The great Iverson cinematographers: Reggie Lanning

born October 1893, Arizona

died December 1965, Woodland Hills, Calif. (age 72)

Reggie Lanning filmography on IMDb

Reggie Lanning spent virtually his entire film career at Republic Pictures before capping off his resume with a successful stab at television in the mid- to late 1950s, shooting 56 episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Born in 1893 and hailing from out West in Arizona, his early credits go as far back as the 1920s. But his run as a cinematographer got under way in earnest in the early days of Republic, which opened shop in 1935. His DP credits there span 1936-1955, coinciding with the two decades in which Republic was a powerhouse in serials and B-movies.

Lanning filmed a variety of productions at Republic but made an impact in B-Westerns and eventually became something of a serial specialist. Besides shooting a number of the company’s most important Iverson serials — Jungle Girl (1941), Perils of Nyoka (1942) and Zorro’s Fighting Legion (1939) among them — he got his share of featured B-Western assignments, working with Republic’s front-line roster of stars: John Wayne, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Allan “Rocky” Lane, Wild Bill Elliott, Rex Allen, Bob Steele, Don “Red” Barry, Sunset Carson and Monte Hale. He learned the ropes in B-Westerns with a string of entries in the company’s high-profile Three Mesquiteers series — then featuring John Wayne — in 1938 and 1939, and continued to work on the long-running series sporadically over the years as the cast evolved. He also dabbled in various incarnations of Republic’s popular Red Ryder series.

Turtle Rock, a fixture in the widely filmed South Rim area of the Upper Iverson, looms in the background in a scene shot by Reggie Lanning for the landmark 1942 Republic serial The Perils of Nyoka.

While not nearly as prolific as Republic stablemate Ernest Miller, Lanning produced a respectable volume of work in the heyday — he’s listed as a DP on a total of 129 productions, a number that doesn’t take into account the extra work involved in shooting serials, and one that would be still higher if his individual TV episodes were added up.

His Iverson work caught my eye early on, before I knew his name, with Perils of Nyoka still standing as one of the most important Iverson productions. He was an early entry in my Iverson cinematographers’ pantheon, earning that spot on the basis of his landmark serial work as well as the Roy Rogers Iverson spectacle Cowboy and the Senorita (1944).

Lanning lived into his 70s, something a number of the DPs of his era did not manage. He died in Woodland Hills in 1965.

Half-gone but not all-forgotten: The D-Train — an iconic rock from the movies that was "defaced" to build condos

"Perils of Nyoka" (Republic serial, 1942)

The D-Train became a fixation of mine during my first year of research into the Iverson Movie Ranch. I fell under its spell after spotting it in "Perils of Nyoka," filmed by the great Iverson cinematographer Reggie Lanning.

Redmesa Road: The "frontier" between movie rocks and condos

I searched for the D-Train for months, eventually determining — incorrectly, as it turned out — that it must have been destroyed to make way for the Cal West Townhomes off Redmesa Road, just north of Lone Ranger Rock. I later discovered that more of the D-Train had survived than I first thought.

The D-Train is the large, eel-like character that fills up much of the right half of the screen. The "cave entrance" attached to the left side of the D-Train, consisting mainly of three large boulders, is fake.

The boulders highlighted here are manmade movie props used to create the illusion of a cave entrance. However, the darker boulder above the D-Train is real, and is part of a formation known as Three Ages Rock because of a high-profile appearance in the silent movie "Three Ages," starring Buster Keaton.

I've referred in the past to the small rock on top of Three Ages Rock as the "Luggage Carrier," because its shape reminded me of one of those cargo haulers that sit on the roof of a car. While  the "Luggage Carrier" part of the rock formation remains intact today, the D-Train wasn't as fortunate — it took a hard hit when the condos went in. Essentially, it had its face blown off.

The name "Three Ages Rock" is generally applied to the overall rock formation, which includes not only the "Luggage Carrier," but also the "D-Train."

Three Ages Rock and the D-Train, in recent times

This is what's left of the D-Train — just enough of it remains that I was able to find it and make a positive ID. The film historian seen in this recent photo is leaning on the "Luggage Carrier" section of Three Ages Rock, with the surviving portion of the D-Train in the foreground.

The lighter-colored rock surface area toward the right shows where the rest of the rock was removed — either chipped away or blasted away. The original "face" of the D-Train seen in the "Perils" shot above — with its slanty eye and open mouth — is gone.

