Here we have three badly photographed lovelies from my collection of lobby cards.  For them that don't know,  lobby cards are small posters that are displayed at the front of a theatre to advertise current or upcoming films.  They usually come in sets,  and the number of different cards in a set could be anywhere from six to twelve;  for example,  my set of Mestizo cards came as a set of twelve.  Now, for these films:

• The first in this set is from the 1943 picture, Riders of the Northwest Mounted.  It starred Russell Hayden,  who became well known as one of Hopalong Cassidy's peppy sidekicks (and my favourite).  The big draw of this picture is the feller on the far right;  Bob Wills, bandleader of the Texas Playboys,  who guest starred,  offering a few songs in true singing cowboy fashion.

• Second is a tantalising tidbit from the 1961 Robert Ryan/John Dehner feature The Canadians,  that I've mentioned on this page as one of the Mountie movies that I'm dying to see (HERE).  Until I actually see it,  this beauty will mock me from its place on my wall.
  

I have a pretty good collection of Mountie-related lobby cards,  and I must say,  it's cool to have these artifacts of the times and places that these films were actually screened!

Every day that I live, and this surprises me all the time,  I find out about incredible and rare movies that look really amazing.  I don't mean another Jimmy Stewart or Bogart movie (which I love),  but colourful (usually out-of-print) epics, starring guys like Franco Nero, John Saxon, Shintaro Katsu, or Cameron Mitchell. So many stellar actors,  so many killer genres;  Peplums,  Silents,  Poliziotteschi films, British WWII pictures,  B-reels, and Chambara.  So many great stories!

Mountie movies are no different.  There are so many more than one would think;  every era has it's Mountie movies.  In fact, the most recent I know about is the low-budget revenge story The Mountie (The Way of the West) made in 2011 (watch a clip HERE)!   I'm picking my way through all of the Mountie-themed pictures available,  and along the way I discover so many more...some of which are hard-to-find.

Well,  here's a trio of wish-list reviews of Mountie pictures that I'm dying to see!

#1

When I read that TCM had screened the promising Dick Foran Mountie epic Heart of the North,  I was hopeful that there had been a DVD release at some point.  I was sorely disappointed.  The trailer is on the TCM website,  and dammit,  it looks amazing.

Dick Foran plays Sgt. Alan Baker, sent out on a hunt for the shooters of a fellow Mountie. His squad sorely undermanned,  there's an ambush, and things go downhill from there.  I don't know much more than that,  but what more would one need?

There's a great cast,  including the amusing Allen Jenkins (a smart sideman in many a 30's/40's movie, including a fave of mine,  1942's They All Kissed the Bride),  and Patric Knowles (Will Scarlett in The Adventures of Robin Hood, and Lord Mountbatten in The Devil's Brigade).  By all reports,  it's an amazing-looking film,  with great songs, and some excellent action.  Foran was an awesome Cowboy-type crooner, and he usually had at least one song in every movie.

This is really my sort of classic movie...I'd love to have it on DVD.

#2            NOW SEEN!!!! (review soon)

Well, we've had Alan Ladd as a Mountie (Saskatchewan), Tyrone Power (Pony Soldier, AKA MacDonald of the Canadian Mounties), and Errol Flynn (Northern Pursuit), so it didn't surprise me a bit (ok, maybe a little) that the hardboiled crooner Dick Powell had  taken a turn in the scarlet jacket!

Based on the novel Mrs. Mike, the Story of Katherine Mary Flannigan,  written by Benedict and Nancy Freedman,  it details the (supposed) actual events in the life of a woman married to a Canadian Mountie in the earliest bit of the 20th century.  It's a tale of love and hardship in all of it's incarnations,  though many of the details have been changed for dramatic effect.  When asked about the novel,  the Mounties involved in the "real life" story proclaimed it to be quite fictional.

None of this has anyhing to do with me wanting to see Dick Powell as a Mountie, of course!  What I've seen of it is classic Hollywood fun;  you can see an 8-minute intro clip on YouTube, and don't be surprised if you wanna see the rest!

#3

A movie with Robert Ryan and John Dehner as Mounties?  Where,  for Pete's sake,  does a guy sign up for a match-up like this one?  The Canadians is a 1961 production, directed by Burt Kennedy, the madman at the helm of some solid cowboy pictures, including The Train Robbers (1973), The War Wagon (1967), and The Rounders (1965).  I'd see it on the strength of that info alone,  but the cast and the subject matter make it a viewing must.  Both Dehner and Ryan are two of the great unsung heroes of  Hollywood, making everything better by their presence;  I can only imagine how it will be with both of them headlining a film!

I've only managed to see one 30-second clip, dubbed in French,  but I'll be damned if it doesn't look incredible!