James Ellison

James Ellison

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. James Ellison (May 4, 1910 - December 23, 1993) was an American actor, born James Ellison Smith in Guthrie Center, Iowa, son of Edward James Smith and Ona Mary Ellis. Ellison appeared in nearly seventy films between 1932 and 1962. Ellison worked for a time in a film laboratory and while there was offered a screen test. He developed it himself and when he saw it, decided it was not satisfactory so he would not show it to the director. But he saw it anyway and Ellison got a contract. Despite his rugged good looks and height of 6 feet 3 inches, Ellison's limited range and somewhat wooden screen presence kept him from the first (or even second) ranks of stardom. He spent much of his career in Westerns, including a stint in the mid-thirties as the sidekick of Hopalong Cassidy in Paramount's successful series. In 1938, he played a charming, romantic character opposite 26 year old Lucille Ball in the comedy, "Next Time I Marry", a film where Ball had her first top billing on screen credits. Before that, in 1936, he played his highest-profile role, as Buffalo Bill in Cecil B. DeMille's The Plainsman, which also starred Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur. Despite that film's success, Ellison spent most of the remainder of his career shuttling between cowboy pictures and more varied roles, primarily in B movies with titles like Mr. District Attorney in the Carter Case and The Undying Monster. He had a supporting role in 1941's Charley's Aunt (which starred Jack Benny) and played the romantic lead in 1943's The Gang's All Here, a Twentieth Century Fox musical in which he seemed somewhat lost among the vivid antics of Carmen Miranda, Charlotte Greenwood, and Edward Everett Horton (and was the only principal not to sing a note). He also co-starred with Tom Conway and Frances Dee in Val Lewton's production of I Walked with a Zombie, directed by Jacques Tourneur. Ellison landed another romantic lead role as 'Jerry Gibson' in the musical film Lady, Let's Dance (1944) which starred ice skating sensation 'Belita'. In the early 1950s, Ellison moved from acting to real estate. Joining fellow veteran Jackie Coogan, Ellison returned to the screen only once to play Axel 'Longhorn' Gates in a picture called When the Girls Take Over (1962). James Ellison died at age 83 in Monterey, California after suffering a broken neck as the result of a fall. Description above from the Wikipedia article James Ellison (actor), licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

  • Title: James Ellison
  • Popularity: 0.2274
  • Known For: Acting
  • Birthday: 1910-05-04
  • Place of Birth: Guthrie Center, Iowa, USA
  • Homepage:
  • Also Known As: Jimmie 'Shamrock' Ellison, Jimmie Ellison, Jimmy 'Shamrock' Ellison, Jimmy Ellison, James Ellison Smith
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James Ellison Movies

  • 1938
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    Vivacious Lady

    Vivacious Lady

    6.992 1938 HD

    College town life gets turned upside down after a button-down botany professor secretly weds a sizzling night-club singer.

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  • 1943
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    I Walked with a Zombie

    I Walked with a Zombie

    6.8 1943 HD

    A nurse in the Caribbean turns to voodoo in hopes of curing her patient, a mindless woman whose husband she's fallen in love with.

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  • 1942
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    The Undying Monster

    The Undying Monster

    5.7 1942 HD

    A werewolf prowls around at night but only kills certain members of one family. It seems like just a coincidence, but the investigating Inspector soon finds out that this tradition has gone on for generations and tries to find a link between the werewolf and the family, leading to a frightening conclusion.

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  • 1941
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    Charley's Aunt

    Charley's Aunt

    5.833 1941 HD

    In 1890, two students at Oxford force their rascally friend and fellow student to pose as an aunt from Brazil--where the nuts come from.

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  • 1936
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    The Plainsman

    The Plainsman

    6.3 1936 HD

    Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane and Buffalo Bill go up against Indians and a gunrunner.

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  • 1939
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    Fifth Avenue Girl

    Fifth Avenue Girl

    6.917 1939 HD

    A wealthy man hires a poor girl to play his mistress in order to get more attention from his neglectful family.

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  • 1950
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    Crooked River

    Crooked River

    3 1950 HD

    Ellison is the star searching for the killer of his parents while Hayden's a not-too-bad bandit leader.

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  • 1943
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    The Gang's All Here

    The Gang's All Here

    5.9 1943 HD

    A soldier falls for a chorus girl and then experiences trouble when he is posted to the Pacific.

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  • 1935
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    The Eagle's Brood

    The Eagle's Brood

    4.75 1935 HD

    When the outlaw El Toro saves Hoppy's life, Hoppy agrees to find his missing grandson.

