During those first couple of years that I first got into cinema, I would hungrily self-educate on all forms of cinema history, however it was offered on the television dial. One of my frequent “stops” in those days was on CBC, when it ran movies on Saturday mornings, from October 1983 to June 1987. Indeed, this schedule included some bona fide classics like When Worlds Collide or She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, which were perfect for Saturday morning viewing. But what I most garnered from this programming was when they scheduled “second features” from the RKO catalog. Sometimes they would show two films in that two-hour block! (Depending on what TV Guide supplement you read, the second feature was often not announced, so it came as a surprise.)
These versions on display often lacked the inimitable RKO logo opening, with the radio tower and its “bip bip dee bip” sound. They were instead the rebranded TV prints with the title card of C&C Television Corp. Movietime USA, that were pared down to fill a one-hour time slot (with commercials). Even some opening credits were truncated! Again, some cinema purists would charge that we weren’t seeing the complete films that originally ran sixty to seventy minutes, but remember, this was before TCM, or even before home video really took off, so we saw these things however they were made available. As such, I am grateful for the “crash course” for a different kind of cinema, offered on these Saturday mornings.
During prime time, or at late shows on the weekends, I would learn about the “A listers”. Saturday mornings would be lessons on films with such peculiar names as Guinn “Big Boy” Williams, Nancy Drexel, or Olin Howlin! I had noticed that many of these CBC movies were directed by somebody named Lew Landers, although I was still figuring out what exactly a director did. Many of these titles did not appear in the Leonard Maltin or Steven Scheuer reference books that were always within reach, thus making them even more mysteriously enticing. Then as now, I didn’t value one strain of cinema over another. It all mattered!
Here is a snapshot of some RKO B pictures I saw in those Saturday mornings.
Yellow Dust (1936) Directed by Wallace Fox. Of course. My first CBC Saturday morning movie was a western. Westerns were the gateway to my cinephilia. At first I’d scour the TV Guide for western movies, and then I’d soon appreciate films of all stripes. Since my first and only viewing of this one, I’ve yet to read a positive review for it other than my own on the IMDB. I still have fond memories of this very entertaining B western featuring Richard Dix, who gets mixed up in a gold rush and gets framed for a stagecoach robbery. Although his film is less tongue-in-cheek than a lot of these matinee westerns, there is a great scene in the saloon, featuring the three outlaws who really did rob the stage. The bartender casually mentions that the stage got robbed, and they simultaneously spit booze out of their mouths! And there’s a cool climax in a dust storm. Like many of the films below, it pops up occasionally on TCM, as RKO is now under their Warners catalog, but I’ve yet to give it another look. This one co-stars Leila Hyams, perhaps best remembered today in the classic horror film, Island of Lost Souls.
Beyond the Rockies (1932) Directed by Fred Allen. Viewed the same morning as Yellow Dust, this Tom Keene vehicle was a 54-minute oater squeezed into a 45-minute block. At this remove, I only remember the long fight scene, filmed in long shot, that seems to go on for minutes. His co-star is Rochelle Hudson, who is perhaps best remembered today as Natalie Wood’s mom in Rebel Without a Cause, although she had an impressive string of credits in the early 1930s. She signed up with RKO in 1930 when she was only 14! Here she hires Keene and his pals to work at her father’s ranch.
Red Morning (1935) Directed by Wallace Fox. Because of this movie, I had a crush on Steffi Duna, a Hungarian actress who vaguely resembled Claudette Colbert, but with a darker complexion that cast her in exotic roles. Before Dorothy Lamour made Jungle Princess, Steffi Duna already rocked the “sarong” look in this agreeable adventure. She and her sea captain father (Mitchell Lewis) are marooned on a south seas island and encounter the natives, after crew members mutiny on his ship. Regis Toomey is her beau, Raymond Hatton is the bad guy, and even Charles Middleton makes an appearance… one year before his immortal casting as Ming The Merciless in the Flash Gordon serial.
The Stagecoach Kid (1949) Directed by Lew Landers. Although Tim Holt did make some “A” pictures like The Magnificent Ambersons (also for RKO) and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, he seemed to be at home making many B westerns for RKO. This is a solid entry, one which features Richard Martin as his sidekick Chito Rafferty.
