Never let it be said that Warner Archive Collection doesn’t release anything but upper tier movies. They recently announced three forgotten B- Westerns from Monogram Pictures have been compiled into one Blu-ray collection entitled Monogram Matinee Volume 1. These three forgotten low-budget poverty row films were all released in 1949 and feature actors who made a career mainly doing Westerns.
The first film, Derwin Abrahams’ Mississippi Rhythm has Country singer (and later the Governor of Louisiana) Jimmie Davis starring as himself in a musical Western. He travels to Creek City to become half a landowner thanks to his uncle. Unfortunately for Jimmie, the city is corrupt with a crooked town boss Stan Caldwell (forty-year veteran actor James Flavin, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, Abbot and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff) and Judge Kenworthy (Paul Maxey, The Narrow Margin, Sky Dragon). Jimmie sets out to save the town by voting them out!
Western Renegades, directed by Wallace Fox, has U.S. Marshal Johnny Mack Brown (Ride ‘Em Cowboy, Wild West Days), on his way to Gordontown to visit an old friend of his, Marshal Dusty Dekker. The town is named Gordontown because the wealthy Paul Gordon owns most of the town. A corrupt individual named Jim Laren arrives in town, and he has plans of taking over the Gordon holdings and the town including a ruse to have Annie Driscoll (Constance Worth, Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood) pretending to be Gordon’s wife who left him 18 years ago. Paul Gordon is killed by Laren, who puts the blame on Dusty! He then has Annie Driscoll reappear as Mrs. Gordon to inherit the money and the town. Johnny Mack Brown and Sheriff Alibi (Max Terhune, Riders of the Whistling Skull) are on to this scheme and prove that Annie is not the real Mrs. Gordon.
Ray Taylor’s Crashing Thru is a Western starring Whip Wilson (Shadows of the West, Range Land) as a Wells Fargo agent who assumes the identity of Ranger Raymond after he’s killed at a stage holdup. As Raymond he becomes the town marshal and goes after the killers Jarvis (George Lewis, Cow Country, Santiago) and his boss Devin (Tristram Coffin, King of the Rocket Men, The Crawling Hand, The Corpse Vanishes). But to Whip’s surprise, they have a bigger boss in John Mason (Steve Darrell, The Monolith Monsters, Tarantula, Abandoned) who tries to have Whip arrested for murder! Whip gets help from Winks Winkle (Andy Clyde, Annie Oakley, Yellow Dust)
I thought the trilogy of films were decent and do make for a great matinee. None of the films are emotionally overpowering and are just uncomplicated, easy viewing, simple plot without scratching your head wondering what’s going on type of movies. Warner is exactly right when they say these films will be reminiscent of Saturday matinee features from Monogram in 1949!
Warner Archive has given these three films a Blu-ray release on one single disc. They are all newly remastered and have been given 4K scans of nitrate and safety archival elements.
Mississippi Rhythm looks fantastic, with lot of detail to both the characters and scenery. The appearance of the actors in the movie was ravishing with strong black levels and bright whites. The greyscale also was stable throughout and looked quite healthy. Film grain is present throughout the presentation as well. This was the most attractive of the three films with a remarkably clean image.
Western Renegades also looked good overall in the image department, perhaps a little bit soft on some parts of the feature, but the image is clear. The 4K scan I would venture greatly benefited the movie to look this good, otherwise the soft parts would be much softer and not look as cleaned up or as sharp as it does.
The video quality Crashing Thru is about as good as it will ever be with a clean image as well with strong blacks, whites and a nicely balanced greyscale. The landscapes have a lot of strong details and plenty of texture to them. There were a few areas that were a slightly softer, but nothing to really spoil the viewing of the film. You will also see film grain and a few specks here and there, but this is your standard as good as it gets Warner Archive high-quality picture.
The English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 soundtrack for all three films is also excellent, with dialog and music coming in perfectly clear with none of the audio coming off as too aggressive or dominating. I didn’t catch any age-old anomalies such as hissing or crackling sounds. If they are there, it could hardly be detected. Warner has done well for the three films in the audio department.
English subtitles are available.
There are no extras for this release.
For Western film fans, particularly those who enjoy B-Westerns will get a kick of these three movies. They all area above average in the audio/video department and even though there are no supplements this is a very worthwhile release and is recommended! There are plenty of Monogram features out there, including the great Charlie Chan films, so let’s hope there are more volumes down the road!
Monogram Matinee Volume 1
Mississippi Rythm, Western Renegades, Crashing Thru
Director – Derwin Abrahams, Wallace Fox, Ray Taylor
Cast- Jimmie Davis, Jonny Mack Brown, Whip Wilson
Country of Origin-USA
Distributor – Warner Archive/ Warner Home Video
Number of Discs –1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date- 3/30/2025