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  • 1936
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    Three on the Trail

    Three on the Trail

    4.5 1936 HD

    An evil gang is involved in both cattle rustling and the robbing of stagecoaches. Hoppy must stop them without help from the sheriff who turns out be a major outlaw himself.

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  • 1935
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    Hop-a-long Cassidy

    Hop-a-long Cassidy

    5.3 1935 HD

    An evil ranch foreman tries to provoke a range war by playing two cattlemen against each other while helping a gang to rustle the cattle. Each cattleman blames the other for missing cattle. With the help of Bill Cassidy (Hop-along, because of an earlier bullet wound) and Johnny Nelson, the warring cattlemen join forces to do in the outlaws.

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  • 1936
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    Call of the Prairie

    Call of the Prairie

    4.7 1936 HD

    Hoppy returns to find Johnny in trouble. Buck Peters has been shot by Porter who made it look like Johnny did it. When Johnny flees he runs into Linda. He takes a liking to her only to learn her father Shanghai is one of Porter's gang. Going after Shanghai, he gets captured by the gang and Porter now plans to kill him. But Hoppy is near by and Johnny will get unexpected help from Shanghai.

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  • 1936
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    Heart of the West

    Heart of the West

    4 1936 HD

    Problems come in the form of one of Hopalong Cassidy's neighbors, but the matter is settled when Hoppy roots out the troublemaker.

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  • 1935
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    Bar 20 Rides Again

    Bar 20 Rides Again

    5 1935 HD

    Cattle rustler Nevada dreams of living like an emperor in the West. Hoppy and the Bar 20 boys aim to put an end to his dream.

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  • 1937
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    Borderland

    Borderland

    5 1937 HD

    Hoppy goes undercover as an outlaw (which permits him, for once, to drink and be mean to children) to track down a bunch of outlaws operating along the border. Loco, the head bad guy, deflects suspicion from himself by pretending to be a moron.

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  • 1936
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    Trail Dust

    Trail Dust

    4 1936 HD

    Hoppy, Johnny and Windy are fighting a malicious gang trying to stop a cattle drive from reaching a drought-stricken North.

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  • 1947
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    The Ghost Goes Wild

    The Ghost Goes Wild

    5 1947 HD

    Young artist Monte Crandell is being sued for an unauthorized caricature. To escape arrest, he disguises himself as a mystic, only to conjure up a genuine ghost during a seance. Things come to a head during his trial, where the invisible ghost takes the witness stand on Our Hero's behalf.

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  • 1945
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    Hollywood and Vine

    Hollywood and Vine

    4 1945 HD

    A young girl arrives in Hollywood determined to become a star in the movies but finds that attaining stardom is a lot more difficult than she counted on. However, she does become a star of sorts — as the owner of a dog who DOES become a movie star.

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  • 1935
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    The Winning Ticket

    The Winning Ticket

    3.3 1935 HD

    A barber tries to find the winning lottery ticket he hid from his moralistic wife.

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  • 1939
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    Zenobia

    Zenobia

    4.6 1939 HD

    A modest country doctor in the antebellum South has to contend with his daughter's upcoming marriage and an affectionate medicine show elephant.

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  • 1941
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    Play Girl

    Play Girl

    6.3 1941 HD

    When a gold digger starts to get a little old to ply her trade, she teaches a younger woman all her tricks.

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  • 1935
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    Buried Loot

    Buried Loot

    6 1935 HD

    An embezzler who expects to serve his time in prison and then pick up his buried loot is in for a surprise.

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  • 1940
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    Anne of Windy Poplars

    Anne of Windy Poplars

    5.8 1940 HD

    Sentimental drama about an ambitious young teacher who arrives in a small town to take the job of vice-principal. Based on one of L M Montgomery's 'Anne of Green Gables' sequels.

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  • 1947
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    Calendar Girl

    Calendar Girl

    5.4 1947 HD

    Around the turn of the century, two young men, Johnnie Bennett, a composer and Steve Adams, an artist, go to New York City to make their fortune. They both fall in love with the same girl, Patricia O'Neill. The artist paints a picture of her which outrages her father's sensibilities; but, as a result of the picture, she wins a chance to star in a Broadway play. She soon learns that the artist is just a trifler; and she turns to the composer, who loves her sincerely

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  • 1935
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    Hitch Hike Lady

    Hitch Hike Lady

    6.8 1935 HD

    Brit Amelia Blake travels to America to join her son Alfred. Fate forces her to hitchhike to California, a perilous journey that she shares with kind young Judy Martin. When Judy and another fellow traveler discover the unfortunate truth about Alfred, they struggle to spare Amelia's feelings.