Pacific Liner (1938) Directed by Lew Landers. Chester Morris, Alan Hale, Victor McLaglen and Wendy Barrie star in this adventure film, largely set in the engineering room of a ship, where a stowaway has infected the crew with cholera. Although sometimes plodding, once again the prolific Lew Landers rises this above the B movie trappings with a good sense of atmosphere. You can “feel” the dirt and sweat.
Bad Lands (1939) Directed by, you guessed it, Lew Landers, this is a remake of John Ford’s The Lost Patrol, though set in the Old West instead of the Middle East. The conceit is the same, as men get picked off one by one by an offscreen menace: this version is a posse that is under siege by Apaches. I didn’t know at the time that it was an adaptation of the John Ford movie, so appreciated it on its own merits as a solid, gripping programmer. Robert Barrat, Noah Beery Jr. (whom I was watching at the time on the short-lived TV series The Yellow Rose) and Guinn “Big Boy” Williams co-star.
I Walked With a Zombie (1943) Directed by Jacques Tourneur. Producer Val Lewton’s RKO horror films were staples on CBC’s late night schedule during the 1980s. It was a surprise to find this one on the Saturday morning schedule, but that’s where I first saw it.
Blind Adventure (1933) It is well known that King Kong director Ernest Schoedsack and its stars Fay Wray and Robert Armstrong had also worked together on the classic, The Most Dangerous Game. They also collaborated on this near-forgotten little mystery, whose “whodunit” plot is accented by a memorable atmosphere. The joys of Saturday morning channel surfing. You never knew what you would find!
Army Surgeon (1941) Jane Wyatt, Kent Taylor and James Ellison form the love triangle in this melodrama set in WW1. Directed by veteran A. Edward Sutherland (former spouse of Louise Brooks, whom he cast in It’s The Old Army Game, starring W.C. Fields), this film is very-well produced, which transcends its “second feature” destination. For the boys in the audience, it has more to it than the “mushy stuff”.
10/22/1983
09:00 AM The Fargo Kid (1941) Tim Holt, Ray Whitley
10:00 AM Wagon Train (1940) Tim Holt, Martha O’Driscoll
10/29/1983
09:00 AM Carry On England (1976) Kenneth Connor, Windsor Davies
11/5/1983
10:00 AM At Sword’s Point (1952) Cornel Wilde, Maureen O’Hara
11/12/1983
no movie that day
11/19/1983
10:00 AM Yellow Dust (1936) Richard Dix, Leila Hyams
11:00 AM Beyond the Rockies (1932) Tom Keene, Rochelle Hudson
11/26/1983
09:00 AM The Pace That Thrills (1952) Bill Williams, Carla Belenda
10:00 AM Red Morning (1935) Steffi Duna, Regis Toomey
12/03/1983
10:00 AM The Gay Divorcee (1934) Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers
12/10/1983
10:00 AM Beauty for the Asking (1939) Lucille Ball, Donald Woods
11:00 AM Cheyenne Kid (1933) Tom Keene, Mary Mason
12/17/1983
10:00 AM You’ll Find Out (1940) Kay Kyser, Peter Lorre
12/24/1983
10:00 AM Adventure in Baltimore (1949) Robert Young, Shirley Temple
12/31/1983
10:00 AM Grounds For Marriage (1951) Van Johnson, Kathryn Grayson
01/07/1984
10:00 AM Fancy Pants (1950) Bob Hope, Lucille Ball
01/14/1984
10:00 AM The Savage (1952) Charlton Heston, Susan Morrow
01/21/1984
10:00 AM Houdini (1953) Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh
01/28/1984
10:00 AM My Favorite Spy (1951) Bob Hope, Hedy Lamarr
02/04/1984
10:00 AM Arrowhead (1953) Charlton Heston, Jack Palance
02/11/1984
10:00 AM When Worlds Collide (1951) Barbara Rush, Richard Derr
02/18/1984
10:00 AM Off Limits (1953) Bob Hope, Mickey Rooney
02/25/1984
10:00 AM Sea Devils (1937) Victor McLaglen, Ida Lupino
03/03/1984
09:00 AM The War of the Worlds (1953) Gene Barry, Les Tremayne
03/10/1984
10:00 AM Casanova’s Big Night (1954) Bob Hope, Joan Fontaine
03/17/1984
10:00 AM Secret of the Incas (1954) Charlton Heston, Robert Young
03/24/1984
10:00 AM The Caddy (1953) Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis
03/31/1984
10:00 AM That Certain Feeling (1956) Bob Hope, Eva Marie Saint
04/07/1984
09:00 AM Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) Robert Montgomery, Claude Rains
04/14/1984
10:00 AM Golden Boy (1939) William Holden, Barbara Stanwyck
04/21/1984
10:00 AM The Man From The Diner’s Club (1963) Danny Kaye, Cara Williams
04/28/1984
10:00 AM Jason and the Argonauts (1963) Todd Armstrong, Nancy Kovack
05/05/1984
10:00 AM On The Buses (1971) Reg Varney, Bob Grant
05/12/1984
10:00 AM Tall in the Saddle (1944) John Wayne, Ella Raines
05/19/1984
10:00 AM She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) John Wayne, John Agar
05/26/1984
10:00 AM Mysterious Island (1961) Michael Craig, Joan Greenwood
06/02/1984
10:00 AM Gidget (1959) Sandra Dee, Cliff Robertson
06/09/1984
08:30 AM Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961) Deborah Walley, James Darren
06/16/1984
09:00 AM Gidget Goes To Rome (1963) Cindy Carol, James Darren
06/23/1984
09:00 AM The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1949) Cornel Wilde, Anita Louise
06/30/1984
09:30 AM Rock Around the Clock (1956) Alan Freed, Bill Haley
07/07/1984
10:00 AM Annie Oakley (1935) Barbara Stanwyck, Preston Foster
07/14/1984
10:00 AM Fixer Dugan (1939) Lee Tracy, Virginia Weldler
11:05 AM Partners (1932) Tom Keene, Nancy Drexel
07/21/1984
09:30 AM The Fighting Gringo (1939) George O’Brien, Dick Lane
10:30 AM Red Morning (1935) Steffi Duna, Regis Toomey
07/28/1984
10:00 AM Cracked Nuts (1931) Bert Wheeler, Edna May Oliver
11:00 AM The Stagecoach Kid (1949) Tim Holt, Richard Martin
08/04/1984
no movie that day
08/11/1984
08:20 AM Along The Rio Grande (1941) Tim Holt, Betty Jane Rhodes
09:20 AM Pacific Liner (1938) Chester Morris, Alan Hale
08/18/1984
10:00 AM When Worlds Collide (1951) Barbara Rush, Richard Derr
08/25/1984
10:00 AM The Rat Race (1960) Tony Curtis, Debbie Reynolds
09/01/1984
09:00 AM Bad Lands (1939) Guinn Williams, Noah Beery Jr.
