Joseph Kane: Biography

In a sense, director Joseph Kane and Republic Pictures grew up together. A former musician and film editor, Kane's first directorial credit was the Mascot Studios serial The Fighting Marines (1935). When Mascot and several other small companies amalgamated into Republic Pictures in 1935, Kane was signed up as a staff director, remaining at the studio until it ceased production in 1958. Most of Kane's films were bread-and-butter endeavors starring such reliables as Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. Occasionally, he was given an "A" assignment along the lines of John Wayne's Flame of the Barbary Coast (1944) and the Joseph Schildkraut vehicle The Cheaters (1945); while not in the same league of a Raoul Walsh or John Ford, Kane proved more than qualified to tackle bigger budgets and larger gatherings of extras. On many of his Republic efforts, Kane functioned as both producer and director. During the 1950s, Kane worked steadily on television, with emphasis on westerns and action series. Joseph Kane spent the last decade of his life as a second-unit director on such productions as Universal's Beau Geste (1966) and In Enemy Country (1968). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide