Monday, August 30, 2010

Obscure shorts from John Wayne Productions


We knew that filmmaker Sid Davis had been a stand-in for John Wayne for over a decade before he talked the Duke into bankrolling the first of his many social guidance shorts, THE DANGEROUS STRANGER (1950) - "A molestation exposé" - but we had no idea that Wayne was also behind Davis' demented Christmas howler SANTA AND THE FAIRY SNOW QUEEN (1951) and a handful of really obscure, most likely religious one-reelers until we came across this ad from the early 1950s. Because of the misinformation that has been disseminated by the Wayne estate in the past 20 years regarding the original 3-D release of HONDO, we're not surprised that a handful of micro-budgeted shorts have been ignored for 60 years and allowed to vanish into thin air. Anyone know more about TREASURE IN HEAVEN, THY FAITH HATH SERVED THEE, WHITHER THOU GOEST or LIGHT UNTO ALL? To be honest, they don't sound like our cup of meat, but the Wayne connection piqued our interest.

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