The Defense Rests

When an ex-outlaw becomes Marshall he must face up to his old gang.

John Oxford owns a gambling hall in an Alaskan mining town, but it known far and wide as an honest man. However, one day he finds that in order to save the life of Doris Henry, who has come to Alaska to marry Wallace Towers, he has to cheat. It turns out that Wallace has incurred huge gambling losses and is being threatened by those to whom he owes the money, and they in turn are threatening Doris--who mistakenly blames John for the predicament that she and Wallace are in.

A policeman falls for a teacher, and befriends her students. A gang of bootleggers threatens his newfound joys.

Sergeant O'Malley of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police gets himself into a gang of outlaws in order to detect and capture a wanted murderer. He finds the killer, but falls in love with the man's sister. In the meantime, one of the outlaws uncovers O'Malley's true identity.

The plot concerns a war hero who returns home determined to give up his old ways as a crook. Bud Doyle (Milton Sills) is still being hounded by the cops, and both his wife (Marcia Nanon) and a former associate, a dishonest politician, want to do him in.

Morgan and his gang are smuggling furs across the border. Both the Mounties on the Canadian side and Tex Martin on the American side are after them. When Morgan sets up Tex to be found with furs, Mountie Bill arrests him. But he lets him go hoping he will lead him to the gang and eventually the two join forces.

This film was produced and released in 1944 by Film Enterprises for the 16mm school-and-institutional market, and was picked up and released in 1948 by Astor for theatrical 35mm showings. Both versions finds the citizens of Rockford upset over a series of murders and robberies. The Sundowners - Andy Clyde, Jay Kirby and Russ Wade - ride into Rockford and innocently takes jobs with Tug Wilson and his tough crew of line riders, who are in cahoots with Yeager in a big land swindle scheme.

According to Hollywood, the parents were generally at fault when good kids went bad. This theory is elucidated in Columbia's Parents on Trial, wherein strict disciplinarian James Westley (Henry Kolker) fails to understand or appreciate the real needs and feelings of his teenaged daughter Susan (Jean Parker).

U.S. Marshal Wild Bill Hickok arrives in Goldfield to arrest Tex Martin, who has been accused of murdering the sheriff. "Hawk" Hammond, the man behind the sheriff's killing, sends his legions of henchmen to lynch Tex before the trail. Wild Bill and Tex escape to a stagecoach rest station run by Reba Bailey. There is a showdown battle at Hammond's saloon but not before Tex gets to sing two songs followed by a third one after the battle.

Auto race champ Tim Dawson and his brother Billy are fired by boss Turnberg when they won't throw an important race to his son Carl. Pop Reeves, a competitor, finds that Turnberg had bribed his top man, Rogan, to lose, and fires him, and hires the Dawsons. His daughter Ann falls for Tim, yet it's Billy that wants her and proposes to her. She says no and declares herself to Tim. At the next big race, Rogan tries to cause Billy to smash, but he does instead, then accuses Tim of being responsible before dying. A police detective decides that Tim had done it so his brother could win, and leaves him one option, his brother must lose the upcoming Indy 500 or he'll know Tim's guilty.

Mike Rolph quits his job, seemingly, as a highway patrolman and takes the position of the Police Chief of W. J. Brady's oil refinery. He is also romantically involved with Brady's daughter, June. It appears that some highly-placed employee has sold out to the opposition refinery people, and much sabotage and havoc is being caused.

The Durango Kid is a sort of Robin Hood of the West who helps the lovely Walters (who replaced Starrett's usual love-interest, Iris Meredith), the daughter of a homesteader, defeat the evil MacDonald who has been terrorizing the decent citizens with his gang of rustlers.

After killing a friend in a gunfight, Jeff Douglas quits the Texas Rangers. He arrives at the Kenyon ranch just as Jonathan Kenyon apparently commits suicide. He and Janet Kenyon then become the new half owners. At first, he refuses to wear a gun and is believed to be a coward, but as trouble mounts, he straps it on once again.

A scientist invents a "superspeed" device that makes people fight for its ownership.

A railroad detective is having a difficult time stopping or even slowing down a gang that is robbing the merchandise carried on the freight trains, with inside information. However, his son and his son's young friends notice something that helps the railway detective get on the right trail.