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  • 1951
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    Texas Lawmen

    Texas Lawmen

    1 1951 HD

    A Texas Ranger goes up against the Morrow outlaw gang.

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  • 1948
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    Last of the Wild Horses

    Last of the Wild Horses

    2.6 1948 HD

    A cowboy must clear himself of a murder he did not commit.

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  • 1944
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    Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore

    Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore

    6 1944 HD

    A young girl rents an apartment from a man who has recently enlisted in the Marines. The trouble is that he's given out keys to a half-dozen of his friends, and they all keep dropping in.

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  • 1939
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    Hotel for Women

    Hotel for Women

    6 1939 HD

    Guests at a women's residence club help a jilted small-town girl turn to modelling.

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  • 1939
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    Sorority House

    Sorority House

    6.8 1939 HD

    A young girl begins to wonder if she really fits into the upper-class sorority she's trying to join.

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  • 1939
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    Almost a Gentleman

    Almost a Gentleman

    6 1939 HD

    Saving a dog from the pound gets a man mixed up in murder.

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  • 1942
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    Careful, Soft Shoulders

    Careful, Soft Shoulders

    6 1942 HD

    In this espionage movie, set in Washington during WW II, the daughter of an ex-senator has become a dress model. She is approached by an American counter-espionage agent who offers her a chance to serve her country. The carefree son of a naval official receives a similar offer. He is asked to secure secret Naval plans. Unbeknownst to them, the man they work for is actually a Nazi spy. The two dupes finally figure it out, and the spy kidnaps them. Somehow they escape and break up the spy ring.

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  • 1950
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    The Texan Meets Calamity Jane

    The Texan Meets Calamity Jane

    1 1950 HD

    A western in which Calamity Jane's rightful ownership of a gambling hall is challenged. She nearly loses the business to a shady crook, but Texas lawyer Ellison puts up a legal battle to help her stay in charge. After a sensational fight, the letters proving her right are discovered.

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  • 1944
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    Lady, Let's Dance

    Lady, Let's Dance

    5 1944 HD

    Singing, dancing, and ice skating are featured in this musical that focuses on ice-skating sensation Belita. The story begins as she travels to a California resort where she has been hired as a replacement for a dance team. The resort is run by a handsome fellow. As a result of the gig, the skater becomes a national star while the resort manager gets fired and becomes a drifter until he ends up in the Army. The Oscar nominated score includes the following songs: "Silver Shadows and Golden Dreams", "Dream of Dreams", "Rio", "In the Days of Beau Brummel", "Lady, Let's Dance", "Happy Hearts", "Ten Million Men and a Girl", and the rhumba standard "Esperanza".

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  • 1962
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    When the Girls Take Over

    When the Girls Take Over

    3.2 1962 HD

    A comic look...at Cuba after Castro regime take over.

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  • 1937
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    Annapolis Salute

    Annapolis Salute

    6 1937 HD

    The adventures of three disparate cadets at the US Naval Academy--one the son of a Navy enlisted man, the other the scion of a wealthy family, the third decent but somewhat slow-witted--and their struggles with the rigors of the academy, women, and each other.

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  • 1938
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    Mother Carey's Chickens

    Mother Carey's Chickens

    5.2 1938 HD

    A financially-strapped mother and her children relocate from the city to a small rural town.

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  • 1937
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    23 1/2 Hours Leave

    23 1/2 Hours Leave

    5 1937 HD

    Army training Sgt. Gray makes a bet that he can get himself invited to breakfast with his commanding officer, General Markley. But he gets into an unhappy tangle with a couple of enemy spies (and a happy tangle with the general's daughter) before the bet is finally decided.

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  • 1940
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    You Can't Fool Your Wife

    You Can't Fool Your Wife

    4.5 1940 HD

    Longtime school sweethearts discover married life, thanks to a disagreeable live-in mother-in-law and pressing business obligations, is more rocky than idyllic.

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  • 1938
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    Next Time I Marry

    Next Time I Marry

    7 1938 HD

    Heiress Nancy Crocker Fleming will only receive her inheritance if she marries a "plain American." Her late father was afraid a foreign gigolo would steal her heart and money. So Nancy pays Tony Anthony, working on a WPA road project, to marry, then divorce her. When Nancy inadvertently drives off with Tony's dog, Tony seemingly kidnaps her to retrieve the pooch, which leads to a cross-country race between the two to reach Reno and the divorce court since neither one wants to be the second to file papers.

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  • 1932
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    Play Girl

    Play Girl

    4.5 1932 HD

    A young innocent falls for a compulsive gambler.

