Writing

Oliver Drake

Born 1903-05-28 · Boise, Idaho, USA

Oliver Drake was an American screenwriter and director, primarily known for his contributions to the Western genre. Over his career, he wrote and directed numerous low-budget Westerns, including Today I Hang (1942). Drake's work was instrumental in shaping the B-Western film landscape during the 1930s and 1940s.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Sharad of Atlantis poster
4.4

Crash Corrigan, a recent graduate of Annapolis, and Diana, a go-getting reporter, join Professor Norton for a search for the source of a string of earthquakes, Atlantis. They ride Prof. Norton's rocket submarine searching the sea and little Billy Norton, the professor's son stows away, of course. When they find Atlantis they are caught in a war between peaceful Atlanteans, note their white capes, and war-monging Atlanteans, note their black capes. After many harrowing moments for Crash, Diana, Prof. Norton and Billy, they barely get away with their lives when they escape a tower of Atlantis raised to the surface for the sole purpose of dominating or destroying the Earth (Which one depends on the compliance of the upper world dwellers.)

Sharad of Atlantis

1936

Border Guns poster
9.0

A cowboy drifting around the border gets mixed up with Mexican revolutionary gun smuggling when he becomes friends and rivals with the chief smuggler.

Border Guns

1934

Boots and Saddles poster
6.5

Young Englishman inherits ranch which he wants to sell, but Gene's gonna turn him into a real westerner instead. When new owner Spud arrives from England, Autry convinces him not to sell the ranch but to raise horses for the Army. When both Autry's and Neale's bids are the same, the Colonel calls for a race to decide the winner. But that night Neale has Autry's stable burned.

Boots and Saddles

1937

Roaring Westward poster
8.0

After claim jumper Sanders kills a miner, he changes clothes with Perry. In pursuit, the Marshal kills Perry claiming he was the murderer. Setting out to clear Perry's name, Jimmy works his way into the outlaw game. But Sanders overhears Jimmy's plans and he and his boss Morgan set a trap to kill Jimmy.

Roaring Westward

1949

Outlaw Treasure poster
9.0

When two outlaw gangs team up to rob gold shipments, the U.s. Army sends their ace-troubleshooter, Dan Parker, to the area. Sam Casey, the mystery-man behind the gangs, kills Parker's father, and this induces his sweetheart, Rita Starr, to side with the law-and-order faction. An attempt by Casey to kill Rita is foiled by Parker, which leads to a widespread gun-battle. Written by Les Adams

Outlaw Treasure

1955

Wild Horse Rodeo poster
8.0

A champion rodeo rider returns home to track down a legendary wild horse called "Cyclone."

Wild Horse Rodeo

1937

Sky Dragon poster
8.0

All the passengers on an airplane headed for San Francisco are drugged, and when they wake up, it is discovered that a quarter-million dollars is missing. Charlie Chan--and, of course, his #1 son--must discover the identity of the person who doped the passengers and stole the money.

Sky Dragon

1949

Gunsmoke Ranch poster
4.3

A crooked real estate manipulator sells worthless land on mortgage to flood refugees, then tries to profit by reselling the land to the state, committing murder in the process, as the Three Mesquiteers work to bring him and his gang to justice.

Gunsmoke Ranch

1937

Lightning Triggers poster
10.0

Reb Russell (Reb Russell), undercover agent for the Cattleman's Protective Association, goes into the stronghold hideout of rustler chief Bull Thompson (Fred Kohler) posing as an outlaw. He falls in love with Marion, Bull's step-daughter. Juan (Dick Botiller), a gang member once jailed by Reb, reveals Reb's true identity, but he will be given his and Marion's freedom to leavy the valley if he can beat Thompson in a fight. He does, but Butch Greer (Jack Rockwell), a gang member trying to take over from Thompson leads the gang after the pair, after first revealing to Thompson that Reb is Thompson's own son, whom he last saw as a baby when Thompson, then known as Big Bill Russell,was forced to flee the law. Thompson and loyal gang member Blackie (Edmund Cobb), who was once helped by Reb, go after the gang in an effort to help Reb and Marion escape.

Lightning Triggers

1935

Shut My Big Mouth poster
8.3

A shy horticulturist becomes involved with a local criminal in the old west.

