John LitelFilmography

The Sons of Katie Elder

Actors: John Wayne, Dean Martin, Martha Hyer, Michael Anderson, Jr., Earl Holliman

Synopsis: Henry Hathaway directs the 1965 psychological Western The Sons of Katie Elder. Four sons reunite in their Texas hometown to attend their mother's funeral. John (John Wayne) is the gunfighter, Tom (Dean Martin) is the gambler, Matt (Earl Holliman) is the quiet one, and Bud (Michael Anderson Jr.) is Read More

Branded: The Vindicator

Synopsis: New York newspaperman Ned Travis (Claude Akins) tracks down Jason McCord (Chuck Connors) in hopes of getting the "real story" of what happened at Bitter Creek. Under normal circumstances, McCord would like nothing better than to reveal the truth and clear himself of the charge of cowardice. But Read More

The Gun Hawk

Actors: Rory Calhoun, Rod Cameron, Ruta Lee, Rod Lauren, Morgan Woodward

Synopsis: Allied Artists' Gun Hawk puts Rory Calhoun through his usual paces as an aging gunman. Calhoun has pretty much retired from shoot outs, and now runs a small town populated by outlaws. He befriends hotheaded fast gun Rod Lauren, who behaves as impulsively as Calhoun had in his earlier days. When Read More

Perry Mason: The Case of the Poison Pen Pal

Synopsis: Wilma Gregson (Kathryn Givney), imperious owner of the Gregson Cannery Company, is outraged when details of a secret merger with Super Brand Foods is made public. It turns out that the information was accidentally leaked by Wilma's little granddaughter Sandra (Chrystine Jordan) while corresponding Read More

Pocketful of Miracles

Actors: Glenn Ford, Bette Davis, Hope Lange, Arthur O'Connell, Peter Falk

Synopsis: Director Frank Capra's last feature film, Pocketful of Miracles is a Technicolor remake of his 1933 film Lady for a Day. A barely recognizable Bette Davis plays Apple Annie, the besotted, unkempt, rag-clad street vendor who controls the activities of all the beggars on Broadway. Apple Annie is the Read More

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

Actors: Walter Pidgeon, Joan Fontaine, Barbara Eden, Peter Lorre, Robert Sterling, Michael Ansara

Synopsis: Walter Pidgeon is the nominal star of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, portraying Admiral Harriman Nelson, the designer of the submarine Seaview, a glass-nosed research submarine. The sub embarks on her shakedown cruise under the polar ice cap as the movie begins. Upon surfacing, however, the crew Read More

Lover Come Back

Actors: Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall, Edie Adams, Jack Oakie

Synopsis: Although not as well known as Pillow Talk (1959), this romantic-comedy pairing of stars Rock Hudson and Doris Day earned an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay. Hudson stars as Jerry Webster, a Madison Avenue advertising executive who has achieved success not through hard work or intelligence but Read More

Have Gun, Will Travel: Ben Jalisco

Synopsis: In his second fifth-season Have Gun, Will Travel guest appearance, Charles Bronson is cast as vicious murderer Ben Jalisco. Escaping from custody, Jalisco vows to wreak vengeance against his treacherous wife Lucy (Coleen Gray)--and against Paladin (Richard Boone), the man who brought him in for Read More

Bonanza: The Tin Badge

Actors: Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Vic Morrow

Synopsis: To show up his teasing brothers, Joe Cartwright accepts the position of sheriff in the little town of Rubicon. Little does Joe know that the men behind his nomination, gunslinger Ab Brock (Vic Morrow) and crooked Mayor Goshen (John Litel), intend to use the youngest Cartwright boy as the fall guy Read More

Maverick: The People's Friend

Synopsis: Anticipating the real-life political career of Maverick star Jack Kelly, who would serve two terms as mayor of Huntington Beach, California, in the 1980s, this episode finds Bart Maverick (Kelly) running for a State Senate seat on the Reform Party ticket. He has agreed to throw his hat in the ring Read More

Bonanza: Enter Mark Twain

Actors: Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Howard Duff

Synopsis: Howard Duff guest-stars as Sam Clemens, who in the days before his fame and fortune as "Mark Twain" could be found working as a reporter on the Virginia City Enterprise. The Cartwrights come to Clemens' assistance when the young journalist endeavors to expose an illegal collusion between Judge Read More

Maverick: The 39th Star

Synopsis: In the midst of his campaign to bring statehood to his territory, Judge Somervell (John Litel) loses a suitcase which contains some rather volatile documents. The Judge is convinced that Bart Maverick (Jack Kelly) stole the suitcase--and so, apparently, is everyone else in the territory, including Read More

Houseboat

Actors: Cary Grant, Sophia Loren, Martha Hyer, Harry Guardino, Eduardo Ciannelli

Synopsis: Cary Grant scored still another box-office smash with his 1958 vehicle Houseboat. Grant plays a widowed father who packs himself and his spoiled kiddies off to a ramshackle houseboat. Enter Sophia Loren, who is attempting to break loose from her tyrannical father's (Eduardo Cianelli) iron grip. Read More

Maverick: War of the Silver Kings

Synopsis: The premiere episode of Maverick opens with a characteristic grace-note from director Budd Boetticher, in which Bret Maverick (James Garner) rides into the town of Echo Springs, caked with trail dust and dressed in seedy "cowboy" clothes--only to re-emerge a few moments later as the well-groomed Read More

Decision at Sundown

Actors: Randolph Scott, John Carroll, Karen Steele, Valerie French, Noah Beery, Jr.