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  • 1941
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    Ice-Capades

    Ice-Capades

    5.5 1941 HD

    Bob Clemens is a cameraman for newsreels. Assigned to shoot the Swiss ice skater Karen Vadja, he arrives too late, so decides to film a woman skating on a different New York rink and pass her off as Karen. The scheme backfires when promoter Larry Herman takes a look at Bob's film and decides to make the skater a star. Unfortunately, it's actually amateur (and illegal immigrant) Marie Bergin in the newsreel footage, not the great figure skater from Switzerland. Chaos ensues as Bob tries to straighten everybody out.

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  • 1935
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    Reckless

    Reckless

    5 1935 HD

    A theatrical star, born on the wrong side of the tracks, marries a drunken blue-blood millionaire.

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  • 1942
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    That Other Woman

    That Other Woman

    5.5 1942 HD

    A secretary by the name of Emily Borden comes up with a convoluted plan to get her boss to marry her which backfires after some bad advice.

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  • 1951
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    Kentucky Jubilee

    Kentucky Jubilee

    5 1951 HD

    A film director travels to Kentucky to seek out local talent for a hillbilly musical film. There, he gets kidnapped.

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  • 1941
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    They Met in Argentina

    They Met in Argentina

    3 1941 HD

    A Texas oil millionaire, after failing to secure oil lands in Argentina, seeks out a famous racehorse in Buenos Aires and orders his representative to buy the nag at any price. The representative, Tim Kelly, has a love affair with Lolita O'Shea, the beautiful daughter of the prize horse's owner.

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  • 1937
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    The Barrier

    The Barrier

    1 1937 HD

    Gale, a store owner, lives in an Alaskan village with his grown ward, Necia, whom he had rescued years before from her murderer father, Captain Bennett. Now Bennett, disguised as Ben Stark, has arrived in the village seeking vengeance and his daughter.

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  • 1942
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    Army Surgeon

    Army Surgeon

    5.8 1942 HD

    Drama about military doctors and nurses during wartime.

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  • 1950
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    Everybody's Dancin'

    Everybody's Dancin'

    1 1950 HD

    Dance-hall owner Dick Lane is in dire need of some big-name acts or he will lose his business. Several country-western stars come to his rescue by agreeing to appear on a TV special to be broadcast from his club.

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  • 1943
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    Dixie Dugan

    Dixie Dugan

    5 1943 HD

    Roger Hudson, a wealthy businessman who has moved to Washington to work for the government as a "dollar a year man," is late for a radio broadcast about his new department, the Mobilization of Woman Power for War. He takes a cab driven by Dixie Dugan, who hopes that being a cabbie while the country's men are away fighting will help the war effort. Her incompetent driving, however, results in an accident for which Roger must take responsibility in order to reach the radio station in time. Dixie then returns home, where she lives with her father Timothy, who is constantly practicing his air raid warden duties, her mother Gladys, an aspiring Red Cross worker, and cousin Imogene, who studies incessantly to become a "quiz kid." The Dugans rent out their spare rooms to Dixie's fiancé, Matt Hogan, and to blustering Judge J. J. Lawson. Matt, who works in a munitions factory, wants Dixie to settle down and marry him, but Dixie is determined to help her country.

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  • 1950
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    Fast on the Draw

    Fast on the Draw

    1 1950 HD

    As a boy, Shamrock's parents were killed. He took possession of a pistol belonging to his father, a famous marshal. Now that he is grown, he takes the job of marshal and uses the same gun, but he still has to solve the mystery of what happened to his parents.

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  • 1950
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    Colorado Ranger

    Colorado Ranger

    4.3 1950 HD

    The Shamrock Kid, Lucky, and The Colonel get caught in a feud between outlaws and homesteaders.

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  • 1950
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    Hostile Country

    Hostile Country

    2.3 1950 HD

    In this remake of No Man's Range (1935), Shamrock travels to the ranch of his stepfather who he has never met and finds himself caught in the middle of a range war.

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  • 1950
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    Marshal of Heldorado

    Marshal of Heldorado

    3 1950 HD

    Shamrock and Lucky team up to drive the Tulliver Brothers out of Heldorado.

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  • 1950
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    West of the Brazos

    West of the Brazos

    3.5 1950 HD

    An outlaw impersonates Shamrock in order to lease his land to an oil company for $75,000.

