Wendell Corey

A marshal goes up against a crooked gambler and his henchmen who control a western town, but meets resistance from the local townspeople when he asks for their help.

During the Depression, a con-man promises rain to a desperate drought-ridden Kansas town and marriage to a local desperate spinster. Lizzie Curry is on the verge of becoming a hopeless old maid. Her wit and intelligence and skills as a homemaker can't make up for the fact that she's just plain plain. Even the town sheriff, File, for whom she harbors a secret yen, won't take a chance --- until the town suffers a drought and into the lives of Lizzie and her brothers and father comes one Bill Starbuck - profession: Rainmaker. —A.L.Beneteau <albl@inforamp.net> This is the story of a family...and the daughter specifically who both feel hopeless about two things. The family is concerned about the drought that is effecting the family farm, and about the future of their sister Lizzie. Since she hasn't met a man at her stage of life...the family and she thinks it's because she's too "plain" looking. Until a stranger comes along an convinces both that there is hope. —Ray Betterbid During the Great Depression, Lizzie Curry is the sole female in a household of males on the Curry ranch in rural Three Point, the males being her widowed father H.C. and brothers Noah and Jim. Considered plain, Lizzie is close to being classified a spinster, something she doesn't like, she wanting to be loved for herself and not wanting to act flirty i.e. helpless or silly, to attract a man, or to be paraded as desperate for a husband. H.C. and Jim in particular will push her into situations to be with eligible men, inexperienced Jim who himself is susceptible to ploys of such flirty girls as Snookie Maguire. Of the men in town, they all believe that recently arrived Deputy Sheriff File has the most potential as a mate for Lizzie, he who tells people he that he is widowed, while in reality his wife left him for another man, arguably the reason for he being relationship-shy. The lives of the entire family are turned upside down with the arrival into town of Bill Starbuck, a proverbial snake oil salesman who they are unaware is on File's radar as the con man heading their way. What Starbuck is selling to the Currys is rain in the current drought decimating their cattle stock. For $100 up front, he guarantees rain within twenty-four hours. While H.C., with naive Jim by his side, is willing to pay the money seeing the amount as what he may routinely lose on a gambling night anyway, Noah but Lizzie in particular can see Starbuck as the charlatan that he is. But Lizzie may have a different view of this stranger when he convinces her that she is indeed beautiful. —Huggo

L.B. Jeffries is an injured photojournalist with nothing to do but look out on his unsuspecting neighbors. It`s all harmless fun till one night he witnesses a man murder his wife.

An American woman goes to Hawaii to search for her husband, MIA since the war, but he's a fugitive from the law and involved in a private feud against his former crime syndicate partners. A woman who believes her missing husband is in prison in Hawaii on a murder charge travels there to see if it actually is him. However, he escapes before she sees him, when he hears that his current girlfriend has been murdered. The wife searches the slum area of Honolulu known as Hell's Half Acre for him, he searches for his girlfriend's killer, and his gangland associates are looking for the two of them. —frankfob2@yahoo.com

In Jamaica, amid murder and deceit, a schooner skipper and a land developer search for the sunken ship containing proof regarding the identity of the true heirs of a legendary Jamaican estate. Promoter William Montague wants to buy the estate owned by the Daceys, Mrs. Dacey and her daughter Ena and son Todd, in order to build a resort hotel. When they turn him down, he produces a couple of distant relatives, Janice and Robert Clayton, and sets about to prove that the estate rightfully belongs to them. The identity of the rightful heirs is thought to be buried in a sunken ship off of the Jamaican shore and the search begins, led by a schooner skipper, Patrick Fairlie, who is in love with Ena. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

In this Western, the James and Younger boys ride the outlaw trail again all because of a mean Union Army Major.