Synopsis: Decision at Sundown was one of several felicitous collaborations between star Randolph Scott and director Budd Boetticher. Scott plays a flint-eyed gunman who rides into a sleepy town to drive out local tough guy John Carroll by sundown. Scott is motivated not by justice but by revenge; years Read More

Runaway Daughters

Actors: Marla English, Anna Sten, John Litel, Lance Fuller, Adele Jergens

Synopsis: Another American-International opus which managed to attain top bookings on the strength of an exploitational titles, Runaway Daughters concentrates on the misadventures of a trio of teenaged girls. Audrey Barton (Marla English) wants something more out of life than her parents' money can buy; Read More

The Hired Gun

Actors: Rory Calhoun, Anne Francis, Vince Edwards, John Litel, Chuck Connors

Synopsis: Rory Calhoun is the star of this minor oater, playing a roving gunman for hire. His latest mission is to track down a murderer and bring the killer back dead or alive. Calhoun's quarry turns out to be the alluring Anne Francis, who insists she didn't murder her husband as charged. After the usual Read More

The Wild Dakotas

Synopsis: The fraternal filmmaking team of produced Sigmund Neufeld and director Sam Newfield once again joined forces on The Wild Dakotas. Made some two years after the "official" demise of the "B" western, the film attempts to revive the genre with a new cowboy star, one Will Williams. In keeping with the Read More

Comanche

Actors: Dana Andrews, Kent Smith, Linda Cristal, Lowell Gilmore, Nestor Paiva

Synopsis: Comanche is one of several 1950s westerns sympathetic to the Indian point of view. Dana Andrews stars as a frontier scout who hopes to shield his Native American friends from the genocidal machinations of bigoted Cavalry officer John Litel. Comanche chief Kent Smith likewise wants to keep the Read More

Texas Lady

Actors: Claudette Colbert, Barry Sullivan, Ray Collins, John Litel, James Bell, Horace McMahon

Synopsis: Claudette Colbert makes a long-overdue entree into the Western genre in Texas Lady. Looking at least a decade younger than her 50 years, Ms. Colbert plays Prudence Webb, who arrives in the wide-open town of Fort Ralston, Texas, to assume control of her late father's newspaper. Her first major Read More

The Kentuckian

Actors: Burt Lancaster, Dianne Foster, Diana Lynn, John McIntire, Una Merkel, Walter Matthau

Synopsis: Produced and directed by star Burt Lancaster, The Kentuckian is a leisurely western occasionally punctuated by spurts of startling brutality. The recently widowed Lancaster heads towards Texas with his son Donald McDonald. Most of the folks he meets, notably winsome schoolmarm Diana Lynn Read More

Sitting Bull

Actors: Dale Robertson, Mary Murphy, J. Carrol Naish, Iron Eyes Cody, John Litel

Synopsis: This western offers one of Hollywood's more historically accurate accounts of the Battle of Little Big Horn. The story centers on a major in the cavalry who believes the Indians have the same rights as other Americans. Despite his efforts to stop Custer from embarking on his ill-fated mission, the Read More

I Love Lucy: Mr. and Mrs. TV Show

Actors: John Litel, Lee Millar

Synopsis: Ricky (Desi Arnaz) has always wanted to star in his own TV show, but he is less than enthused when an important department-store sponsor insists upon a "husband and wife" show, with Lucy (Lucille Ball) as part of the package. When Lucy finds out that Ricky hadn't wanted her to appear on "Breakfast Read More

Jack Slade

Actors: Mark Stevens, Barton MacLane, John Litel, Paul Langton

Synopsis: The psychological makeup of a dangerous gunman is probed in Jack Slade. Beginning with his childhood, Slade (Mark Stevens) is shown to be extremely unbalanced; in fact, he kills his first man at age 13. Growing up in the West, Slade comes to the conclusion that his gun is his only friend. At Read More

Jet Job

Actors: Stanley Clements, Elena Verdugo, John Litel, Bob Nichols, Tom Powers

Synopsis: The perfunctorily titled Jet Job is an updated retelling of the old one about the hotshot test pilot who learns the value of being a team player. Stanley Clements stars as Joe Kovak, whose recklessness and refusal to follow orders causes no end of trouble for his superiors. Fired by boss Sam Read More

Scaramouche

Actors: Stewart Granger, Eleanor Parker, Janet Leigh, Mel Ferrer, Henry Wilcoxon

Synopsis: This delightful adaptation of Rafael Sabatini's swashbuckling novel stars Stewart Granger as Andre Moreau, an 18th-century French nobleman who is publicly humiliated by the Marquis de Maynes (Mel Ferrer). Challenged to a sword duel by the Marquis, Andre, who knows nothing about fencing, runs away Read More

Montana Belle

Actors: Jane Russell, George Brent, Scott Brady, Forrest Tucker, Andy Devine

Synopsis: Originally filmed at Republic in 1948, Montana Belle was purchased by producer Howard R. Hughes, who'd loaned the services of the film's star, Jane Russell. After laying on the shelf for three years, Montana Belle was finally released by Hughes' RKO Radio Pictures in October of 1952. Russell plays Read More

My Hero [TV Series]

Actors: Robert Cummings, John Litel, Julie Bishop

Little Egypt

Actors: Mark Stevens, Rhonda Fleming, Nancy Guild, Charles Drake, Tom D'Andrea

Synopsis: Little Egypt is a lighthearted "biopic" all about the hootchie-kootchie dancer who created a sensation at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. An incongruously redheaded Rhonda Fleming plays Izora, a cabaret dancer in old Cairo. American impresario Cyrus Graydon (Minor Watson) hopes to re-create an Read More

The Groom Wore Spurs

Actors: Ginger Rogers, Jack Carson, Joan Davis, Stanley Ridges, James Brown

Synopsis: Since someone had already used the title The Bride Wore Boots, it follows that there'd eventually be a film called The Groom Wore Spurs. Jack Carson stars as movie cowboy hero Ben Castle, who in "real life" is exactly the opposite of his screen image. When Castle gets into a scrape in Las Vegas Read More

Take Care of My Little Girl

Actors: Jeanne Crain, Dale Robertson, Mitzi Gaynor, Jean Peters, Jeffrey Hunter

Synopsis: Take Care of My Little Girl is a genteel "expose" of college-sorority snobbery. Jeanne Crain stars as Liz Erickson a perky coed who is pledged to an old, established sorority. At first amused by such rituals as "rushing" and "Hell week," Liz eventually feels threatened by the tyranny of the Read More

Two Dollar Bettor

Actors: John Litel, Marie Windsor, Steve Brodie, Barbara Logan, Robert Sherwood

Synopsis: Dependable supporting actor John Litel is top-billed in the independently produced Two Dollar Bettor. Litel plays John Hewitt, a respectable widower who takes the first step on the road to depravation when he makes his first-ever bet at the race track. Consumed by gambling fever, Hewitt is reduced Read More

Cuban Fireball

Actors: Estelita Rodriguez, Warren Douglas, Mimi Aguglia, Leon Belasco, Donald MacBride

