Tom Steele

A history of Republic Pictures studios, featuring hundreds of clips plus on-camera interviews with stars, director, stuntman, etc.

Diamonds are stolen only to be sold again in the international market. James Bond infiltrates a smuggling mission to find out who's guilty. The mission takes him to Las Vegas where Bond meets his archenemy Blofeld.

Crafty railroad worker Bart becomes the first Black sheriff of Rock Ridge, a frontier town about to be destroyed in order to make way for a new railroad. Initially, the citizens of Rock Ridge harbor a racial bias toward their new protector. However, they warm to him after realizing that Bart and his perpetually drunk gunfighter friend Jim are their only defense against a wave of thugs sent to rid the town of its population.

Anthropology student Daria, who's helping a property developer build a village in the Los Angeles desert, and dropout Mark, who's wanted by the authorities for allegedly killing a policeman during a student riot, accidentally encounter each other in Death Valley and soon begin an unrestrained romance.

Two San Francisco detectives want to bring down a local hijacking boss. But they'll have to get to him before a hitman does.

A lonely boy becomes good friends with Ben, a rat. This rat is also the leader of a pack of vicious killer rats, killing lots of people.

The rebellious Thracian Spartacus, born and raised a slave, is sold to Gladiator trainer Batiatus. After weeks of being trained to kill for the arena, Spartacus turns on his owners and leads the other slaves in rebellion. As the rebels move from town to town, their numbers swell as escaped slaves join their ranks. Under the leadership of Spartacus, they make their way to southern Italy, where they will cross the sea and return to their homes.

Harper is a cynical private eye in the best tradition of Bogart. He even has Bogie's Baby hiring him to find her missing husband, getting involved along the way with an assortment of unsavory characters and an illegal-alien smuggling ring.

Professional daredevil and white-suited hero, The Great Leslie, convinces turn-of-the-century auto makers that a race from New York to Paris (westward across America, the Bering Straight and Russia) will help to promote automobile sales. Leslie's arch-rival, the mustached and black-attired Professor Fate vows to beat Leslie to the finish line in a car of Fate's own invention.

Matt Helm is called out of retirement to stop the evil Big O organization who plan to explode an atomic bomb over Alamagordo, NM, and start WW III.

A widow hires an ex-gambler to retrieve gold bars from a sunken river boat in Colorado and discreetly return them to the Federal Mint, from where they had been stolen by her dead husband.

Fictionalized account of Ferdinand Waldo Demara Jr., who stole or created fictional identities and worked in a variety of occupations, most quite successfully.

Feature version of the 1943 serial "The Masked Marvel", q.v., edited for television syndication and 16mm rental only.

The story of Frank W. "Spig" Wead - a Navy-flyer turned screenwriter.

Shrimpers and oilmen clash when an ambitious wildcatter begins constructing an off-shore oilrig.

Chicago cop Johnny Kelly, dissatisfied with his job and marriage, would like to run away with his stripper girlfriend Angel Face, but keeps getting cold feet. During one crowded night, Angel Face decides she's had enough vacillation, and crooked lawyer Biddel has an illegal mission for Johnny that could put him in a financial position to act. But other, conflicting schemes are also in progress...

A wealthy young Hebrew traveling in Damascus renounces his faith after he is seduced by an alluring pagan priestess and cheated of his fortune by the High Priest as well.

Sierra Nevada Jones must fight a villainous rancher to regain the land that is rightfully hers.

In Indiana of the early 1800s, conflict once again arises between the United States and Great Britain over territory and boundaries. Each side endeavors to gain the support of the Shawnee Indian tribes in the area. Governor William Henry Harrison enlists the aid of Steve Rubbell, whose friendship with the Shawnee chief Tecumseh goes back to childhood. Tecumseh's leadership of the Shawnee is contested by his brother, known as The Prophet, who sides with the British. Tecumseh, who grew up as a childhood playmate of Steve and of Laura McGregor, loves Steve as a brother and hopes to marry Laura. But Laura is in love with Steve. Laura's father, Shayne McGregor, secretly leads local support of the British against the Americans, even though it risks the life and love of his daughter. Everything comes to a head at the battle of Tippecanoe.

It's 1893 and gold is being smuggled out of the country. Instead of stealing gold bars, the outlaws are stealing high grade ore, having it smelted, and then having it plated to look like lead. The Government sends agents Bret and Larry who arrive in Cripple Creek posing as Texas gunfighters. Bret finds the smelting operation and Larry learns of the payoff. But the crooked town Marshal is suspicious of the two men and the reply of his inquiry to Texas exposes them putting their lives in danger.

A dairy owner's son takes a job as milkman with a rival company.