09/08/1984
09:00 AM Buckskin Frontier (1943) Richard Dix, Jane Wyatt
09/15/1984
no movie that day
09/22/1984
10:00 AM Badman’s Territory (1946) Randolph Scott, Gabby Hayes
09/29/1984
no movie that day
10/06/1984
10:00 AM Flying Devils (1933) Ralph Bellamy, Bruce Cabot
11:00 AM Dude Cowboy (1942) Tim Holt, Ray Whitley
10/13/1984
10:00 AM Underwater! (1955) Jane Russell, Richard Egan
10/20/1984
10:00 AM The Three Worlds of Gulliver (1960) Kerwin Mathews, Jo Morrow
10/27/1984
10:00 AM Dakota Lil (1950) George Montgomery, Marie Windsor
11/03/1984
12:00 PM The Iron Major (1943) Pat O’Brien, Robert Ryan
11/10/1984
no movie that day
11/17/1984
11:00 AM A Girl in Every Port (1952) Groucho Marx, Marie Wilson
11/24/1984
11:00 AM The Big Steal (1949) Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer
12/01/1984
11:00 AM At Sword’s Point (1952) Cornel Wilde, Maureen O’Hara
12/08/1984
11:00 AM Double Dynamite (1951) Jane Russell, Groucho Marx
12/15/1984
11:00 AM Mighty Joe Young (1949) Terry Moore, Robert Armstrong
12/22/1984
10:00 AM Never a Dull Moment (1952) Irene Dunne, Fred MacMurray
12/29/1984
11:00 AM The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958) Kerwin Mathews, Kathryn Grant
01/05/1985
11:00 AM The Countess of Monte Cristo (1948) Sonja Henie
01/12/1985
11:00 AM Dentist on the Job (1961) Bob Munkhouse
01/19/1985
11:00 AM Strictly Dynamite (1934) Jimmy Durante, Lupe Velez
01/26/1985
no movie that day
02/02/1985
10:00 AM Check and Double Check (1930) Amos and Andy
02/09/1985
11:00 AM Having Wonderful Time (1938) Ginger Rogers, Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
02/16/1985
10:00 AM High Flyers (1937) Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey
02/23/1985
no movie that day
03/02/1985
no movie that day
03/09/1985
no movie that day
03/16/1985
no movie that day
03/23/1985
10:00 AM Belle Starr’s Daughter (1948) Rod Cameron, George Montgomery
03/30/1985
10:00 AM Mutiny on the Buses (1972) Reg Varney, Bob Grant
04/06/1985
11:00 AM The Man From Laramie (1955) James Stewart, Wallace Ford
04/13/1985
no movie that day
04/20/1985
11:00 AM Man With a Million (1954) Gregory Peck, Jane Griffith
04/27/1985
11:00 AM The Spanish Main (1945) Maureen O’Hara, Paul Henreid
05/04/1985
11:00 AM Zombies on Broadway (1945) Alan Carney, Bela Lugosi
05/11/1985
11:00 AM You’ll Find Out (1940) Kay Kyser, Peter Lorre
05/18/1985
11:00 AM The Thing (1951) Margaret Sheridan, Kenneth Tobey
05/25/1985
11:00 AM Teenage Zombies (1958) Don Sullivan, Katherine Victor
06/01/1985
11:00 AM The Sword of Monte Crisco (1951) George Montgomery, Paula Corday
06/08/1985
no movie that day
06/15/1985
no movie that day
06/22/1985
11:00 AM Badman’s Territory (1946) Randolph Scott, Gabby Hayes
06/29/1985
10:00 AM Buckskin Frontier (1943) Richard Dix, Jane Wyatt
07/06/1985
10:00 AM Bunker Bean (1936) Owen Davis Jr., Louise Latimer
11:00 AM Wagon Train (1940) Tim Holt, Martha O’Driscoll
07/13/1985
11:00 AM Rock Around the Clock (1956) Alan Freed, Bill Haley
07/20/1985
no movie that day
07/27/1985
11:00 AM Old Man Rhythm (1935) Buddy Rogers, Barbara Kent
08/03/1985
no movie that day
08/10/1985
11:00 AM Road of the Dragon (1932) Richard Dix, Zasu Pitts
08/17/1985
no movie that day
08/24/1985
11:00 AM Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961) Deborah Walley, James Darren
08/31/1985
