (1935), written and directed by Otto Brower and B. Reeves Eason, is a Western serial film considered the first science-fiction Western film, starring Gene Autry as himself, Frankie Darro as Frankie Baxter, and Betsy King Ross as Betsy Baxter. Writer Wallace MacDonald claimed to have dreamed up the script while under anesthesia, having a tooth extracted, according to Jim Harmon's book, The Great Movie Serials: Their Sound and Fury. The story is a wild tale, where Gene Autry descends a mine shaft and discovers a futuristic and underground world that is something straight out of Flash Gordon. The film first appeared in theaters as 12 distinct chapters produced by Mascot Pictures. The first episode was a half-hour, with each subsequent episode being about 20 minutes long. In 1940, the series was edited into a 70-minute feature film titled Radio Ranch or Men with Steel Faces.

David O. Selznick’s absurdly over-cooked western epic is a great picture, even if much of it induces a kind of hypnotic, mouth-hanging-open disbelief. Is this monument to the sex appeal of Jennifer Jones, Kitsch in terrible taste, or have Selznick and his army of Hollywood talents found a new level of hyped melodramatic harmony? It certainly has the star-power, beginning with Gregory Peck as a cowboy rapist who learned his bedside manners from Popeye’s Bluto. It’s all hugely enjoyable.

Duel in the Sun

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1946 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 144 min. / Special Edition / Street Date August 15, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring Jennifer Jones, Gregory Peck, Joseph Cotten, Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish, Walter Huston, Butterfly McQueen, Charles Bickford, Tilly Losch.

Cinematography Lee Garmes, Ray Rennahan and Harold Rosson

Production Designer J. McMillan Johnson

Film Editor Hal C. Kern, John Saure and William H. Ziegler

Original Music Dimitri Tiomkin

Written by Niven Busch,...

Behind Green Lights

Written by Charles G. Booth

Directed by Otto Brower

U.S.A., 1946

*This film is in the public domain and can be viewed legally and for free online. However, the version currently circulating has a small continuity glitch early in the film at about the 1-minute mark. The movie will suddenly play about 5 seconds of a scene that chronologically comes a couple of minutes later. It is the only technical issue with the print however. The rest of the movie plays out perfectly fine.

On what began as an ordinary night at the police station, Lt. Sam Carson (William Gargan) is notified of a vehicle parked on the sidewalk just in front of the building. Within the vehicle is the body of the late Walter Bard (Bernard Nedell), a private detective recently engaged in some rather politically relevant cases. Among the suspects possibly involved in man’s...

Ralph Bellamy on TCM: Sunrise At Campobello, The Awful Truth Schedule (Et) and synopses from the TCM website: 6:00 Am Carefree (1938) A psychiatrist falls in love with the woman he's supposed to be nudging into marriage with someone else. Dir: Mark Sandrich. Cast: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Ralph Bellamy. Bw-83 mins. 7:30 Am The Secret Six (1931) A secret society funds the investigation of a bootlegging gang. Dir: George Hill. Cast: Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone, John Mack Brown. Bw-84 mins. 9:00 Am Headline Shooter (1933) A newsreel photographer neglects his love life to get the perfect shot. Dir: Otto Brower. Cast: William Gargan, Frances Dee, Ralph Bellamy. Bw-61 mins. 10:15 Am Picture Snatcher (1933) An ex-con brings his crooked ways to a job as a news photographer. Dir: Lloyd Bacon. Cast: James Cagney, Ralph Bellamy, Patricia Ellis. Bw-77 mins. 11:45 Am The Wedding Night (1935) A married author falls for the beautiful farm girl...

Ralph Bellamy, Greer Garson, Sunrise at Campobello Ralph Bellamy was what many would call a "dependable" player: always there (nearly 100 movies), always capable, (almost) always losing the girl. Why Bellamy never became a major movie star is beyond me — especially considering that guys like James Stewart, Fred MacMurray, Dick Powell, Don Ameche, Joseph Cotten, etc. were top leading men of that era. Perhaps Bellamy was just both too good-looking and too intelligent-looking to keep Ginger Rogers from Fred Astaire (Carefree), Irene Dunne and Rosalind Russell from Cary Grant (The Awful Truth and His Girl Friday, respectively), and Anna Sten from Gary Cooper (The Wedding Night). All four films — in addition to 11 other Ralph Bellamy movies — will be presented on Turner Classic Movies on Sunday, August 14, as part of TCM's "Summer Under the Stars" film series. [Ralph Bellamy Movie Schedule.] Unfortunately, there are no TCM premieres, but included are a few lesser-known titles, e.g.