Gilbert Roland - A Latin Performer Unbounded
- moira finnie
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Re: Gilbert Roland - A Latin Performer Unbounded
Hey! A nice little oater with Mr. Roland front and center is also on the TCM schedule at 4:30am early Tues. (Nov. 14th). I forgot to mention it here earlier due to real life distractions.
Above: Two men reunite with Robert Horton and Gilbert Roland being observed by Hank Worden in Apache War Smoke. GR is wearing a jacket that he wore beginning in Thunder Trail back in the late '30s and in several of his Cisco Kid flicks in the '4os. The man must have known he looked raffishly stylish wearing it. I bet he never threw anything away either.
Apache War Smoke (1952) asks us to accept that GR and Robert Horton are father and son. Gilberto is a well-known outlaw, Horton is a straight arrow. They meet again at a stagecoach station in the Southwest. This place is teeming with a great supporting cast playing the passengers. Among them are Glenda Farrell, Gene Lockhart, Barbara Ruick (who? how'd she get in there?), Douglas Dumbrille and Henry Morgan, all of whom are in mortal danger from a pending Indian attack. There is also the additional welcome sight of Hank Worden and a very young Robert Blake. It's not perfect by any means, but Gilbert Roland pulls out all the stops in his patented likable scalawag routine. He acts and looks indecently cool and happily corrupt. I am smiling just thinking of him in this role.
If this premise sounds familiar it may be because this was also a B movie made at MGM called Apache Trail (1942) with Lloyd Nolan having great fun as the charming rascal and Robert Sterling as his respectable bro. I know my appetite for entertainment is more easily satisfied than most people, but I liked this older movie too when it was shown on TCM.
The source of both movies is a story by the highly influential Western writer Ernest Haycox, who sure knew his stuff.
Above: Two men reunite with Robert Horton and Gilbert Roland being observed by Hank Worden in Apache War Smoke. GR is wearing a jacket that he wore beginning in Thunder Trail back in the late '30s and in several of his Cisco Kid flicks in the '4os. The man must have known he looked raffishly stylish wearing it. I bet he never threw anything away either.
Apache War Smoke (1952) asks us to accept that GR and Robert Horton are father and son. Gilberto is a well-known outlaw, Horton is a straight arrow. They meet again at a stagecoach station in the Southwest. This place is teeming with a great supporting cast playing the passengers. Among them are Glenda Farrell, Gene Lockhart, Barbara Ruick (who? how'd she get in there?), Douglas Dumbrille and Henry Morgan, all of whom are in mortal danger from a pending Indian attack. There is also the additional welcome sight of Hank Worden and a very young Robert Blake. It's not perfect by any means, but Gilbert Roland pulls out all the stops in his patented likable scalawag routine. He acts and looks indecently cool and happily corrupt. I am smiling just thinking of him in this role.
If this premise sounds familiar it may be because this was also a B movie made at MGM called Apache Trail (1942) with Lloyd Nolan having great fun as the charming rascal and Robert Sterling as his respectable bro. I know my appetite for entertainment is more easily satisfied than most people, but I liked this older movie too when it was shown on TCM.
The source of both movies is a story by the highly influential Western writer Ernest Haycox, who sure knew his stuff.
- MissGoddess
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Re: Gilbert Roland - A Latin Performer Unbounded
Sigh. I MUST empty my DVR...it's memory is all used up. This movie sounds fun.
"There's only one thing that can kill the movies, and that's education."
-- Will Rogers
-- Will Rogers
- MissGoddess
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Re: Gilbert Roland - A Latin Performer Unbounded
I'm not sure if these have been posted, but two movies are at this YouTube channel, neither of which I've seen yet: Gateway and Ladies Love Danger
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrJanny2018/videos?view=0
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrJanny2018/videos?view=0
"There's only one thing that can kill the movies, and that's education."
-- Will Rogers
-- Will Rogers
- moira finnie
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Re: Gilbert Roland - A Latin Performer Unbounded
Gilbertito Alert!
On Tuesday, May 7th at 7:15am (ET) on TCM this movie will be shown:
Gilbert Roland in 1940.
