Product Description

Studio: Gotham (dba Alpha) Release Date: 04/27/2004

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #114379 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-04-27
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 55 minutes

Customer Reviews

"Buster Crabbe B-Western Series ... Gangster's Den (1945) ... VCI Home Video"
VCI Entertainment and Producers Releasing Corporation present "GANGSTER'S DEN" (1945) (60 mins/B&W) (Dolby digitally remastered) --- relive those thrilling days when Buster Crabbe took us down the dusty trails with hard riding and straight shooting hitting the bull's eye with excitement every time... the Buster Crabbe series of B-Westerns were a staple of Saturday matinees in the 1930s and 1940s ... don't miss any of the Buster Crabbe features loaded with action that will leave you wanting more of his B-Western adventures.

Under Sam Newfield (Director), Sigmund Neufeld (Producer), George H. Plympton (Screenplay), Jack Greenhalgh (Cinematographer), Holbrook N. Todd (Editor) ----- the cast includes Buster Crabbe (Billy Carson), Al St. John (Fuzzy Jones), Sydney Logan (Ruth Lane), Charles King (Butch), Emmett Lynn (Webb aka Webfoot), Kermit Maynard (Curt the Gambler), Ed Cassidy (Sheriff), I. Stanford Jolley (Lawyer Horace Black), George Chesebro (Dent, Black Henchman), Karl Hackett (Old Man Taylor, Bar Owner), Michael Owen (Jim Lane, Ruth's Brother) . . . . . . our story has a new villain to the Buster Crabbe Series, I. Stanford Jolley a respected character actor in B-Films gives an outstanding performance as the head henchman of a gang who wants Karl Hackett's saloon in a landgrab ... but Fuzzy beats everyone and opens the saloon that is a hiding place for all the baddies on the Poverty Row Studio lot ... much fun enters in each scene with Charles King, Emmett Lynn plus Fuzzy testing the beverages that surface within this over the top oater ----- B-Western footnote, actor Al St. John, silent film comic who appeared in dozens of Mack Sennett's early Keystone comedies and would eventually create and star in his own vehicles for other studios. With the advent of sound, he became a character actor in westerns and later the bewhiskered sidekick, also known as Fuzzy Q. Jones in some popular series Fred Scott (Spectrum Pictures/1937-38), Bob Steele/Billy the Kid (PRC Pictures/1940-41), Don "Red" Barry (Republic Pictures/1940-42), Lone Rider wth George Houston (PRC Pictures/1941-42), Lone Rider with Robert Livingston (PRC Pictures/1942-43), Buster Crabbe/Billy the Kid (PRC Pictures/1941-43), Buster Crabbe/Billy Carson (PRC Pictures/1943-46), Lash LaRue (PRC Pictures/1947-52) --- St. John retired from film making in the early '50s, passed away in 1963 from a heart attack while working with the Tommy Scott Wild West show --- check out this and more in a new book "Those Great Cowboy Sidekicks" by David Rothel, available from Amazon and Empire Publishing --- pick up your copy today ----- second B-Western footnote, actor Charles King was among the top five "Best of the Badmen" (according to a new book by Boyd Magers, Bob Nareau and Bobby Copeland) --- King was a big man, but as agile as a cat during his fight scenes with Johnny Mack Brown, Buster Crabbe, Tex Ritter, The Rough Riders and Bob Steele...King appeared in 400 films and 350 were in sound including many cliffhangers --- King was the heavy we loved to hate --- check out this and more in a new book "Best of the Badmen" by Boyd Magers, Bob Nareau and Bobby Copeland, available from Amazon and Empire Publishing --- pick up your copy today --- another great B-Western for Buster Crabbe under the PRC Picture banner, proves to be one of his most exciting performances.

Special footnote, actor Buster Crabbe graduated from the University of Southern California and won the 400 meter freestyle in which he medaled in the 1932 Olympics, went to work for Paramount in "King of the Jungle" (1933), next role was "Tarzan the Fearless (1933), Crabbe returned to Paramount Pictures was featured in Zane Grey Westerns which were well received, then came the roles that made him a household word "Flash Gordon" and "Buck Rogers" at Universal Picture Serials (1936-1940), meanwhile PRC Studios was looking for a leading hero "Billy the Kid" and "Billy Carson" in the 1940's B-Western series and ran its course for six years, later made several televison appearances and appeared in a series "Captain Gallant and the Foreign Legion" (1955-1957).....

SPECIAL FEATURES:
BIOS:
1. Buster Crabbe (aka: Clarence Linden Crabbe II)
Birth Date: 2/17/1907 - Oakland California
Died: 4/23/1983 - Scottsdale, Arizona
2. Al "Fuzzy" St. John (aka: Alfred St. John)
Birth Date: 9/10/1893 - Santa Ana, CA
Died: 1/21/1963 - Lyons, Georgia
3. Charles King
Birth Date: 2/21/1895 - Hillsboro, Texas
Died: 5/07/1957 - Hollywood, California (cirrhosis of liver)

If you crave action, drama and plenty of adventure check out other western double features with Buster Crabbe:

BUSTER CRABBE WESTERN DOUBLE FEATURES:
1. Vol. 1 - Western Cyclone/Sheriff of Sage Valley (1942-43) (VCI #7213) (DVD)
2. Vol. 2 - Fugitive of the Plains/Fuzzy Settles Down (1943-44) (VCI #7299) (DVD)

Ask Amazon.Com to carry the above Buster Crabbe titles
if they are not available as of yet...you can order
and pick up your copy now from VCI Entertainment.

Great job by VCI Entertainment for releasing "Gangster's Den" (1945), the
digital transfere with a clean, clear and crisp print...looking forward to more
high quality releases from the vintage serial era of the '20s, '30s & '40s and
B-Westerns...order your copy now from Amazon or VCI Entertainment where there
are plenty of copies available on DVD and VHS, stay tuned once again for top
notch action mixed with deadly adventure from the "King of Serials" VCI...just
the way we like 'em

Total Time: 60 min on DVD/VHS ~ VCI Home Video ~ (5/01/2001)