Synopsis: Cuban Fireball is a vehicle for the combustible talents of Estelita Rodriguez, here cast as "herself." The plot finds Estelita arriving in Los Angeles to claim a multimillion-dollar inheritance. To fend off fortune hunters, she disguises herself as a meek little old lady. The rest of the story Read More

The Texas Rangers

Actors: George Montgomery, Gale Storm, Jerome Courtland, Noah Beery, Jr., William Bishop

Synopsis: Not a remake of the 1936 film of the same name, The Texas Rangers is an enjoyable second-echelon western from the Columbia Pictures mill. George Montgomery stars as Johnny Carver, a former outlaw serving a life sentence in prison. Carver is given a second chance by the Texas government. Here's the Read More

Flight to Mars

Actors: Marguerite Chapman, Cameron Mitchell, Arthur Franz, Virginia Huston, John Litel

Synopsis: Flight to Mars is the second American film of the postwar era (after the previous year's Rocketship X-M) to depict a manned space trip to the Red Planet. Leading-man responsibilities are evenly divided between Arthur Franz as brilliant scientist Dr. Jim Barker and Cameron Mitchell as two-fisted Read More

The Fuller Brush Girl

Actors: Lucille Ball, Eddie Albert, Carl Benton Reid, Gale Robbins, Jeff Donnell

Synopsis: Hot on the heels of such Red Skelton slapstick comedies as The Fuller Brush Man and The Yellow Cab Man came The Fuller Brush Girl, starring Lucille Ball in a fascinating dry run for her wacky "Lucy Ricardo" TV character. Unable to hold a job because of her tendency to get into trouble, Sally Read More

Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye

Actors: James Cagney, Barbara Payton, Helena Carter, Ward Bond, Luther Adler

Synopsis: Based on a novel by Horace McCoy (They Shoot Horses, Don't They), Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye offers James Cagney at his nastiest. The star plays career criminal Ralph Cotter, who gets things started by violently busting out of jail, then murdering his partner in crime. Seeking out female companionship Read More

The Sundowners

Actors: Robert Preston, Robert Sterling, Chill Wills, John Litel, Cathy Downs

Synopsis: Filmed in a two-tone process called Cinecolor, The Sundowners is a compact little western making good use of an old Hollywood chestnut. Robert Preston and Robert Sterling play two brothers who find themselves on opposite sides of the legal fence. Since Sterling rather than Preston has the mustache Read More

Mary Ryan, Detective

Actors: Marsha Hunt, John Litel, June Vincent, Harry Shannon

Synopsis: Marsha Hunt seems far too mature and intelligent for the pulpish goings-on in Mary Ryan, Detective. Still, Hunt was a pro (for that matter, she still is), and she managed to survive this Columbia "B" without egg on her face. Assigned to get the goods on a notorious fence, detective Mary Ryan Read More

Shamrock Hill

Actors: Peggy Ryan, Ray McDonald, Trudy Marshall, Rick Vallin, John Litel

Synopsis: Though no longer employed by Universal in 1949, pert Peggy Ryan continued to show up in movie musicals for a variety of studios. Produced by up-and-coming Eagle Lion studios, Shamrock Hill features Ryan as feisty Irish-American colleen Eileen Rogan. The girl's steadfast belief in the existence of Read More

Rusty's Birthday

Actors: Ted Donaldson, John Litel, Ann Doran, Jimmy Hunt, Mark Dennis

Synopsis: Columbia's heartwarming "Rusty" series came to a close with Rusty's Birthday. As in previous series entries, the doggie hero is played by "Flame", while his human master Danny Mitchell is portrayed by Ted Donaldson. This time, Rusty is taken to parts unknown by a group of tourists who think Read More

Rusty Saves a Life

Actors: Ted Donaldson, Gloria Henry, Stephen Dunne, John Litel, Ann Doran

Synopsis: Columbia's "Rusty" series was entering the homestretch with 1949's Rusty Saves a Life. The eponymous doggie hero, portrayed by a very busy canine thespian named Flame, does exactly what the film's title says he does. But before this prophecy can be fulfilled, the story spends a great deal of time Read More

The Gal Who Took the West

Actors: Yvonne De Carlo, John Russell, Scott Brady, Myrna Dell

Synopsis: For some reason, whenever Universal used the word "Gal" in a film's title, Yvonne de Carlo usually headed the cast. In Gal Who Took the West, de Carlo plays Lillian Marlowe, an New York songstress who heads Thataway. She becomes the romantic bone of contention between the feuding O'Hara cousins Read More

Woman in Hiding

Actors: Ida Lupino, Howard Duff, Stephen McNally, John Litel, Taylor Holmes

Synopsis: So far as the rest of the world is concerned, Deborah Chandler Clark (Ida Lupino) is dead, killed in a freak auto accident. But Deborah is alive, if not too well. Having discovered a horrible truth about her new husband (Stephen McNally), Deborah had intended to commit suicide. Now she is the Read More

Outpost in Morocco

Actors: George Raft, Marie Windsor, Akim Tamiroff, John Litel, Eduard Franz

Synopsis: While under contract to Warner Bros., George Raft turned down picture after picture as being "unimportant" and thus unworthy of his talents. Among his turned-down projects were such minor items as High Sierra and Casablanca. By 1949, however, Raft's star had eclipsed, and he was obliged to accept Read More

I, Jane Doe

Actors: Ruth Hussey, John Carroll, Vera Ralston, John Howard, Gene Lockhart

Synopsis: In this courtroom drama, a French girl stands trial for murder. Flashbacks tell the grim story of how, during the Great War she got involved with a wealthy soldier and married him. He disappeared after the war. She then came to the U.S. There she finds him married to another woman. To cover Read More

Pitfall

Actors: Dick Powell, Lizabeth Scott, Jane Wyatt, Raymond Burr, Jimmy Hunt

Synopsis: The darker side of the American dream is explored in the fascinating film noir Pitfall. Dick Powell stars as John Forbes, a successful insurance man with a trophy wife named Sue (Jane Wyatt) and a model child named Tommy (Jimmy Hunt). Despite all that he's achieved in life, Forbes feels somehow Read More