Gambling on the High Seas (1940) with that rascal Gilbert Roland playing Greg Morella, a "Mr. Lucky" type who takes his casino to beyond the three mile limit. Trouble ensues, involving Roland's "frenemy," the ambitious reporter Wayne Morris (then being groomed by Warners as a possible star), Morris is joined in this quest by Jane Wyman in one of her gum-snapping, wisecracking roles as Roland's secretary. I figure that GR was on the Warner lot shooting the A movie The Sea Hawk, so he also found his way into this B movie programmer that was directed by a distinguished film editor George Amy, who had cut everything from Captain Blood to the Schlitz Playhouse during his long career. Mr. Amy had a less noteworthy career as a director. Too bad for Gilbert Roland, though he never let that stuff bother him on camera, did he?
You can see the trailer for this 54 minute movie here.
On Tuesday, May 7th at 7:15am (ET) on TCM this movie will be shown:
Gilbert Roland in 1940.
Gambling on the High Seas (1940) with that rascal Gilbert Roland playing Greg Morella, a "Mr. Lucky" type who takes his casino to beyond the three mile limit. Trouble ensues, involving Roland's "frenemy," the ambitious reporter Wayne Morris (then being groomed by Warners as a possible star), Morris is joined in this quest by Jane Wyman in one of her gum-snapping, wisecracking roles as Roland's secretary. I figure that GR was on the Warner lot shooting the A movie The Sea Hawk, so he also found his way into this B movie programmer that was directed by a distinguished film editor George Amy, who had cut everything from Captain Blood to the Schlitz Playhouse during his long career. Mr. Amy had a less noteworthy career as a director. Too bad for Gilbert Roland, though he never let that stuff bother him on camera, did he?
You can see the trailer for this 54 minute movie here.
- JackFavell
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Re: Gilbert Roland - A Latin Performer Unbounded
I saw this on the sched and I'm happy to say this is at the perfect time for me to see it! Alice will be heading out the door and Andrew will be off to work! Yay! Just me and Gilbert.... and Wayne and Jane of course.
Re: Gilbert Roland - A Latin Performer Unbounded
...And the other ten of us, Wendy. Watched this morning. He was appropriately a bad guy. A swarthy steamy bad guy.
<< ( Sigh! ) >>
Though my heart belongs to Wayne Morris. (( But these are the times that try women's souls loyalty. ))
<< ( Sigh! ) >>
Though my heart belongs to Wayne Morris. (( But these are the times that try women's souls loyalty. ))
- JackFavell
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Re: Gilbert Roland - A Latin Performer Unbounded
Ha! Hey, Maven, Your Wayne was a perfect hero this morning. But in the real world? Gilberto would have pounded him to a pulp.
I'm glad it's not the real world.
I'm glad it's not the real world.
- moira finnie
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Re: Gilbert Roland - A Latin Performer Unbounded
I finally got around to viewing Gambling on the High Seas (1940) with Gilbert Roland, Wayne Morris (he seems to be playing Jack Carson's brother here) and Jane Wyman. Janie's wacky character is irked that she cannot leave the employment of Mr. Kingpin Gambler aka Gilberto. She should be so lucky! Okay, it was inevitable that the gambler extraordinaire played by GR would get the heave-ho, but the only thing that he should have been convicted of in this B movie was being:
a.) The handsomest man on land and sea
b.) Being far more interesting than the law-abiding lunkheads surrounding him (of course, his own minions are none too swift either)
c.) Being third billed under Wayne Morris and Jane Wyman, which really must have stung
d.) Able to make me shudder to think of the sarcastic remarks Constance Bennett may have dropped about this appearance.
Oh, and Wendy--did you see that one of your um, "interesting" choices of actors worthy of your attention, Roger Pryor, was in this movie? I just noticed that some near-sighted person on IMDb's biography section has described Pryor as "the poor man's Clark Gable" at Universal and Columbia Pictures. Holy mackeral. I'll have what that biographer's drinking. The world would be a heckuva lot rosier seen through the bottom of that guy's shot glass.
Speaking of Connie, this engraving just in from After Tonight (1933):
GR's next appearance on TCM is mildly entertaining. He flirts with Anna Lee and shares some brief screen time with Ronald Colman in My LIfe With Caroline (1941)
Wednesday, May 22 at 8:30 AM (ET)
a.) The handsomest man on land and sea
b.) Being far more interesting than the law-abiding lunkheads surrounding him (of course, his own minions are none too swift either)
c.) Being third billed under Wayne Morris and Jane Wyman, which really must have stung
d.) Able to make me shudder to think of the sarcastic remarks Constance Bennett may have dropped about this appearance.
