Stories of the Century (1954– )

Railroad detective Matt Clark roams the west, tracking down outlaws and bandits who are preying on the railroad.

Stars:

Jim Davis, Mary Castle, Kristine Miller

Won 1 Primetime Emmy.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Jim Davis	...	Matt Clark (39 episodes, 1954-1955)
Mary Castle	...	Frankie Adams (26 episodes, 1954)
Kristine Miller	...	Margaret Jones (14 episodes, 1954-1955)

Storyline

Railroad detective Matt Clark roams the west, tracking down outlaws and bandits who are preying on the railroad.

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Genres:

Western

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 June 1962 (France)

Also Known As:

The Fast Guns

Filming Locations:

Iverson Ranch - 1 Iverson Lane, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hollywood Television Service, Republic Pictures (I), Studio City Television Service

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min 30 min (39 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Much of the "action" consisted of footage lifted from various westerns produced by Republic Pictures over the years. Republic produced this series through its subsidiary, Hollywood Television Service.

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Quotes

Matt Clark: I don't care how right a man is. As soon as he picks up a gun, he's wrong from the start!

User Reviews

Like Dragnet Out West

Stories Of The Century casts Jim Davis and Mary Castle as a pair of railroad detectives who seem to have aided in the apprehension or demise of every outlaw in the west. The years of their operations range all the way from the Civil War to the Theodore Roosevelt era and yet they aged not a day. This is in the tradition of the B western and it was the soon to be extinct Republic Pictures who produced this for television. William Witney, veteran contract director for Republic seems to have done most of the episodes.

I guess the fact that they ran out of name bandits was the cause of Stories Of The Century met its demise. A studio like Republic that had small scale operations should have been the first ones into television. Probably Herbert J. Yates regretted he didn't move earlier into the small screen.

The episodes I saw of the show had not one hint of any romance between Davis and Castle. They were all business every week and while Castle's considerable beauty and charm caused the fall of many an outlaw, she and Davis never got personal. In fact they were as impersonal as any Dragnet Show that Jack Webb did. Davis and Castle dealt only in facts.

Stories Of The Century with all the disclaimers about the impossibility of Davis and Castle being Zelig like at the scene of every outlaw's fall was not a bad series. It was a beginning of the TV trend to more adult westerns.