Rusty Leads the Way

Actors: Ted Donaldson, Sharyn Moffett, John Litel, Ann Doran, Paula Raymond

Synopsis: Columbia's dog-and-boy "Rusty" series galloped ever forward with Rusty Leads the Way. This time, young Danny Mitchell (Ted Donaldson) and his canine pal Rusty (played by "Flash") befriend blind girl Penny Moffatt (Penny Waters). Feeling cheated by life, Penny resists all efforts to cope with her Read More

Smart Woman

Actors: Iris Adrian, Brian Aherne, Constance Bennett, Willie Best, Lee Bonnell

Synopsis: In this courtroom drama, two opposing lawyers lead a double life. In the courtroom they are ruthless toward each other, but once the day is over they become passionate lovers. Unfortunately their newest case may well threaten their relationship as the defense attorney is defending a corrupt Read More

The Valiant Hombre

Actors: Leo Carrillo, John Litel, Stanley Andrews, John James

Synopsis: The Cisco Kid and Pancho set off to find the missing owner of a devoted little dog in this western adventure. From the vanished man's sister, the heroes learn that her brother disappeared soon after striking a major gold vein in his mine. In the end Cisco accosts the villain, saves the kidnapped Read More

My Dog Rusty

Actors: Ted Donaldson, John Litel, Ann Doran, Mona Barrie, Whitford Kane

Synopsis: Another entry in Columbia's bucolic "Rusty" series, My Dog Rusty again pairs apple-cheeked Ted Donaldson with Flame the Dog. This time around, Hugh Mitchell (John Litel), father of mischievous Danny Mitchell (Donaldson) is running for mayor. Thanks to Danny's propensity for lying, the elder Read More

Triple Threat

Actors: Richard Crane, Gloria Henry, Mary Stuart, John Litel, Pat Phelan

Synopsis: Two future TV favorites--Rocky Jones' Richard Crane and Dennis the Menace's Gloria Henry-head the cast of Columbia's Triple Threat. Crane plays Don Whitney, an egocentric college football hero who receives a good strong dose of reality when he joins a professional team. Whitney's game really Read More

Easy Come, Easy Go

Actors: Barry Fitzgerald, Diana Lynn, Sonny Tufts, Dick Foran, Frank McHugh

Synopsis: Barry Fitzgerald's distinctive brand of Irish blarney, which was wonderful in small doses, leaned towards the precious and boring when he was given a leading role. In Easy Come, Easy Go, Fitzgerald portrays an inveterate horse player who refuses to allow his grown daughter (Diana Lynn) to get Read More

Lighthouse

Synopsis: A romantic triangle develops between 2 lighthouse keepers and their love interest. When the woman gets mad at one of the men she marries the other and trouble ensues until the rejected suitor leaves. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

The Beginning or the End

Actors: Warner Anderson, Brian Donlevy, Robert Walker, Art Baker, Trevor Bardette, Tom Drake, Audrey Totter, James Bush, Joseph Calleia, Hume Cronyn

Synopsis: Filmed not long after the actual events, The Beginning or the End is a sober, intelligent account of the development and deployment of the Atom Bomb. Step by step, the film details the progress of The Manhattan Project, from its inception in the early stages of the war through the dawn of the Read More

Heaven Only Knows

Actors: Robert Cummings, Brian Donlevy, Marjorie Reynolds, Jorja Curtright, Bill Goodwin

Synopsis: Also released as Montana Mike, Heaven Only Knows is an offbeat western with fantasy overtones. Hard-bitten gambling boss Brian Donlevy rules his frontier community with brawn and bullets. To his dismay, Donlevy discovers that he has a guardian angel (Robert Cummings), who shows up in the guise of Read More

Cass Timberlane

Actors: Spencer Tracy, Lana Turner, Zachary Scott, Tom Drake, Mary Astor

Synopsis: A visibly uneasy Spencer Tracy plays the title role in this lavish MGM screen version of Sinclair Lewis' 1945 magazine serial. A small-town bachelor judge, Cass Timberlane, takes a personal interest in beautiful stenographer Jinny Marshland (Lana Turner), who appears one day as a witness in his Read More

Christmas Eve

Actors: George Raft, George Brent, Randolph Scott, Joan Blondell, Virginia Field

Synopsis: This episodic holiday film centers around a rich spinster aunt whose greedy nephew is attempting legal action to take her estate. Before he makes a final decision, a caring judge tells the spinster that she can rally together the three foster children she raised to help her keep the estate, he Read More

The Guilty

Synopsis: In this murder mystery, a man goes into a bar and begins telling his story to the bartender. His tale is depicted in flashback. It all began while he was romancing a young woman. The trouble began when her twin sister was killed and stuffed into an incinerator. The three prime suspects were the Read More

Smooth As Silk

Actors: Kent Taylor, Virginia Grey, Jane Adams, Milburn Stone, John Litel

Synopsis: Charles Barton took a break from his Abbott and Costello assignments at Universal to direct the second-feature thriller Smooth as Silk. Kent Taylor plays a slick criminal lawyer adept at all sorts of sneaky legalistic tricks. Taylor's girl friend Virginia Grey jilts him for the more honest Milburn Stone Read More

The Madonna's Secret

Actors: Francis Lederer, Gail Patrick, Ann Rutherford, Edward Ashley, Linda Stirling

Synopsis: This drama is an updated version of Ulmer's 1944 film Bluebeard. It is set in New York and follows the exploits of an eccentric Parisian painter who has come to New York to escape a controversy surrounding his work. The trouble stems when the model he has used in all his work is found floating Read More

Northwest Trail

Synopsis: Produced by Gower Gulch maverick Robert L. Lippert and filmed in not-so-glorious two-strip Cinecolor near Idyllwild, California, this Northwest Mounted melodrama starred the veteran Bob Steele as a rather surly mountie who, against his own better judgment, is persuaded to escort a patronizing Read More

She Wrote the Book

Actors: Joan Davis, Jack Oakie, Mischa Auer, Kirby Grant, John Litel

Synopsis: In this comedy, a puritanical math teacher at a midwestern university is forced by the dean's wife to go to New York to collect the royalties for a naughty romance the latter wrote under a penname. Unfortunately, while there, the professor suffers a blow to the noodle and wakes up believing that Read More