Vultura's Palace in the classic Republic serial "Perils of Nyoka": Here's where the front of the building once stood

"The Perils of Nyoka" (1942)

The screen shot above shows the front entrance to Vultura's Palace, one of the main sets for the 1942 Republic serial "Perils of Nyoka" (based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs heroine Nyoka, or Jungle Girl). The palace entrance was built between two major rock formations on the Iverson Movie Ranch — Stegosaurus, or Pavlova, on the left and Hangdog on the right. At top center, just above the roofline of the palace, is Cracked Meringue. 

The same rocky area in recent times

In the recent color shot above, Stegosaurus on the left and Hangdog on the right mark the spot where the front entrance to Vultura's Palace stood almost seven decades ago. Cracked Meringue appears above Hangdog's nose, with Sticky Bun to the left of Cracked Meringue. Rubble at the base of Hangdog and Pavlova is probably from movie sets built in the intervening years, not from Vultura's Palace.

The great Iverson Movie Ranch cinematographers: Fayte Browne

born June 1896, Oregon

died July 1952, Los Angeles (age 56)

Fayte Browne filmography on IMDb

Fayte Browne had a sadly brief career, working full time as a DP for only four years, from 1949-1952. He filmed at least one bona fide Iverson masterpiece in the Charles Starrett B-Western South of Death Valley (1949), part of a solid body of work rich in Iverson material. Trail of the Rustlers (1950) and Smoky Canyon (1952), both Durango Kid features with Starrett in the lead role, are other examples of his best work at Iverson.

Fayte Browne's Iverson masterpiece, the 1949 Charles Starrett feature 

South of Death Valley; at left is the Upper Iverson rock formation known as Grumpy.

He spent his entire career with Columbia, initially shooting a variety of projects but eventually specializing in Charles Starrett’s Durango Kid B-Westerns. From the time he shot his first Durango Kid movie — Challenge of the Range, released in 1949, on which Browne served as camera operator under DP Rex Wimpy — he virtually made a career out of the Durango Kid. He shot 24 of the remaining 30 Durango Kid movies that were filmed — his first two as camera operator and the rest as DP. Most, if not all, of these productions filmed at Iverson and featured extensive action sequences among the rocks.

He did a considerable amount of work as camera operator early in his career, some of it uncredited, working in essence as an assistant to more established — although perhaps less inspired — DPs. Browne was still doing camera operator work in 1948 and 1949, even after he had begun his career as a DP — including around the time he shot his Iverson masterpiece. After South of Death Valley he appears to have finally established himself as a DP, and he no longer was relegated to working as an assistant.

I suspect he wallowed in relative obscurity, knowing he had something more to bring to the process than was generally acknowledged. I envision him living a life of frustration and disillusionment, but who knows.

He apparently worked up until the time of his death, shooting a number of movies in 1952 before dying at the age of 56 in July of that year.

The great Iverson Movie Ranch cinematographers: William Nobles

born December 1892, South Dakota

died November 1968, Costa Mesa, Calif. (age 75)

William Nobles filmography on IMDb

William Nobles made his mark earlier than most of the top DPs of the Iverson era, both at Republic and pre-Republic. He was a mainstay at Mascot in the years leading up to its demise as it became absorbed into the startup of Republic Pictures, and then he became a key shooter during the early days of Republic, mainly from 1936-1941. 

He shot a number of Republic's early serials, including key Iverson productions Undersea Kingdom and Darkest Africa (both 1936), Zorro Rides Again (1937) and The Lone Ranger (1938). He also had a good run with Three Mesquiteers features at Iverson, including Roarin’ Lead (1936) and the landmark Overland Stage Raiders (1938). Then he continued his Iverson mastery in a string of Roy Rogers B-Westerns, with standouts including Frontier Pony Express (1939), Young Buffalo Bill (1940), In Old Cheyenne (1941) and Jesse James at Bay (1941).

Nobles did the camera work on 182 productions in all, stretching back well into the silent era and pretty much wrapping up by 1942. He would have been about 49 years old at that point, too old to go off to World War II. But he never got his career going again after that.

He apparently didn’t work in the industry for the last 25 years of his life. Nobles died in Costa Mesa, Calif., in 1968 at age 75.