Shut My Big Mouth

1942

Trail of the Yukon poster
7.5

When the local Banker jumps the Blaine's claim, they have men rob the bank to retrieve their money. When the men try to double-cross the Blains, a gunfight erupts and Jim Blaine gets away with the money. Mountie Bob McDonald gets Jim Blaine to return the money. Bob thinks the Banker was really behind the robbery and now uses the money to try and lure him into a trap.

Trail of the Yukon

1949

The Riders of the Whistling Skull poster
5.7

When Professor Marsh disappears while searching for the lost city of Lukachukai, his daughter enlists the help of the Three Mesquiteers.

The Riders of the Whistling Skull

1937

Gun Smoke poster
5.4

U. S. Marshals Nevada Jack McKenzie and Sandy Hopkins come upon an overturned stagecoach with the driver and the passenger dead. They learn that the passenger, Hinkley, an archaeologist, has discovered an old Indian site that contains gold relics, and a gang has robbed him of the relics he was carrying. Jane Condon, daughter of Hinkley's partner who was also murdered, tells Nevada that an old Indian guide, Shag, is the only one who knows where the site is. The outlaws find Shag first, and kill him after forcing the information from him. Hinkley's son, Joel, arrives and knows where the site is and leads Nevada and Sandy there ahead of the outlaws.

Gun Smoke

1945

Ghost Town Gold poster
5.7

The three Mesquiteers try to recover the gold stolen by a gang in its effort to ruin the banker/mayor who ordered them to leave town.

Ghost Town Gold

1936

Born to Battle poster
5.8

Good-natured troublemaker "Cyclone" Tom Saunders is hired by a ranchers' association manager to investigate recent cattle rustling at one of their ranches and to see if a pair of nesters have anything to do with it. After discovering the nesters, pretty Betty Powell and her rickety old father, are incapable of rustling, Tom instead turns his attention to the huge, swaggering bully of a foreman, Nate Lenox.

Born to Battle

1935

Oh, Susanna poster
6.2

Oh, Susanna! is a 1936 American Western musical film directed by Joseph Kane and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and Frances Grant. Written by Oliver Drake, the film is about a cowboy who is robbed and then thrown from a train by an escaped murderer who then takes on the cowboy's identity.

Oh, Susanna

1936

Fighting Valley poster
NR

Someone has been stealing ore from a valuable smelting mine. One of the independent mine-owners victimized by the crooks is pretty Joan Manning, making the Rangers' mission a bit more pleasant.

Fighting Valley

1943

Fighting Valley poster
NR

Someone has been stealing ore from a valuable smelting mine. One of the independent mine-owners victimized by the crooks is pretty Joan Manning, making the Rangers' mission a bit more pleasant.

Fighting Valley

1943

Battling Marshal poster
8.0

In one of his last film roles, legendary B-Western cowboy Sunset Carson roots out the varmints responsible for a false smallpox scare. After arriving in the small town of Quartzville, Carson determines that a crooked lawyer-and-doctor team created a false smallpox epidemic in order to seize a gold mine from an old man and his family. Carson and his friends set out to bring the villains to justice. Al Terry, Pat Starling and Lee Roberts co-star.

Battling Marshal

1950

Cowboys from Texas poster
6.0

Cowboys from Texas is a 1939 American Western "Three Mesquiteers" B-movie directed by George Sherman.Texas has opened up land for homesteaders. Clay Allison wants their land and has his men led by Plummer try to start a range war between them and the ranchers. With each side suspecting the other of their problems, the Mesquiteers realize someone else is responsible. Stony suspects Plummer and fakes leaving the Mesquiteers to join Plummer's gang hoping to find out who it is.

Cowboys from Texas

1939

Ginger poster
9.0

The adventures of a boy and his dog in a small town.

Ginger

1947

Ginger poster
9.0

The adventures of a boy and his dog in a small town.

Ginger

1947

Lawless Code poster
9.0

Curly Blake, nephew and heir of wealthy Red Rock rancher Jed Gordon, persuades his uncle not to invest in a crooked land scheme promoted by former judge Harmon Steele and his secretary Lem Martin.

Lawless Code

1949

The Cheyenne Cyclone poster
8.0

Carleton and Genevieve are actors who become stranded in a western town. Carleton finds work at a ranch, where he helps the owner and his granddaughter defend their enterprise against cattle rustlers.

The Cheyenne Cyclone

1931