A Night in Paradise

Actors: Merle Oberon, Turhan Bey, Thomas Gomez, Gale Sondergaard, Ray Collins

Synopsis: If Grecian storyteller Aesop really did exist, he was most likely a black slave. He wasn't an Austrian actor with an Egyptian name, but that's who played him in A Night in Paradise. Turhan Bey portrays the fable-spouting Aesop, who tries to escape his bondage by disguising himself as an old man. Read More

Sister Kenny

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Alexander Knox, Dean Jagger, Philip Merivale, Beulah Bondi

Synopsis: We prefer Rosalind Russell when she's making us laugh; judging by such films as Mourning Becomes Electra and The Velvet Touch, Russell preferred herself in heavy dramatics. In Sister Kenny, Rosalind Russell is all grim determination and pursed lips as Elizabeth Kenny, tireless battler of infantile Read More

Swell Guy

Actors: Sonny Tufts, Ann Blyth, Ruth Warrick, William Gargan, Thomas Gomez, John Litel, Millard Mitchell

Synopsis: One of many films of the late 1940s examining the impact of WWII on post-war domestic life in the U.S., The Swell Guy is the story of an unprincipled war correspondent, Jim Duncan (Sonny Tufts). Jim has returned to his hometown following the war and tries to milk his wartime status and pose as a Read More

The Daltons Ride Again

Actors: Alan Curtis, Kent Taylor, Lon Chaney, Jr., Noah Beery, Jr., Martha O'Driscoll

Synopsis: In this action western, the notorious Dalton Boys have decided to go straight and move to Argentina. Just before they leave, they learn of a friend whose land is about to be seized by a greedy land company. Before they can help, the man is killed by a company assassin. The brothers do manage to Read More

Crime Doctor's Warning

Actors: Warner Baxter, John Litel, Dusty Anderson, Coulter Irwin, Miles Mander

Synopsis: In this episode of the "Crime Doctor" series, Dr. Orday, the sleuthing shrink, cares for a patient who suffers from blackouts. The patient, an artist from New York's Latin Quarter, cannot remember a thing from these episodes. What is most disturbing is that several models have been recently Read More

Salome, Where She Danced

Actors: Yvonne De Carlo, Rod Cameron, David Bruce, Walter Slezak, Albert Dekker

Synopsis: This campy little drama launched the career of B-girl Yvonne De Carlo. It is set during the Franco-Prussian war and chronicles the exploits of Salome, a beautiful Viennese dancer who falls for an American reporter and for him gets involved in cloak-and-dagger activities involving the Bismarck Read More

The Crimson Canary

Actors: Noah Beery, Jr., Lois Collier, Danny Morton, John Litel, Claudia Drake

Synopsis: An offbeat Universal murder mystery, Crimson Canary is set in the very special world of jazz musicians. A duplicitous songstress is murdered, and the prime suspects are members of a nightclub jazz combo. John Litel, the detective assigned to the case, is himself a jazz fan and thus takes Read More

San Antonio

Actors: Errol Flynn, Alexis Smith, S.Z. Sakall, Victor Francen, Florence Bates, Paul Kelly

Synopsis: In his final epic Western, Errol Flynn plays cattleman Clay Hardin, who, on a trek south of the border, has discovered that San Antonio saloon proprietor Roy Stuart (Paul Kelly) is actually a cattle rustler of major proportions. Determined to bring Stuart to justice, Clay runs into difficulties Read More

Brewster's Millions

Actors: Dennis O'Keefe, Helen Walker, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, June Havoc, Gail Patrick

Synopsis: The 1945 version of the Winchell Smith/Byron Ongley theatrical war-horse Brewster's Millions stars Dennis O'Keefe as the lucky recipient of an $8,000,000 inheritance. But there's a catch; O'Keefe will receive his legacy only if he spends $1,000,000 in two months. Prohibited from giving the money Read More

The Enchanted Forest

Actors: Edmund Lowe, Brenda Joyce, Billy Severn, Harry Davenport, John Litel

Synopsis: The Enchanted Forest concerns Old John (Harry Davenport), an elderly hermit who lives in a hollowed-out redwood tree, the better to commune with nature. Lost in the forest, young Jackie (Billy Severn) is befriended and protected by kindly Old John. When he's not busy confounding a group of Read More

Henry Aldrich, Boy Scout

Actors: Jimmy Lydon, Charles Smith, John Litel, Olive Blakeney, Joan Mortimer

Synopsis: This was the seventh entry in Paramount's "Henry Aldrich" series, and there were still two more to come. Per the title, trouble-prone high schooler Henry (Jimmy Lydon) finds himself in charge of a contentious group of scouts. He nobly takes the blame for the pranks perpetrated by young Ramsey Kent Read More

My Buddy

Actors: Don "Red" Barry, Ruth Terry, Lynne Roberts, Alexander Granach, Emma Dunn

Synopsis: A priest relates the tale of his friend, a WWI veteran, to the Post-War Planning Committee. Unable to get a job upon his return from the war, he puts off his marriage and works for a bootlegger. He is forced to take a rap for his boss, goes to prison, and forms a gang. After his release, a gang Read More

Lake Placid Serenade

Actors: Vera Ralston, Eugene Pallette, Vera Vague, Robert Livingston, Stephanie Bachelor

Synopsis: In this musical romance, an ice skater comes to America to represent her country at a Lake Placid carnival. Unfortunately, while she is there the war breaks out and she is unable to go home. While in America, she is cared for by her rich uncle. She soon falls in love with his handsome junior Read More

Henry Aldrich's Little Secret

Actors: Jimmy Lydon, Charles Smith, Joan Mortimer, John Litel, Olive Blakeney

Synopsis: Paramount's "Henry Aldrich" series came to a quiet conclusion with 1944's Henry Aldrich's Little Secret. The titular secret is a baby, the son of woebegone Helen Martin (Ann Doran). Because her husband is in jail, Helen has been adjudged an unfit mother by the local welfare board, headed by the Read More

Faces in the Fog

Actors: Jane Withers, Paul Kelly, Lee Patrick, John Litel, Eric Sinclair

Synopsis: In this melodrama, two young lovers secretly elope after the woman is involved in a hit-and-run accident. The young groom takes the rap and is thrown out of school. The bride's enraged father shoots the boy. At the trial the bride lies on the stand to save her dad. Things work out, and the young Read More