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  • 1932
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    The Famous Ferguson Case

    The Famous Ferguson Case

    6.2 1932 HD

    A foreword warns against the peril of yellow journalism, and the story illustrates it by following events in the upstate New York town of Cornwall after prominant financier George Ferguson is killed. Two types of New York City journalists descend on Cornwall, one interested in facts, the other in getting sensational "news". Mrs. Ferguson is known to have been friendly with a local banker. The Fergusons quarrel the evening he is killed (by "burglars", his wife tells the police later), and she is arrested, spurred on by the "bad" journalists, who also manage to badger the banker's wife into the hospital. Meanwhile, young Bruce Foster runs the Cornwall Courier, and shows the big city reporters how to dig out real news while they attempt to subvert justice for their own ends.

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  • 1941
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    Mr. District Attorney in the Carter Case

    Mr. District Attorney in the Carter Case

    6 1941 HD

    Like the first entry, this one is played mostly for laughs, with Radio's Mister District Attorney. James Ellison replacing Dennis O'Keefe as feckless assistant DA P. Cadwallader Jones. The publisher of a tony fashion magazine is murdered, requiring Jones to sift through a colorful array of suspects. He is helped along by snoopy girl reporter Terry Parker.

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  • 1951
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    Oklahoma Justice

    Oklahoma Justice

    1 1951 HD

    Johnny Mack Brown goes up against a lady bank robber in this average Mack Brown series late-entry from Monogram. The lady, played by Barbara Allen, is of course called "Ma." In order to get the goods on "Ma" and her "brood," Mack Brown must masquerade as a lone bandit.

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  • 1951
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    Whistling Hills

    Whistling Hills

    1 1951 HD

    Johnny Mack Brown was recruited by Chet Norman, the owner of a stagecoach line, to end the heist perpetrated by a mysterious knight who plays strange notes with a hiss of money before robbing them.

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  • 1952
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    Dead Man's Trail

    Dead Man's Trail

    1 1952 HD

    Johnny Mack Brown was nearing the end of his starring career when he appeared in the Monogram oater Dead Man's Trail. Brown and his youthful sidekick Jimmy Ellison come to the aid of imperiled Barbara Allen. At this point, Johnny was too long in tooth and thick around the middle to qualify as a romantic lead, hence the presence of Ellison.

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  • 1946
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    G.I. War Brides

    G.I. War Brides

    1 1946 HD

    Linda Powell, and English girl, stows away on a ship bound for the United States in order to join the G.I. she loves. She assumes the identity of an English war bride, Joyce Giles, who has decided she no longer loves the American soldier she married and is not going to join him in the U.S. Linda arrives to find that her soldier no longer wishes to marry her...

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  • 1936
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    The Leathernecks Have Landed

    The Leathernecks Have Landed

    5 1936 HD

    Dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Marines after starting a barroom brawl that gets his leatherneck buddy "Tubby" Waters killed, hothead "Woody" Davis infiltrates a gang of Shanghai gunrunners to bring the culprit to justice.

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  • 1950
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    I Killed Geronimo

    I Killed Geronimo

    1 1950 HD

    Going undercover as the notorious "Waco Kid," U.S. Army Captain Jeff Packard manages to infiltrate a gang of gold-shipment thieves lead by nasty Walt Anderson. But Anderson and his gang are not the only troublemakers around: Packard must also contend with Geronimo and his Apache warriors, who are demanding guns in exchange for peace.

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  • 1952
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    Man from the Black Hills

    Man from the Black Hills

    1 1952 HD

    As other "B"-western series kept dropping like flies in 1952, Johnny Mack Brown kept grinding 'em out for Monogram. In Man From Black Hills, Johnny tries to help locate his saddle pal Jim Fallan's (James Ellison) long-lost father. Arriving in a small mining town, Johnny and Jim discover that Jim's father has established a financial empire--and that a local opportunist (Randy Brooks) has capitalized on this by claiming to be the old man's son.

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  • 1952
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    Texas City

    Texas City

    6.3 1952 HD

    Johnny Mack Brown substitutes brains for brawn during most of Texas City. Cast once more as a U.S. marshal, Johnny investigates when several government gold shipments are hijacked. Someone has been tipping of the outlaws as to when and where the supposedly secret shipments will take place. The principal suspect is dishonorably discharged cavalry officer Kirby (James Ellison), but Johnny has a gut feeling that Kirby is innocent on all counts.

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  • 1943
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    Best Foot Forward

    Best Foot Forward

    6 1943 HD

    Bud Hooper, a cadet at Winsocki Military Academy, sends an invitation to movie star Lucille Ball to come to Winsocki's big dance. Ball's publicity-hungry agent convinces her to go in order to boost her career. Complications arise when Bud's girlfriend Helen Schlesinger unexpectedly shows up, too.

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