no movie that day
09/07/1985
no movie that day
09/14/1985
11:00 AM Rose of Cimarron (1952) Mala Powers, Jim Davis
09/21/1985
11:00 AM Beauty for the Asking (1939) Lucille Ball, Donald Woods
12:00 PM No Other Woman (1933) Irene Dunne, Charles Bickford
09/28/1985
11:00 AM Hold ‘Em Jail (1933) Betty Grable, Bert Wheeler
10/05/1985
11:00 AM Gildersleeve (1943) Harold Peary, Nancy Gates
10/12/1985
11:00 AM A Dog of Flanders (1935) Frankie Thomas, Helen Parrish
10/19/1985
no movie that day
10/26/1985
10:00 AM Girl of the Rio (1932) Dolores Del Rio, Leo Carrillo
11:00 AM Pacific Liner (1938) Chester Morris, Alan Hale
11/02/1985
no movie that day
11/09/1985
11:00 AM I Walked With a Zombie (1943) Frances Dee, Tom Conway
12:00 PM Blind Adventure (1933) Robert Armstrong, Fay Wray
11/16/1985
11:00 AM Hi Gaucho! (1936) John Carroll, Steffi Duna
11/23/1985
no movie that day
11/30/1985
11:00 AM Pop Always Pays (1940) Dennis O’Keefe, Leon Erool
12:00 PM And Don’t Tell The Wife (1937) Lucille Ball, Guy Kibbee
12/07/1985
11:00 AM Kentucky Kernels (1934) Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey
12/14/1985
11:00 AM The Fuller Brush Girl (1950) Lucille Ball, Eddie Albert
12/21/1985
11:00 AM Dangerous Exile (1957) Louis Jourdan, Belinda Lee
12/28/1985
11:00 AM Mysterious Island (1961) Michael Craig, Joan Greenwood
01/04/1986
10:00 AM Adventure in Baltimore (1949) Robert Young, Shirley Temple
01/11/1986
11:00 AM Gildersleeve on Broadway (1943) Harold Peary, Billie Burke
01/18/1986
11:00 AM Gildersleeve’s Bad Day (1943) Harold Peary
12:00 PM The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1937) Preston Foster
01/25/1986
11:00 AM Hi Gaucho! (1936) John Carroll, Steffi Duna
12:00 PM Bandit Ranger (1943) Tim Holt
02/01/1986
10:00 AM Double Dynamite (1951) Jane Russell, Groucho Marx
02/08/1986
no movie that day
02/15/1986
10:00 AM Tall in the Saddle (1944) John Wayne, Ella Raines
02/22/1986
10:00 AM A Girl in Every Port (1952) Groucho Marx, Marie Wilson
03/01/1986
10:00 AM Bachelor Mother (1939) David Niven, Ginger Rogers
03/08/1986
no movie that day
03/15/1986
11:00 AM Go Chase Yourself (1938) Joe Penner, Lucille Ball
03/22/1986
10:00 AM Cockeyed Cavaliers (1934) Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey
03/29/1986
10:00 AM Heavenly Days (1944) Jim and Marion Jordan, Barbara Hale
04/05/1986
10:00 AM Room Service (1938) The Marx Brothers, Lucille Ball
04/12/1986
11:00 AM Gildersleeve’s Ghost (1944) Harold Peary
12:00 PM Down To Their Last Yacht (1934) Mary Boland, Sidney Blackmer
04/19/1986
no movie that day
04/26/1986
11:00 AM Marshal of Mesa City (1939) George O’Brien, Viriginia Vale
12:00 PM The Arizona Ranger (1948) Tim Holt, Jack Holt
05/03/1986
11:00 AM Double Danger (1938) Preston Foster
12:00 PM Army Surgeon (1941) Jane Wyatt, Kent Taylor
05/10/1986
11:00 AM Holiday on the Buses (1974) Reg Varney, Doris Hare
05/17/1986
11:00 AM Millie (1931) Helen Twelvetrees
05/24/1986
11:00 AM Way Back Home (1932) Bette Davis
05/31/1986
no movie that day
06/07/1986
10:00 AM Having Wonderful Time (1938) Ginger Rogers, Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
06/14/1986
10:00 AM Pacific Liner (1938) Chester Morris, Alan Hale
11:00 AM Flying Devils (1933) Ralph Bellamy, Bruce Cabot
06/21/1986
11:00 AM Slaughter Trail (1951) Brian Donlevy, Gig Young
06/28/1986