Henry Aldrich Plays Cupid

Actors: Jimmy Lydon, Charles Smith, John Litel, Olive Blakeney, Diana Lynn

Synopsis: Bumbling high schooler Henry Aldrich (Jimmy Lydon) finds himself in hot water once more when he offends school principal Mr. Bradley (Vaughan Glaser). If Henry doesn't put Bradley in a good mood immediately, he won't be allowed to graduate with the rest of his class. Reasoning that Bradley needs a Read More

Murder in the Blue Room

Actors: Anne Gwynne, Donald Cook, John Litel, Grace McDonald, Betty Kean

Synopsis: Set in a brooding old home, this musical mystery chronicles the endeavors of a young couple attempt to solve a mysterious murder that occurred there. The victim was the first husband of the new bride. The groom was the victim's best friend. After the murder, the house was abandoned and rumors Read More

Boss of Big Town

Actors: John Litel, Florence Rice, H.B. Warner, Jean Brooks, John Miljan

Synopsis: Quality was seldom a consideration in the low-budget films of PRC Studios; still, the company was a welcome harbor for character actors who aspired to occasional leading roles. In Boss of Big Town, veteran supporting player John Litel is top-billed as crusading city market official Michael Lynn. Read More

Submarine Base

Actors: John Litel, Alan Baxter, Fifi D'Orsay, Eric Blore, Iris Adrian

Synopsis: In this wartime drama, an ex-gangster proves himself a decent man when he helps defeat the Nazis while he is hiding out on a tiny island. At first the gangster looks as if he has joined the German soldiers by providing them with a location for refueling their U-boats. Later an American ship is Read More

So Proudly We Hail!

Actors: Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard, Veronica Lake, George Reeves, Barbara Britton

Synopsis: Paramount's So Proudly We Hail, like MGM's Cry Havoc, is a tribute to the Red Cross nurses trapped behind enemy lines in the early days of the Pacific war. Claudette Colbert is the self-sacrificing head nurse, struggling to minister to the wounded and to keep her staff (including Paulette Goddard, Veronica Lake Read More

Where Are Your Children?

Actors: Jackie Cooper, Gale Storm, Patricia Morison, John Litel, Gertrude Michael

Synopsis: This socially conscious drama examines the causes of juvenile delinquency and centers on one girl who joins a gang of punks and ends up involved in a murder. She is jailed. Later her old friend returns from the Navy and convinces the courts that she wasn't really part of the killing. The chastened Read More

Henry Aldrich Swings It

Actors: Jimmy Lydon, Charles Smith, John Litel, Olive Blakeney, Mimi Chandler

Synopsis: For this entry in the popular Henry Aldrich series, bumbling typical high school student Henry (Jimmy Lydon) catches sight of the new band teacher Louise Elliott (Marian Hall) and really likes what he sees. Quickly developing a mad crush on her, Henry goes so far as to join the band just to be Read More

Henry Aldrich Haunts a House

Actors: Jimmy Lydon, Charles Smith, John Litel, Olive Blakeney, Joan Mortimer

Synopsis: Henry's friends think he's a coward because he refuses to fight a local bully, but his reason for refusing had more to do with wanting to impress Elise, the daughter of the chemistry teacher. While in her father's lab, Elise tells Henry he misunderstood her, and points out how brave her own father Read More

Crime Doctor

Actors: Warner Baxter, Margaret Lindsay, John Litel, Ray Collins, Harold Huber

Synopsis: In this drama, based on a popular radio program, the leader of a ring of burglars suffers a blow to the head and loses his memory. Unable to remember anything about his past, he starts anew and becomes a psychiatrist. He never does stop trying to remember his past life, even while his present life Read More

Murder in Times Square

Actors: Edmund Lowe, Marguerite Chapman, John Litel, William Wright, Bruce Bennett

Synopsis: Though somewhat past his prime, Edmund Lowe carries the dramatic weight of Murder in Times Square with breezy assuredness. Lowe plays Barrymoresque stage actor Cory Williams, who vaingloriously tries to solve a bizarre series of murders. Though the killings take place in the heart of New York, the Read More

Mississippi Gambler

Actors: Kent Taylor, Frances Langford, John Litel, Shemp Howard, Claire Dodd

Synopsis: Universal's standing Show Boat sets get another workout in the 60-minute B-picture Mississippi Gambler. On the trail of mob hitman Mathews (Douglas Fowley), reporter Johnny Forbes (Kent Taylor) journeys from New York to Mississippi. Here he finds big-time gangster boss Carvel (John Litel), long Read More

Madame Spy

Actors: Constance Bennett, Don Porter, John Litel, Edward S. Brophy, John Eldredge

Synopsis: This remake of the 1934 WW I melodrama Madame Spy has been updated to the WW II era. Once again accepting a role unworthy of her talents, Constance Bennett stars as Joan Bannister, the wife of globe-trotting war correspondent David Bannister (Don Porter). Returning to the US, Bannister becomes Read More

Men of Texas

Actors: Robert Stack, Broderick Crawford, Jackie Cooper, Anne Gwynne, Ralph Bellamy

Synopsis: Surprisingly little known, Universal's Men of Texas boasts an impressive cast and a fairly exciting and complex storyline. Set just after the Civil War, the film stars Robert Stack as Chicago war correspondent Barry Conovan, who is sent by his newspaper to Texas to get the low-down on the martial Read More

The Mystery of Marie Roget

Actors: Patric Knowles, Maria Montez, Maria Ouspenskaya, John Litel, Edward Norris

Synopsis: The Mystery of Marie Roget is more faithful to its Edgar Allan Poe original than most Universal films of its ilk, even though the Poe story and the film aren't exactly twins. Based on the factual unsolved 1842 murder of one Mary Rogers, the film stars Maria Montez as the unfortunate heroine, a Read More

Henry Aldrich Gets Glamour

Actors: Jimmy Lydon, Charles Smith, John Litel, Olive Blakeney, Diana Lynn

Synopsis: Adenoidal teenager Henry Aldrich (James Lydon) "gets glamour" when he wins first prize in a movie-magazine contest. Before he quite knows what's happening, Henry is whisked to Hollywood for a date with glamorous "sarong girl" Hilary Dane (Frances Gifford). All of this coincides with a local Read More

