March 15, 2026

Glenn Strange (Henchman Pete), known to monsterkids as Universal’s Frankenstein Monster in the 1940s (House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein), appears here as one of the, well, henchmen. It was Strange’s monster image that made the rounds in 1960s horror merch, not Karloff’s. I remember getting those cool Famous Monsters of Filmland binders with Bela Lugosi’s Dracula and Glenn Strange’s Monster, which greatly established my street cred as a bonafide monsterkid at school. This adventure was produced by Grand National, who, along with Republic and Monogram, produced saddle sore budgeted, formulaic, hour-long B movies for the bottom half of double bills. The double feature, an attraction introduced in the early 1930s to counter the Depression-era box-office slump, was the standard form of exhibition for about 15 years (Britannica AI). Tex Ritter’s films were  designed mainly for rural and small‑town circuits and sold on his country‑music name, so the commercial target was steady but modest. Ritter was a country singer from radio which led to dusty trails on the silver screen. Grand National only lasted a few years. Ritter went on to complete about 70 movies and he became a founding member of the Country Music Association. He sang the haunting ballad, Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin’, in the Western classic High Noon. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. He sang the song, with lyrics by Dimitri Tiomkin, at the awards ceremony.