Prairie Thunder (Warner Bros.) (1937)

Mat of Photo Only No. 202—20¢ WARNER ELLEN CLANCY e FRANK ORTH e WILFRED LUCAS Directed by B. Reeves Eason * Original Screen Play by Ed. Earl Repp A First National Picture » Presented by Warner Bros. CAMPAIGN BRO S.’ \ THE SINGING COWBOY ~~, S PLAN (Lead Story) Heroic Struggle For West Theme of Cowboy Film Dick Foran is Cavalryman in Thrilling Melodrama of Westland Fighting ‘‘Prairie Thunder,’’ back in the 1860’s, was the thunder of the hoofs of Indian ponies as they battled the invading white men, plus the thunder of guns wielded both by the hardy United States Cavalry and the redskins themselves. It was a time of battle as the white men sought to push their telegraph lines and_ railroad tracks across the prairie wastes. It was a time when men were foreed to live by their wits and courage alone and such men as Buffalo Bill, General Custer, and others, enacted the heroic deeds which made them legendary figures even while they lived. And so the name is indeed appropriate for the Warner Bros. melodrama that brings their western star, Dick Foran, to the Strand Theatre next Friday. There’s plenty of thunder of the sort mentioned during the course of this show, and you may be assured that Dick Foran is always around where it’s loudest. Dick is a soldier, a cavalryman, assigned to the job of guarding and repairing the newly-strung telegraph wires and newly-laid rail lines. The Indians are destroying these at the suggestion of certain renegade whites, who don’t want their own freight-wagon business to go under. Checking up on a break in the telegraph line made by _ the Indians, Foran locates the whites responsible for the feeling of unrest which has pervaded the Indian camps. Realizing that he knows too much for their own good, they decide to get him out of the way. Things look mighty tough for Foran and for his sweetheart—a pretty neweomer to films called Ellen Claney—when they are captured by the redskins and Dick is tied to a tree to be tortured. But the fidelity and bravery of himself and his fellow cavalry troopers get him out of the jam and the renegades meet their proper fate. Breezy Eason, long recognized as a master of fast-moving, openair movies, directed this one from a sereen play by Ed. Earl Repp, ace writer of westerns. FORAN WINS AGAIN Dick Foran had three boxes of cigars, five kewpie-dolls and eight eans of coffee when he got home one recent evening. And a shooting gallery proprietor had a headache and empty shelves. All because of a movie cowboy’s skill with a rifle. On a visit to Venice, amusement resort adjoining Santa Moniea, California, Diek Foran tried his hand at shooting clay pigeons. He had been handling a gun all day on the set of Warner Bros.’ “Prairie Thunder” shooting blank eartridges. His fingers itched to shoot with real bullets. The price was fifteen shots for a quarter. Dick invested a dolar. He sent 59 clay pigeons flying into oblivion out of sixty shots. His finger probably slipped on one. The gallery proprietor shook his head sadly as Dick left. “That’s the first movie cowboy I ever saw who could really shoot,” he said. “Prairie Thunder,” with pretty Ellen Claney in the leading lady role with Foran, will be seen at the Strand Theatre next Friday. It was directed by Breezy Eason, master of open-air melodrama. A COWBOY’S HOLIDAY Dick Foran went on a postman’s vacation last summer, The hardriding cowboy star spent two weeks at a dude ranch in Arizona after completing his latest Warner Bros, western, “Prairie Thunder,” which is now on view at the Strand Theatre. LONG, HARD RIDE Frank Orth, appearing in Warner Bros.’ “Prairie Thunder,” at the Strand Theatre, once rode from Los Angeles to San Francisco on a horse. He’s riding again in the Western—but not as far. Indian Actors Work In Dick Foran Film Among the 150 Indians who worked in Warner Bros.’ motion picture “Prairie Thunder,’ almost every tribe in America was represented. Employed were 7 Navahoes, 9 Iroquois, 3 Blackfeet, 12 Sioux, 4 Pawnee, 14 Mohicans, 7 Oneidas, 9 Senecas, 2 Ramapoes, 23 Mohawks, 4 Ottawas and 7 Shawnees. Eight real. Indian chiefs were included in the cast and 2 former medicine men. Although the race spirit is still strong, all former hatreds have been forgotten and the atmosphere on the set of the film was most friendly. Dick Foran, star of “Prairie Thunder,” which is now showing at the Strand Theatre, picked up a few words in almost all of the Indian lan guages. (Opening Day Story) DICK FORAN FILM AT STRAND TODAY “Prairie Thunder,” an exciting melodrama of the days when hostile Indians tried to prevent the white man from linking Coast and Coast with his railroads and telegraph lines, will be offered today at the Strand Theatre, with the handsome, hard-riding Dick Foran as its hero. It is, like all Dick’s pictures, a Warner Bros production. Those who have previewed the picture proclaim it the best of all the many that Foran has turned out within the past two-and-a-half years. He plays the part of a cavalryman whose assignment is to keep the rails and the wires intact and aid the progress of civilization across the wild places. He has a new leading lady in “Prairie Thunder,” an 18-year-old beauty called Ellen Clancy, who won her way into the movies by sheer persistence (calling on the casting director every week for three years), and she makes her debut splendidly in this picture. Breezy Eason was the director, working from a screen play by Ed. Harl Repp. (Review) Dick Foran Thrills Fans As Heroof ‘‘Prairie Thunder’”’ Ellen Clancy Makes Smash Film Debut As Foran’s New Leading Lady What a treasure of motion picture material reposes in the history of the Western United States, in those days when communication and transportation were being linked from coast to coast! Mat 102—10¢ Dick Foran, in his latest picture, “Prairie Thunder.” STARLET HAS FALL A serious accident was narrowly avoided a few weeks ago, when Ellen Claney, young Warner Bros. actress, fell off a galloping mustang directly in the path of the flying hoofs of Smoky, a range horse ridden by Dick Foran. During a scene for “Prairie Thunder,’ which comes to the Strand Theatre next Friday, Miss Clancy and Dick Foran, were galloping furiously across an open field when Miss Clancy’s horse stepped into a gopher hole and tripped. Foran hurdled his horse over her prostrate body, thereby averting the accident. Ellen Clancy was recently signed to a Warner Bros. contract and has her first featured role in “Prairie Thunder,” which was directed by Breezy Eason, Dick Foran, the brawny, handsome outdoor star who makes his pictures under the Warner Bros. hanna IOs, has. appeared-in--several film incidents dealing with this locale and period, and now the big redhead comes back to us with another. His “Prairie Thunder” had its first local showing yesterday at the Strand Theatre, and Dick’s multitude of fans insisted that it was the best thing he has done so far. Each audience applauded enthusiastically for his deeds of daring and courage! Dick in this story is a cavalryman with his pal, Frank Orth, is assigned to ride out and discover and repair breaks in the telegraph lines, caused by unfriendly Indians. They do so and learn that a renegade white man, played by Albert J. Smith, is inciting the Indians. Smith and his confederates are financially interested in the freight-wagons which have been the only means of crossing the country. By ineiting the Indians to revolt, they hoped to stop the completion of the railroad telegraph and thus save wagon trains. Dick and Frank capture Smith and his whole gang, but these crooks break jail, and in turn capture not only Dick but his girl friend, played by Ellen Clancy. They tie Dick to a tree and begin torturing him, but the faithful pal Frank has made his way back to the cavalry post, and just when things are toughest for Dick his hard-riding troop rescues him and the girl and round up the evildoers. and the Dick Foran is his usual splendid self in this melodrama, and he has excellent support from Miss Clancy, whose first leading part it is, Smith, Orth and an unusual east. The Foran fans will rejoice mightily over “Prairie Thunder.” Country of origin U. S. A. Copyright 1937 Vitagraph, Inc. All rights reserved. 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