Wealthy invalid Leona Stevenson finds herself completely alone in her New York City townhouse. Thinking that her husband Henry would be home, she gave her nurse and the servants the night off. But Henry never came home from work and Leona is frantically trying to locate him. His office number is busy. In desperation, Leona telephones her husband's secretary, Miss Jennings, at home. She learns that Henry left the office with a Mrs. Lord and did not return. In flashbacks, it is revealed that Leona is the spoiled only child of J.B. Cotterell, the owner of a pharmaceutical company based in Chicago. Her mother died in childbirth and Leona grew up believing that she had a heart ailment. In college she met Henry Stevenson, who came from a dirt-poor background. Although he is dating her best friend Sally, Leona makes a play for him and succeeds in taking him away from Sally. Against the wishes of her father, Leona marries Henry and he goes to work for her father. But he is unsuccessful in persuading Leona that they need a home of their own instead of living with Mr. Cotterell. Leona has a fainting spell and requires a nurse to take care of her. This has happened many times over the years and Mr. Cotterell blames Henry for this latest episode. Henry tries to find other employment but Mr. Cotterell has put the word out not to hire him. Returning to the present time, Leona takes a call from a Mr. Waldo Evans. He has called several times wanting to speak to Henry but won't say what he wants. In telephoning Henry's office again, Leona is accidentally connected to a conversation in which two men are talking. They cannot hear her but she hears them plotting a murder. A woman is to be killed in her home at 11:15 that night. An overheard train will cross the tracks and the cop on patrol always takes a break at that time. No one else will be in the house and their client has arranged to leave a downstairs window unlocked. Their client wants them to make it look like a robbery and he doesn't want the woman to suffer. Leona is horrified and calls the operator, demanding that the call be traced. But the operator doesn't understand what she means about being cut in on a conversation and refers her to the police. The officer who takes Leona's call doesn't believe her. In frustration, Leona hangs up but continues to worry about the unfortunate woman who is set to die. In looking through the telephone messages that came in earlier that day, Leona finds one from the mysterious Mrs. Lord. She telephones the woman and demands to know what is going on with her and Henry. To her surprise, Mrs. Lord turns out to be her old friend Sally. By now Leona is thoroughly bewildered. Sally explains in a low voice that her husband works for the District Attorney and that Henry is in trouble. She came to his office to warn him. Then she hangs up abruptly after telling Leona that she will call back when she can speak privately, as her husband is home. Leona cannot imagine what sort of trouble Henry could be in. She telephones her father in Chicago but he is having a party and doesn't give her a chance to explain why she is calling. He is surprised and angry that she is in the house alone and promises to have a talk with Henry. The phone rings again and it is Western Union with a telegram from Henry. He is en route to a pharmaceutical convention and will telephone her later. Then Sally calls from a pay phone, having told her husband that she was going out for beer. She doesn't know exactly what trouble Henry is in, only that it is very serious. Earlier that week she followed her husband and one of his colleagues to a deserted house on Staten Island. It appeared to be a drop-off point and Sally heard Henry's name mentioned. Sally is forced to hang up because the drugstore is closing, leaving Leona frustrated and upset. Mr. Evans calls again and this time Leona demands to know why he keeps bothering her. She is a bedridden invalid and cannot take this kind of stress. Mr. Evans reveals that he knows all about her, having been a Cotterell employee for many years. He is in charge of a laboratory; first in Chicago and now in New Jersey. One night when he was working late, Henry stopped by. He looked around the laboratory and asked where the narcotics were kept. Mr. Evans showed him but felt uneasy about it, even though Henry was the boss's son-in-law. Later Henry offered Mr. Evans a ride home as it was raining and his bus was late. During the ride, Mr. Evans shared his desire to retire and return to England. He would like to purchase a horse farm but doubts he will be able to afford it. Henry agrees and offers to cut Mr. Evans in on a deal. If he will hold back some of the narcotics, Henry has a purchaser. They will each receive a large cut, which will go a long way toward purchasing the horse farm. Mr. Evans is horrified and refuses, but greed overtakes him and eventually he agrees. All goes well until Mr. Evans receives a sudden transfer to the New Jersey plant. Henry assures him that it is routine, as he would have been arrested if they were found out. Mr. Evans declares that he wants out but Henry won't allow it. He has already decided to act on his own instead of going through their purchaser, a Mr. Morano. Their share of the money will be a lot more. Henry and Leona move to New York, where Mr. Evans purchased the deserted house on Staten Island. He takes the drugs there and someone in a boat picks them up. Unfortuately, Mr. Morano traces them there and is waiting in the house when Mr. Evans arrives. He wants $200,000 as compensation for the business they took away from him. If they don't pay, they will be killed. When Henry protests that he doesn't have that kind of money, Mr. Morano reminds him that he has a rich wife. An accident can be arranged and he would inherit her money. Henry is sickened but realizes he has no choice. Mr. Evans closes the conversation by giving Leona a message for Henry. The game is up as the police have arrested Mr. Morano. Mr. Evans has burned down the Staten Island house. After midnight he can be reached at a certain number, which Leona writes down. It turns out to be the number of the city morgue. Mr. Evans obviously intends to commit suicide rather than be arrested. Leona telephones her father again but there is no answer. She begins to realize that the phone conversation she overheard was about her. She is the woman who is to be killed that night. Believing that her heart is about to give out, she telephones her doctor and begs him to come over. He can't, although he tells her that the results of a recent examination were very good. She does not have heart trouble at all. The doctor sent her a letter with this information but Leona never got it. She calls a nurse's registry but they don't have anyone they can send over at a moment's notice. Hysterically, Leona tries to get out of bed but she can't make her legs move. Then Henry telephones from the train station in Connecticut and Leona tells him she knows everything. She asks why he didn't come to her for the money, that she would gladly have given it to him because she loves him so much. Then she hears a noise downstairs and screams at Henry that someone is in the house. He orders her to get out of bed and yell out the window for help. But Leona is paralyzed by terror. He admits to having arranged her murder and tells her unless she does as he says, he will burn. The two plainclothes detectives who have been following Henry close in on the phone booth. Then Henry hears Leona's dying scream as she is stabbed. Henry calls back, the killer picks up the phone, says "Sorry wrong number" and hangs up.

Frankie Madison leaves prison expecting a share from his ex-partner. But Prohibition bootlegging didn't prepare Frankie for Big Business. Frankie Madison returns to New York after 14 years in prison. Noll Turner, Frankie's former partner in bootlegging, is now a wealthy nightclub manager, and Frankie is expecting him to honor a verbal '50:50' agreement they made when he was caught and Noll got away. Fat chance! Can Frankie, who knows only the strong-arm methods of Prohibition, win out against Big Business? It'll be tough...even with the unlikely alliance of torch singer Kay (Noll's ex-girlfriend). —Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu> After fourteen years in prison for bootlegging, Frankie Madison is released and returns To New York to meet his friend and partner Noll "Dink" Turner. Madison has an agreement with Dink, who is the manager of a successful nightclub, to share half of his business since he did not rat him when he was caught by the police. Dink uses his mistress Kay Lawrence to learn what Madison's real intention are and his friend Dave to explain that he has the right of less than US$ 3,000,00. Madison is not convinced and when Dink decides to get married to Mrs. Alexis Richardson - Kristine Miller, Kay teams up with Madison to retrieve his share. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Frankie Madison has just been released from prison after serving fourteen years for bootlegging, his conviction at the time of prohibition. When he was caught, he and his partner, Noll Turner - nicknamed Dink - knew that in the police pursuit one or both of them may be caught, they having made a deal right then and there to split whatever proceeds 50/50 made by a free one if and when the other was in prison. As Noll never once visited Frankie in prison, he only sending a carton of cigarettes a month, Frankie believes Noll will try to renege on their verbal deal, especially as Noll now operates a thriving nightclub. Frankie is correct especially as Noll has maneuvered behind the scenes to structure the business so that much is not in his own name, and as he has amassed a phalanx of thugs to carry out his more violent urges, some of those heavies who know and like Frankie from the old days, but who have their allegiance to Noll. What ensues is a battle between the "new ways" and the "old ways", Frankie who has no idea of the former, while Noll may have lost sight of the latter. Caught in the middle are: Dave, Noll's business manager who Frankie considers the only person from the old days in Noll's pocket that he can trust; and Kay Lawrence, the singer/pianist at the club who also happens to be Noll's girl. While Noll asked Kay to be friendly to Frankie to obtain information, she not sure about what and unaware of Frankie's recent incarceration, she ends up falling for Frankie, easier on her mind as she is aware that Noll has another woman on the side who can help him further the business, wealthy Alexis Richardson, already a "Mrs." to someone else. —Huggo