11:00 AM Go Chase Yourself (1938) Joe Penner, Lucille Ball
07/05/1986
11:00 AM Everything’s Rosie (1931) Anita Louise
07/12/1986
11:00 AM Bunker Bean (1936) Owen Davis Jr., Louise Latimer
12:00 PM Cracked Nuts (1931) Bert Wheeler, Edna May Oliver
07/19/1986
no movie that day
07/26/1986
11:00 AM Chatterbox (1936) Lucille Ball
12:00 PM Red Morning (1935) Steffi Duna, Regis Toomey
08/02/1986
no movie that day
08/09/1986
11:00 AM Raising The Wind (1961) James Robertson Justice, Leslie Phillips
08/16/1986
11:00 AM Never Let Go (1963) Richard Todd, Peter Sellers
08/23/1986
11:00 AM Devil’s Canyon (1953) Virginia Mayo, Dale Robertson
08/30/1986
11:30 AM Annabel Takes a Tour (1938) Lucille Ball, Jack Oakie
09/06/1986
11:30 AM The Restless Breed (1957) Scott Brady, Anne Bancroft
09/13/1986
11:30 AM The Girl From Mexico (1939) Lupe Velez, Leon Errol
09/20/1986
11:30 AM Mohawk (1956) Rita Gam, Scott Brady
09/27/1986
11:30 AM Captain Hurricane (1935) James Barton, Helen Westley
10/04/1986
11:30 AM Go Chase Yourself (1938) Joe Penner, Lucille Ball
10/11/1986
11:30 AM The Day The Bookies Wept (1939) Betty Grable, Joe Penner
10/18/1986
11:30 AM Heavenly Days (1944) Jim and Marion Jordan, Barbara Hale
10/25/1986
11:30 AM The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1937) Preston Foster
11/01/1986
no movie that day
11/08/1986
11:30 AM Beauty for the Asking (1939) Lucille Ball, Donald Woods
11/15/1986
11:30 AM Beau Bandit (1930) Rod LaRocque, Doris Kenyon
11/22/1986
11:30 AM American Empire (1942) Preston Foster, Richard Dix
11/29/1986
no movie that day
12/06/1986
11:30 AM Bandit Ranger (1943) Tim Holt
12/13/1986
11:30 AM Pop Always Pays (1940) Dennis O’Keefe, Leon Errol
12/20/1986
11:30 AM Everything’s Rosie (1931) Anita Louise
12/27/1986
11:30 AM A Dog of Flanders (1935) Frankie Thomas, Helen Parrish
01/03/1987
11:30 AM Down To Their Last Yacht (1934) Mary Boland, Sidney Blackmer
01/10/1987
11:30 AM Along The Rio Grande (1941) Tim Holt, Betty Jane Rhodes
01/17/1987
11:30 AM Riffraff (1935) Jean Harlow, Spencer Tracy
01/24/1987
11:30 AM Marshal of Mesa City (1939) George O’Brien, Viriginia Vale
01/31/1987
11:30 AM The Arizona Ranger (1948) Tim Holt, Jack Holt
02/07/1987
no movie that day
02/14/1987
no movie that day
02/21/1987
no movie that day
02/28/1987
no movie that day
03/07/1987
no movie that day
03/14/1987
no movie that day
03/21/1987
11:30 AM Gunplay (1951) Tim Holt, Joan Dixon
03/28/1987
11:30 AM Career (1939) Edward Ellis, Anne Shirley
04/04/1987
11:00 AM Kentucky Kernels (1934) Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey
04/11/1987
11:00 AM Hi Gaucho! (1936) John Carroll, Steffi Duna
04/18/1987
no movie that day
04/25/1987
11:00 AM Only God Knows (1976) Gordon Pinsent, Paul Hecht
05/02/1987
no movie that day
05/09/1987
11:00 AM The Pace That Thrills (1952) Bill Williams, Carla Belenda
05/16/1987
11:00 AM Army Surgeon (1941) Jane Wyatt, Kent Taylor
05/23/1987
11:00 AM Captain Hurricane (1935) James Barton, Helen Westley
05/30/1987
11:00 AM High Flyers (1937) Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey
06/06/1987
11:00 AM Flying Devils (1933) Ralph Bellamy, Bruce Cabot
06/13/1987
11:00 AM Heavenly Days (1944) Jim and Marion Jordan, Barbara Hale
06/20/1987
11:00 AM Fixer Dugan (1939) Lee Tracy, Virginia Weldler
06/27/1987
11:00 AM The Girl From Mexico (1939) Lupe Velez, Leon Errol