J.P. McGowan

The Wrecker wrecks trains on the L & R Railroad. One of his victims is Larry Baker's father. Baker wants to find the evildoer, among a host of suspects, but it will be difficult since the Wrecker can disguise himself to look like almost anyone. (imdb)

The spunky Helen (Helen Holmes) is our hero as a telegraph operator at a remote location along a railroad. She dashes to the rescue when a train engine goes out of control. (archive.org)

Flora Hawks is in love with the overseer of Tarzan's African estate. After a search for a legendary city of diamonds, Tarzan races with his pet lion Jad-bal-ja to save Haws from being sacrificed to a lion-god. (imdb)

To stop the rustling of Hicks, Martin turns to the Cattlemen's Assiciation. They send undercover agent Drexel who sets a trap for the gang (imdb)

The Hawk has broken out of prison and the Sheriff and Sorrenson have a plan to have Whitlock pose as the Hawk, infiltrate the gang, and recover the stolen bonds. All goes well until The Chief who knows the real Hawk arrives. (imdb)

Skinner and his gang are grabbing land from the ranchers. When they go after Kerry's ranch Ken stops them. Skinner frames Ken for rustling but the Sheriff is on Ken's side, and with the help of his brother Earl's Boy Scout troup they go after the gang. (imdb)

The Llano Kid is robbing stages but only taking money from Montana Slade's Cottonwood Mine. He then gives the money to those cheated by Slade. The Sheriff is after him and eventually obtains a picture and displays wanted posters and is soon after him. (imdb)

Helen, informed of the danger which menaces an excursion train because another engine on the same track is running wild, mounts a motorcycle and speeds down the track to warn the passengers of their imminent peril. Nearing a river trestle under repair, she hurtles into the river; undaunted, she swims to the opposite bank and flags down the excursion train in the nick of time, causing the engineer to run his train onto a siding just a few moments before the runaway dashes by. (imdb)

Three cowboys try to stop a crook from defrauding an orphan girl out of her money. (imdb)

A border saloon - half in California, half in Nevada - is a hangout for frontier gangs. (imdb)

Tod Walker takes Rex Carson's map to a gold mine and leaves him in the desert. Carson recuperates at Jean Walker's ranch and she takes a liking to him. But when her uncle Tod arrives, he claims Carson tried to jump his claim. She sides with her uncle and Carson, banished from the Walker ranch, sets out to get his claim back. (imdb)

Cattleman Benson finds Mildred and her brother George living in one of his cabins and their sheep are on his land. Attracted to Mildred, he not only lets her stay, he deeds part of his land to her. This leads to trouble with the other cattlemen. (imdb)

Dave Brandon (Tom Tyler) tries to break away from his life of crime, but his old gang won't let him. (imdb)

Leary is using the Express Agent's liking for alcohol to enable his men to steal insured packages. Then he claims the insurance. Railroad Agent Hartley is sent to investigate and suspecting Leary, he and the Sheriff plan to trap them the next time they try their scheme. (imdb)

Deputy Sheriff "Smoke" Sanderson (Bob Custer) is after a gang of smugglers,led by Brad Vogel (J.P. McGowan) operating along the Texas/Mexico border but he does not know that Chet Clayton (Perry Murdock), the brother of his sweetheart, Wanda Clayton (Phyllis Bainbridge), is one of the gang members. (imdb)

Rancher Harvey Comstock(Lafe McKee), whose cattle are being rustled,is killed by a shot through an open window. Joe Clark(Ted Adams), the killer, heads the rustlers and with inside help from Comstock-cowhand Pete(Blackie Whiteford), plans to buy the Comstock ranch cheap. Foreman Steve Andrews(Francis X. Bushman, Jr.), who loves Comstock's daughter Rose(Caryl Lincoln),finds oil on the ranch.

Cyclone arrives in town just in time to see Slade cheat Courtney at poker. Cyclone takes Courtney's IOU and returns it to him. But Courtney is a compulsive gambler and Slade lures him back for another game, this time winning his ranch. Cyclone once again returns the note but is captured by Slade's men. Slade then heads out to force Courtney to sign over the deed. (imdb)

The Dale's need money for their sick mother and Bart Travis, having found gold, says he will provide it. Duke Remsden learns of the strike and waylays Buzz Dale as he tries to record Bart's deed. Then dressed as Bart, Duke kills and robs a man. With the Sheriff after Bart, Buzz escapes capture, finds the clothes worn to impersonate Bart, and heads for the Sheriff. (imdb)

Sinclair has a government lease on range land that is about to expire. George Ringold wants the land and hires Roberts and his men. But they turn out to be a gang of killers and trouble soon arises. (imdb)

The fifth of eight low-budget Westerns starring Lane Chandler, this Willis Kent production was apparently filmed at Hollywood's International studios in 1932 but not released until 1934. Chandler plays Bob Rand, an investigator for the Cattleman's Association hired to capture El Lobo, a notorious rustler. Bob quickly learns that the wanted outlaw is actually Big Mike Carter (J.P. McGowan, who also directed) and that he is holed up with his gang on a deserted ranch. (allmovie.com)

Lane Cartwright arrives and is immediately arrested for being the mysterious Phantom Bandit. Cleared by the Sheriff he later finds a dead man and is arrested again. This time they are sure they have the Phantom but at his hearing the real Phantom strikes and Lane heads out after him. (imdb)

The cattle on the Langton Ranch are mysteriously dying and cowhands are disappearing or being shot. Two Langton riders bring a wounded rider they found wounded and hung up in a barbed-wire fence to Sally Langton and report that her father is missing. A lone rider, Jess Ryder, tops a rise and sees a band of men working on some calves in a secluded corral, and he frowns as he sees what Bat Murchinson is doing. (imdb)

