Chick Chandler

A stolen Indian treasure is cursed until returned. Years later, insurance man Breen Mathews seeks the heir to return the fortune. In Topaz, he finds Louisa and battles corrupt locals wanting the treasure. Don Pablo Salazar steals a fortune in jewels from an Indian tribe and an Aztec medicine man puts a curse on the jewels until they are returned. Years later an American insurance man, Breen Mathews (Willard Parker) promises to deliver the Salazar fortune to the rightful heir after Luis Salazar, son of Don Pablo, is killed. Breen heads for Topaz, where he hopes to find the surviving heir, Teresa. He finds instead, Louisa, daughter of Teresa, and is forced to fight a crooked group of townspeople, who are after the Salazar fortune, cursed or otherwise. Included in the group are Judge Cole (Billy House), known as "the Hanging Judge" and Barnum (Barton MacLane), local saloon owner. After defeating all the crooks, Breen is told by Louisa that she, the last of the Salazars, is going to return the treasure to its rightful owners, and lift the curse. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

A little squirrel with lots of charm accidentally helps two poor, down-but-NOT-out families overcome their obstacles. With Christmas Eve just around the corner, fading song-and-dance performer Joe Mahoney finds himself forced to part ways with his extraordinary, indispensable, kilt-wearing companion Rupert, the squirrel. In the meantime, another struggling vaudevillian, Louie Amendola, moves into the cold flat of miserly landlord Frank Dingle with his family, unbeknownst to them that an unexpected Christmas miracle is about to take place. However, as the underemployed Amendolas have a taste of the good life thanks to the godsent gift, the police start to suspect foul play. Does stealthy Rupert have something to do with their newfound happiness? —Nick Riganas A Christmas Wish is a heartwarming holiday classic about a New York family (led by Durante) who is down on their luck at Christmas time. Shortly before Christmas, they move into a ground floor apartment where Rupert the squirrel lives in the attic rafters. Just when it seems that the holiday will come and go without so much as a Christmas tree, Rupert acts as the family's guardian angel, not only saving Christmas, but changing their lives forever. The film is enlivened with the warmth and sweetness of an unforgettable love story between Terry Moore (of Mighty Joe Young) and Tom Drake (of Meet Me in St. Louis). Rupert the Squirrel (created using George Pal's Academy Award winning animation technique) will charm young and old alike. Jimmy Durante shines when he sings Jingle Bells and other well-loved Christmas carols in the evocative voice that made him one of America's recording legends. —Anonymous

Harold l. Montgomery, the scatterbrain vice-president of the United Broadcasing System, is dismayed when he learns that one-foot of the ground on which the station's imposing new structure has been built is part of the adjoining lot belonging to Judy Goober, a hillbilly girl, who could sue them for millions. Mortally afraid of his domineering, ill-tempered sister, Matilda. who is the president of the company, Montgomery decides to say nothing to her regarding the problem and, instead, takes his equally-scatterbrained son, Junior, with him to the Ozarks to talk Judy into selling the property before she learns the truth. But Judy turns out to be a hard-sell and Montgomery enlists the services of handsome Prince Karl, a frayed-at-the-cuffs but glib-of-tongue Russian who faces jail for back-alimony payments, and needs any job he can get. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net> A New York City radio station builds a new headquarters building, but unknowingly constructs part of it on a strip of property owned by a father and daughter in rural Arkansas. The station sends some slick operators to Arkansas to buy the property from the family, but things don't turn out exactly as planned. —frankfob2@yahoo.com