Winslow of the Navy

Actors: Don Terry, Walter Sande, John Litel, Wade Boteler, Samuel S. Hinds

A Desperate Chance for Ellery Queen

Synopsis: This entry in the detective series follows Queen as he investigates the case of a woman's missing husband, a banker. As he searches, he must cope with several murders and a burlesque queen. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Henry Aldrich, Editor

Actors: Charles Smith, Rita Quigley, John Litel, Olive Blakeney

Synopsis: Regarded by many aficionados as the best of the "Henry Aldrich" series, Henry Aldrich, Editor is a master blend of laughs and suspense. Appointed editor of his high school newspaper, hapless Henry (James Lydon) becomes intrigued by a series of mysterious fires. A mild, timid little fellow named Read More

Don Winslow of the Navy [Serial]

Actors: Don Terry

Synopsis: Lt. Com. Frank V. Martinek's widely circulated comic strip Don Winslow of the Navy was brought to the screen in this action-packed, 12-chapter Universal serial. The villain of the piece is The Scorpion (Kurt Katch), who has been sabotaging American military forces in the Pacific. Assigned to put Read More

Kid Glove Killer

Actors: Van Heflin, Marsha Hunt, Lee Bowman, Samuel S. Hinds, Cliff Clark

Synopsis: Kid Glove Killer is an expanded remake of They're Always Caught (1938), a 2-reel entry in MGM's "Crime Does Not Pay" series. Van Heflin stars as criminologist Gordon McKay, at present investigating the murder of of reform mayor Daniels (Samuel S. Hinds). What the audience knows, but McKay doesn't Read More

Invisible Agent

Actors: Ilona Massey, Jon Hall, Peter Lorre, Cedric Hardwicke, J. Edward Bromberg

Synopsis: Universal's "Invisible Man" series does its bit for the war effort in this slyly tongue-in-cheek action melodrama. Jon Hall stars as Frank Raymond, grandson of the man who invented the invisibility formula several pictures back. When Nazi agents try to coerce the secret formula out of Raymond, he Read More

Henry and Dizzy

Actors: Jimmy Lydon, Mary Anderson, Charles Smith, John Litel, Olive Blakeney

Synopsis: James Lydon makes his second screen appearance as "typical" teenager Henry Aldrich in Henry and Dizzy. The plot complications begin insuinating themselves when Henry and his pal Dizzy Stevens (Charles Smith) inadvertently wreck an outboard motor. Our heroes spend the rest of the picture trying to Read More

They Died With Their Boots On

Actors: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Arthur Kennedy, Charles Grapewin, Regis Toomey, Gene Lockhart, Stanley Ridges

Synopsis: Though history is distorted almost beyond recognition in Warner Bros.' They Died With Their Boots On, audiences in 1941 ate it up like cotton candy. In the gospel according to Warners, General George Armstrong Custer (Errol Flynn) is neither an arrogant fool nor a rabid Indian hater. Instead, he Read More

The Trial of Mary Dugan

Actors: Laraine Day, Robert Young, Tom Conway, Frieda Inescort, John Litel

Synopsis: MGM's The Trial of Mary Dugan was based on the popular stage play by Bayard Vellier, previously filmed as a Norma Shearer vehicle in 1929. This time, Laraine Day is cast as Mary Dugan, a young stenographer who is falsely accused of murdering her philandering employer Edgar Wayne (Tom Conway). In Read More

The Big Boss

Actors: Otto Kruger, Gloria Dickson, John Litel, Don Beddoe, Robert Fiske

Synopsis: The Big Boss is Jim Maloney (Otto Kruger), who pulls all the political strings in an unnamed major metropolis. Maloney's chief antagonist is scrupulously honest "reform" governor Bob Dugan (John Litel). The fact that Maloney and Dugan are actually brothers, orphaned in childhood and raised Read More

Henry Aldrich for President

Actors: Charles Smith, June Preisser, Mary Anderson, Martha O'Driscoll

Synopsis: Henry Aldrich for President was the second of Paramount's "Henry Aldrich" series to star Jimmy Lydon in the teenaged title role. This time Henry is pitted against an arrogant jock for the presidency of the Centerville High School student council. Henry's chances don't seem bright, especially since Read More

Sealed Lips

Actors: William Gargan, June Clyde, John Litel, Anne Nagel, Mary Gordon

Synopsis: There's something very odd about Romano (John Litel), a notorious gangster serving time in the federal pen. For one thing, Romano doesn't sound much like himself. For another, he always seems to be hiding something. Detective Lee (William Gargan) suspects that something's amiss, and he's right Read More

The Great Mr. Nobody

Actors: Eddie Albert, Joan Leslie, Alan Hale, William Lundigan, John Litel

Synopsis: The Great Mr. Nobody is an easygoing classified ad salesman, appropriately nicknamed Dreamy (Eddie Albert). All Dreamy wants out of life is to own a boat and drift aimlessly across the ocean in the company of his good pal Skipper (played by Alan Hale-ironically the father of Gilligan's Island's Read More

Thieves Fall Out

Actors: Eddie Albert, Joan Leslie, Jane Darwell, Alan Hale, William Orr

Synopsis: In this comedy, a grandmother decides to help her naive grandson get the money he needs to marry his girl by allowing him to get his inheritance, a mattress factory, before she dies. She suggests that he use it as collateral on a loan, but instead the young man sells the business to a crook who Read More

Father's Son

Actors: John Litel, Frieda Inescort, Billy Dawson, Christian Rub, Bernice Pilot

Synopsis: Based loosely on a story by Booth Tarkington, the Warner Bros. B-picture Father's Son puts the talents of character actors John Litel and Frieda Inescourt to excellent use. The central character is Bill Emery (Billy Dawson), an obnoxious brat of a child whose misbehavior causes a rift between his Read More

They Drive by Night

Actors: George Raft, Ann Sheridan, Humphrey Bogart, Ida Lupino, Gale Page

Synopsis: They just don't make 'em like They Drive By Night anymore. This slam-bang Warner Bros. attraction stars George Raft and Humphrey Bogart as Joe and Paul Fabrini, owners of a small but scrappy trucking firm. The film deftly combines comedy with thrills for the first half-hour or so, as the Fabrini Read More