A young ranch foreman, Bud Drake aka The Kid, is wrongfully arrested for the theft of six-thousand dollars from ranch-owner "Hardshell" Beckett. He escapes and with the aid of Beckett's adopted daughter, Alice, sets out to clear his name. (imdb)

Lynne Reed, Jack Manning's fiancée, is stagestruck and wants to go to New York for a career. She is encouraged in this delusion that she is a great actress by Barnes, who offers to buy her ranch, cheaply of course, so she can have enough money to get to the Big City. Barnes has Jack thrown into jail on a trumped-up charge of cattle rustling, and organizes a lynching party to get Jack permanently out of the way. (imdb)

Helen is captured by two yeggmen who throw her into a refrigerator car; finding a meat hook, she chops her way into the ice chamber and reaches the top of the train in time to avert a collision of two trains. (imdb)

A federal agent is sent to a small town to bust up a counterfeiting ring, which is apparently headquartered in the local railway station. The counterfeiters have framed the station's manager for the crime, and she must work with the agent to clear her name and get the goods on the real counterfeiters. (imdb)

Helen, overhearing Tony and his accomplices plotting to derail the pay train and steal its money, is thrown into a cattle car; grabbing a revolver which one of the men has dropped, she shoots the wire controlling the semaphore arm, which then swings up and flashes the danger flag, thus averting disaster in the nick of time. (imdb)

Rand, a vengeful discharged fireman, tampers with the airbrakes of a large freight locomotive making them useless on the long descent from the summit of Pine Hill to Lone Point the following day. Learning of the impending peril, Helen dashes to a water tower under which the train must pass, climbs out on the spout, leaps onto the roof of one of the cars, and warns the engineer in time. (imdb)

There is trouble on the Bar D ranch as cowhand Mile Ahead plans to rustle the herd. He starts a fire on the opposite side of the ranch to keep the hands busy and also kidnaps the new school teacher. Fighting the fire, Foreman Denver leans the cattle are gone and going after Mile Ahead, learns the teacher is a prisoner in the school and the fire that is now out of control is heading her way. (imdb)

In this film Helen Holmes was clearly rehearsing for the role that brought to her fame and recognition in a serial that started getting released two months later. She became the audacious star of "The Hazards of Helen", acting as the heroine of numerous railroad adventures.

A Desperate Adventure is a 1924 silent film western directed by J. P. McGowan and starring Franklyn Farnum.

Jeremy Wales, a crook who stays on the safe side of the law but bends it whenever possible,has tricked short-sighted John 'Dad" Saunders to sign a note for ten thousand dollars instead of the one thousand that Saunders borrowed to work his "Rose o' My Heart" mine. Saunders tells his problem to Phil Lee, a prosperous young rancher, whose method of settling problems has gained him the nickname of "Quick Trigger." (imdb)

When Jim and Scrubby arrive to see Scrubby's sister, they find her murdered and suspect it was her no good husband Jake. But Jake and his men have just robbed the stage and two dectectives arrive looking for them. Finding Jim and Scrubby instead, they assume them to be the outlaws and arrest them. (imdb)

A rancher has left his spread to his long lost son, but only if he shows up to claim it. A mean-fisted fugitive from justice looks just like the missing heir and a plan for deception is hatched.

A short smugglers' drama in which a new employee of the harbour police starts working for an export trader, so as to keep an eye on the smugglers. After a wild chase, the smugglers are captured, and it turns out that harbour police agent and the daughter of the export trader get along very well.

Vincent Barton, the son of the vice-president of a railroad company, takes a job as the depot agent at Bynes. He fires one of Tony Sharkey's henchmen, scheming against the railroad, and, as a result, a fight takes place and a switching order is overlooked which nearly results in a major wreck. Realizing the situation at Hynes, Helen Barton, Vincent's sister, dashes to Hynes in her roadster and puts together a severed telegraph wire to put the station back in communications with headquarters. (imdb)

Kidnapping and marital reconciliation drive this action film set on a millionaire's private train. (imdb)

Despite past friendliness, cattle ranchers Tom and Jim Bledsoe, father and son, fence off their range to prevent its use by neighboring sheep ranchers Tug Wilson and Buck Rankin, suggesting that they hope to end their recent loss of cattle. Rankin (not Rankins) shoots Tug, who is unaware of Rankin's lawless activities, in an argument and Jim is accused of murder and also stampeding the sheep.

Beau Nash is a "gentleman crook" who headquarters his gang of jewel thieves in a run-down boardinghouse. When one of his gang, Mike, gets arrested, his sister Claire--aka "Lady Byron"--swears to get revenge. The gang frames Donald, the best friend of the detective who arrested Mike, for a jewelry store robbery. The detective gives Donald--and his new love, Claire--a short time to find the thieves and clear his name before he takes him in.

Jack is after the mysterious murderer who killed his father and brother. The only clue is the Ace of Clubs pinned to their bodies.

Bud Bryson is framed for cattle rustling and branded. Walker's brand was used and he heads for the Walker ranch to get revenge. He gets a job there and slowly realizes that Walker was not responsible. But when the man that framed him shows up he goes into action.

Cardsharp Jack Cardigan decides to go straight when he meets Doris Bradfield, but is forced to use his talents on behalf of her dad, whose land-grant title has fallen into the hands of Jed Harden through the gambling weakness of Bradfield's son Tom.

Lure of the Circus is a 1918 American adventure film serial directed by J. P. McGowan.