DARK MOUNTAIN (1944)

While fighting a forest fire, Ranger Don (Robert Lowery) wants to go back in and save Susie and Joe, who turn out to be two horses he's particularly fond of, but when his boss says no, Don punches him out and goes in anyway. The horses are saved, and so is his job—the chief actually gives him a promotion to head of the Dark Mountain area, and he gets his buddy Willie (Eddie Quillan) as his assistant. On a one-week furlough, he goes to visit his girlfriend Kay (Ellen Drew) to propose, but she drops the bomb that she's already married, to Steve (Regis Toomey), a well-off businessman. Steve seems like a nice guy, but we can sense something's wrong, especially when we hear him mention to an associate that he has to meet his wife’s "yokel relatives" at dinner that night. We soon discover that Steve is a war profiteer being investigated by the Feds, and when an agent comes to visit at the warehouse, Steve has his underlings push a huge crate down on him, killing him instantly. Eventually, the cops wind up on his trail and he goes on the lam, telling Kay, who the cops think is in on Steve's operations, that he'll be back. She goes to Don who lets her stay in an empty mountain cabin, but soon Steve has tracked her down, figures out that she's sweet on Don, and takes Kay hostage as Don, Willie, and most importantly, Don's faithful dog Luther, give chase.

This one-hour B-film is nothing special, I guess, but its plot is a little different, with an almost noirish tinge here and there. Lowery is one of my favorite B-movie leads (best known as one of the first actors to play Batman, in a late 40s serial) so I'd watch almost anything he's in. He manages to come off as stolid but not wooden, confident but not invulnerable. The dependable Toomey played a wide range of parts through the 30s and 40s, though I always remember him best as the kindly priest leading the boys choir in THE BISHOP’S WIFE; here he has a rare role as an villain and he does a nice job. Quillan, another personal favorite, is fine as the comic relief sidekick. Drew is the blandest of the bunch, but she's acceptable. Elisha Cook Jr. has a small role as the squirrely underling that Steve winds up killing to ensure he can't squeal to the cops. I like that Don and Willie are presented as having a quietly domestic routine at their office—Willie even knits (articles of clothing for his WAC gal overseas--see photo above). An unsung little B-film that’s quite enjoyable. [YouTube]