Saloon owner Barnet wants the Indian reservation land on which he knows there is gold, and organizes a gang, aided by some renegade Indians, to raid and terrorize close-by settlers,hoping to arouse them to drive off the Indians. Rancher Jerry Randall, accompanied by school teacher Nancy Cooper, sets out to defeat the plot. In order to win the loyalty of the innocent tribe members, Randall masquerades as a legendary friend of the Indians, El Latigo.

In Africa, a deceased medical missionary's daughter in Africa carries on her father's work. Before long, she finds herself in danger from crooks and a local witch doctor.

In this 12 Chapter serial the UN enlists trader Tom Rogers and Vivian Wells, to lead the effort to prevent the natives from starting a revolution in Burmatra and its neighbors.

A villain named Marlof attempts to set up secret missile bases inside Canada so he can launch missiles at the U.S. The Canadian Mounted Police dispatch agents to try to stop him.

A group of ranchers, led by Colonel Arnold and Ward Gordon, are drilling an oil well but getting fierce opposition from an unknown gang of outlaws. Eastern promoter J.B."Dude" Dawson, is behind the gang as he is out to prevent the co-op members from striking oil before their lease expires, so he can secure the property for his company. When Ward, with the help of Arnold and his daughter Sally, arranges for a new driller to be brought in, the replacement man is killed and one of Dawson's men takes his place.

Feature version of the 1949 serial, KING OF THE ROCKETMEN: Young member of scientific group uses new rocket-powered flying suit to thwart shadowy saboteur known only as "Dr. Vulcan".

Newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane is taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist. As a result, every well-meaning, tyrannical or self-destructive move he makes for the rest of his life appears in some way to be a reaction to that deeply wounding event.

Timeworn Joe Collins and his fellow inmates live under the heavy thumb of the sadistic, power-tripping guard Captain Munsey. Only Collins' dreams of escape keep him going, but how can he possibly bust out of Munsey's chains?

An American gets caught up in wartime action in Turkey.

A bucolic lawyer takes on big-city corruption, setting out to prove that an above-suspicion politician is actually a crook - all while falling in love with the politician's daughter.

Prof. Millard pretends to be dead and helps Jeff King ferret out Vulcan, the evil traitor at the science academy. Donning his Rocket Man costume King goes from one hair raising rescue to the next in order to keep the newly invented Decimator out of the clutches of Vulcan and his minions.

Pretty Girl Barbara Mededith takes over her murdered brother's crusading newspaper. She also assumes the dead sibling's identity as "The Black Whip," righting the wrongs of Crescent City very much in the manner of her famous ancestor, Zorro.

A mad scientist named Dr. Satan plots to steal key pieces of technology to enable him to build an army of robots based on his prototype to conquer America. The only one standing in his way is Bob Wayne, who fights Satan as the enigmatic Copperhead. Mysterious Doctor Satan is a 1940 film serial named after its chief villain. Doctor Satan's main opponent is the masked mystery man, "The Copperhead", whose secret identity is Bob Wayne, a man searching for justice and revenge on Satan for the death of his step-father. The serial charts the conflict between the two as Bob Wayne pursues Doctor Satan, while the latter completes his plans for world domination.

Robert L. Scott has dreamed his whole life of being a fighter pilot, but when war comes he finds himself flying transport planes over The Hump into China. In China, he persuades General Chennault to let him fly with the famed Flying Tigers, the heroic band of airmen who'd been fighting the Japanese long before Pearl Harbor. Scott gets his chance to fight, ultimately engaging in combat with the deadly Japanese pilot known as Tokyo Joe.

A mysterious plague, the Purple Death, ravages the earth. Dr. Zarkov, investigating in his spaceship, finds a ship from planet Mongo seeding the atmosphere with dust. Sure enough, Ming the Merciless is up to his old tricks. So it's back to Mongo for Flash, Dale, and Zarkov.

Construction workers in World War II in the Pacific are needed to build military sites, but the work is dangerous and they doubt the ability of the Navy to protect them. After a series of attacks by the Japanese, something new is tried, Construction Battalions (CBs=Seabees). The new CBs have to both build and be ready to fight.

A criminal mastermind known as The Crimson Ghost is out to steal a device called the Cyclotrode, which can short-circuit all electrical current on the planet.

Jesse James wants to start a new life in a new location, but quickly finds himself wrapped-up in protecting townsfolk from the machinations of evil oilmen.

When Border Patrol Lieutenant Roberts is killed, it appears that his brother Tim was the killer. To clear the Robert's name for his boss, Lieutenant Rocky Lane heads south of the border posing as an outlaw. He hopes to get in with the gang and find Tim who is using an assumed name. As always, Nugget is there to help.