Oh, and Wendy--did you see that one of your um, "interesting" choices of actors worthy of your attention, Roger Pryor, was in this movie? I just noticed that some near-sighted person on IMDb's biography section has described Pryor as "the poor man's Clark Gable" at Universal and Columbia Pictures. Holy mackeral. I'll have what that biographer's drinking. The world would be a heckuva lot rosier seen through the bottom of that guy's shot glass.
Speaking of Connie, this engraving just in from After Tonight (1933):
GR's next appearance on TCM is mildly entertaining. He flirts with Anna Lee and shares some brief screen time with Ronald Colman in My LIfe With Caroline (1941)
Wednesday, May 22 at 8:30 AM (ET)
- JackFavell
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Re: Gilbert Roland - A Latin Performer Unbounded
Hahahahahha! That shot glass must have been full of something hallucinatory... in his dreams he'd be the poor man's Clark Gable! I think of him as the poor man's Lee Bowman, and you all know how much I like him...
Actually, I guess I'd put Roger Pryor one step above Lee Bowman, just because he actually seems like a nice guy.
Let me linger a little longer here in front of that beautiful engraving! Can I just hang out in your thread all day? It beats teaching little kids about whaling ships by a mile.
Actually, I guess I'd put Roger Pryor one step above Lee Bowman, just because he actually seems like a nice guy.
Let me linger a little longer here in front of that beautiful engraving! Can I just hang out in your thread all day? It beats teaching little kids about whaling ships by a mile.
- moira finnie
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Re: Gilbert Roland - A Latin Performer Unbounded
Uh-oh! I think we may be getting a "cease and desist" letter from The Lee Bowman Appreciation Society soon...which should give us another laugh or two.JackFavell wrote:Hahahahahha! That shot glass must have been full of something hallucinatory... in his dreams he'd be the poor man's Clark Gable! I think of him as the poor man's Lee Bowman, and you all know how much I like him...
Actually, I guess I'd put Roger Pryor one step above Lee Bowman, just because he actually seems like a nice guy.
Kind of arresting, isn't it? Is it warm in here or is it...me...??JackFavell wrote:Let me linger a little longer here in front of that beautiful engraving! Can I just hang out in your thread all day? It beats teaching little kids about whaling ships by a mile.
- JackFavell
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Re: Gilbert Roland - A Latin Performer Unbounded
I just found this movie on YTB - haven't watched it yet:moirafinnie wrote: Of the recent movies I've seen with GR, the best of the lot may be Last Train to Madrid (1937) in which our hero plays an imprisoned Spanish soldier who is freed from prison by his friend and former comrade in arms, Anthony Quinn. This is one of the earlier movies I've seen Roland in recently, and, frankly, he is pretty dang great looking, though the plot doesn't help either actor. This movie tried to remain aloof from politics, but, as directed by James P. Hogan, who normally stuck to being a traffic cop on Bulldog Drummond movies, it is anchored by Quinn and Roland. Last Train to Madrid keeps threatening to spin out of control going from storyline to storyline with too many characters. More later. I'll try to make some good screen caps asap.
[youtube][/youtube]
- moira finnie
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Re: Gilbert Roland - A Latin Performer Unbounded
Above: Gilbert Roland may have been at the height of his good looks in the '30s--if only he'd been in better films!
Oh, great, Jez, thanks for finding this one! I am very fond of this movie, despite its ramshackle structure. In part it is notable as one of the few films that acknowledged that international tragedy, The Spanish Civil War, even if it was reportedly rendered toothless by the Production Office and studio fears of political and box office ramifications. The actors, particularly GR, Anthony Quinn, Lew Ayres, and Karen Morley were truly affecting, despite the story's limitations. I think that with another director other than the B movie Bulldog Drummond veteran James P. Hogan, such as Lewis Milestone or even better--a Fritz Lang--it might have been much better known today.
- MissGoddess
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Re: Gilbert Roland - A Latin Performer Unbounded
i still have to get around to watching this!
"There's only one thing that can kill the movies, and that's education."
-- Will Rogers
-- Will Rogers