In a small African port, a tawdry bar is run by a old man named Webb Fallon. Fallon is actually a vampire, but he is becoming weary of his "life" of the past few hundred years.

Jesse James returns to Missouri, and he and brother Frank come to the aid of a young woman who owns a gold mine. Her father was murdered and she took over the mine, and now the villains who killed her father are trying to drive her out of the mine so they can take it over.

A man returning home after having fought in the Civil War discovers that corrupt politicians have taken over the county and are terrorizing and shaking down the citizens. He dons the costume of his ancestor, the famous Zorro, and sets out to bring them to justice.

Crooks discover a Genghis Khan treasure ship on the Canada-Alaska border but the treasure is hidden somewhere on land. In their efforts to find the hidden treasure they resort to murder and sabotage to stop the construction of the Alcan highway which will bring homesteaders to the area. Sergeant Royal of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police battles through 12 episodes to find the crooks and to learn the identity of their mysterious leader known only as 'The Boss'.

An escaped criminal impersonates a Police Commissioner, causing no end of trouble to a determined Federal Agent.

Just after the Oklahoma Panhandle was annexed into the united states an ex-lawman turned newspaper man arrives to town to civilize it. He brings along Frog, a photographer and Sunset Carson as muscle. The seedy element in the territory doesn't want law and order and they plot against them and try to stop Sunset Carson being sheriff.

Although ostensibly the grand-son of the legendary hero, Clayton Moore's Ken Mason is little more than a cowboy in a black mask in this 12 chapter Republic serial. Mason, the head of the telegraph line work crew, assumes his ancestor's trade-mark mask (but not whip) in order to prevent a local czar (Roy Barcroft) from sabotaging the burgeoning telegraph line. Pamela Blake, a brunette starlet formerly known as Adele Pearce, played Mason's imperiled girlfriend, and the serial also benefitted from the usual competent work of Republic's great stunt-performers, including Dale van Sickel, Tom Steele, Eddie Parker, and Joe Yrigoyen.

As war looms in the Pacific, even cowboys are called on to fight the enemy. Horses are desperately needed by U.S forces stationed in the Philippines, and the Range Busters - Crash Corrigan, Alibi Terhune, and their newest partner, Davy Sharpe - are hired to accompany a herd to the islands. But first they must battle Axis spies right in Texas, as they foil a plot to steal the very horses destined for shipment.

An Indian rug is the key to the location of a lost treasure. When the rug's owner is murdered, it becomes a case for Forest Ranger Steve King

Dr. Peter Blood, unjustly convicted of treason and exiled from England, becomes a notorious pirate.

After healing the leg of the murderer John Wilkes Booth — responsible for the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln — Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, considered part of the atrocious conspiracy, is sentenced to life imprisonment and sent to the sinister Shark Island Prison.

A mad doctor named Zanoff uses a drug to bring himself back from the dead after his execution in prison. Dick Tracy sets out to capture Zanoff before he can put his criminal gang back together again.

A mad scientist attempts to rule the world by creating various elaborate inventions.

Disaster seems imminent when scientists discover that the planet Mongo is about to crash into Earth. Luckily, heroic young Flash Gordon is on hand to lead an investigative mission into outer space and onto the speedily approaching planet. There, he and his best girl, Dale, who is along for the ride, learn that Ming, the devious ruler of Mongo, has purposely put the planet on a collision course with Earth, and only Flash can stop him.

A cabbie and petty thief dreams of the big heist that will end his thieving ways.

A 12-episode serial in which Tim Tyler goes to Africa in search of his father in gorilla country. He meets up with Laura, who is after Spider Webb who has framed her brother. Webb causes the death of Tim's father, but is eventually tracked down.

"Red" Davison(Buck Jones), the sheriff of Sun Dog, sacrifices his job and his good name to save his best friend, "Silent" Slade from the hangman's noose, following a framed-up court decision which sentences Slade to hang for the murder of "Scotty McKee (J.P. McGowan). Davidson allows Slade to escape from jail and follows him to aid him in proving his innocence.

Filmed in the Sierra Nevada mountains near Sonora, California, this Universal serial is Universal's 40th sound-era serial. Eagle Scout Bruce Scott, leader of Martinsville Troop Number One, and his pack sets off in search of lost treasure and finds adventure

Jeff Scott is sent to investigate problems with wagon trains attempting to make the journey to Oregon. Sam Morgan has sent his henchmen, under lead-henchman Bull Bragg, to stop the wagon trains in order to maintain control of the fur trade in the area.

About a young radio cop and a beautiful girl try to stop an international criminal gang from getting their hands on the formula for a new bulletproof steel.