Castle on the Hudson

Actors: John Garfield, Ann Sheridan, Pat O'Brien, Burgess Meredith, Jerome Cowan, Henry O'Neill

Synopsis: In this remake of the classic prison story 20,000 Years in Sing-Sing, John Garfield plays Tommy Gordon, a jewel thief who has been sent up the river for a minimum of 25 years. Tommy isn't especially worried about prison, as he's convinced his well-connected friends will help him get out before Read More

A Child Is Born

Actors: Geraldine Fitzgerald, Jeffrey Lynn, Gladys George, Gale Page, Spring Byington

Synopsis: A Child is Born is a remake of 1932's Life Begins, softened to conform to stricter movie censorship and lengthened to qualify as an "A" picture. The film is an episodic account of one particularly busy night in a maternity hospital. A generous portion of screen time is lavished on a gangster's Read More

Men without Souls

Actors: John Litel, Barton MacLane, Rochelle Hudson, Glenn Ford, Don Beddoe

Synopsis: Few studios churned out prison pictures with as much frequency as Columbia Pictures. In Men Without Souls, young Johnny Adams (Glenn Ford) deliberately gets himself thrown in prison to accumultate incriminating evidence against Capt. White (Cy Kendall), the sadistic guard responsible for death of Read More

The Man Who Talked Too Much

Actors: George Brent, Virginia Bruce, Brenda Marshall, Richard Barthelmess, William Lundigan

Synopsis: This slightly laundered remake of the 1932 courtroom classic The Mouthpiece stars George Brent as brilliant but unprincipled DA Steve Forbes, a character based on legendary lawyer William Fallon. After railroading an innocent boy into the electric chair, Forbes goes on a bender, then cynically Read More

The Lady with Red Hair

Actors: Miriam Hopkins, Claude Rains, Richard Ainley, Laura Hope Crewes, Helen Westley

Synopsis: The notoriously temperamental Miriam Hopkins is ideally cast as equally contentious theatrical prima donna Mrs. Leslie Carter in The Lady With Red Hair. As rapidly paced as any Warner Bros. gangster picture, the film charts Caroline Carter's rise to fame on Broadway through the auspices of Read More

Gambling on the High Seas

Actors: Wayne Morris, Jane Wyman, Gilbert Roland, John Litel, Roger Pryor

Synopsis: This 55-minute remake of the 75-minute Warner Bros. crime drama Special Agent retains a surprising amount of the original's plotline. Wayne Morris plays crusading journalist Jim Carter, who hopes to get the goods on crime boss Greg Morella (Gilbert Roland), the owner of a posh gambling ship Read More

Flight Angels

Actors: Virginia Bruce, Dennis Morgan, Wayne Morris, Ralph Bellamy, Jane Wyman

Synopsis: A barely disguised rip-off of 20th Century-Fox's all-female Tail Spin (39), Warner Bros.' Flight Angels is an inexpensive "tribute" to airline stewardesses. Among the angels of the title are haughty Virginia Bruce and hoydenish Jane Wyman, who in one scene actually come to blows over their Read More

It All Came True

Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, Jeffrey Lynn, ZaSu Pitts, Una O'Connor

Synopsis: Humphrey Bogart is a gangster again, this time as counterpoint to the comic elements of It All Came True. On the lam from the cops, Bogart hides out in a theatrical boarding house, where most of the residents are old-timers dreaming of a comeback. Amused by these offbeat characters, Bogart Read More

Father Is a Prince

Actors: Nana Bryant, Grant Mitchell, John Litel, George Reeves, Jan Clayton

Synopsis: Father is a Prince is a scaled-down remake of the 1934 comedy-drama Big Hearted Herbert, itself based on a play by Sophie Kerr Underwood. Grant Mitchell plays tyrannical paterfamilias Mr. Bower, who runs his home like he runs his carpet-sweeper factory: pinching pennies, turning off lights, and Read More

An Angel from Texas

Actors: Eddie Albert, Rosemary Lane, Wayne Morris, Jane Wyman, Ronald Reagan

Synopsis: An Angel from Texas was the fourth of five film versions of the venerable George S. Kaufman stage farce The Butter and Egg Man. The plot remains basically the same, with a wealthy but incredibly naïve young sprout coming to the rescue of a near-bankrupt Broadway musical. This time around, Eddie Albert Read More

Santa Fe Trail

Actors: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Raymond Massey, Ronald Reagan, Alan Hale

Synopsis: Santa Fe Trail, Errol Flynn's third western, has precisely nothing to do with the titular trail. Instead, the film is a simplistic retelling of the John Brown legend, with Raymond Massey playing the famed abolitionist. The events leading up to the bloody confrontation between Brown and the US Read More

Virginia City

Actors: Errol Flynn, Miriam Hopkins, Randolph Scott, Humphrey Bogart, Frank McHugh

Synopsis: Promoted as a follow-up to the popular 1939 western Dodge City (which, indeed, was left wide open for a sequel in its closing scenes), Virginia City bears only surface resemblance to the earlier film. Indeed, the only discerning links between the two pictures are the western setting and the Read More

The Fighting 69th

Actors: James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, George Brent, Jeffrey Lynn, Alan Hale

Synopsis: Officially, America had no intention of entering the Second World War in 1940: Why, then, were there so many "preparedness" pictures like The Fighting 69th? This film, based on the experiences of military priest Father Duffy (Pat O'Brien), is set during World War I. The US 69th division was a Read More

Murder in the Air

Actors: Ronald Reagan, John Litel, Lya Lys, James Stephenson, Eddie Foy, Jr.

Synopsis: In this actioner, heroic G-man Brass Bancroft must assume the identity of a notorious spy who died in a train wreck so he can expose a suspected spy. Brass meets the spy and is told to get aboard a Navy dirigible and get information concerning a top-secret "inertia projector" the Americans are Read More

Money and the Woman

Actors: Brenda Marshall, Jeffrey Lynn, Roger Pryor, John Litel, Lee Patrick, Henry O'Neill

Synopsis: The fact that James M. Cain (Double Indemnity, Mildred Pearce et. al.) was responsible for the storyline is the sole distinguishing feature of the pedestrian Warner Bros. melodrama Money and the Woman. Roger Pryor plays bank teller Charles Patterson, an outwardly honest soul who is actually a Read More

Knute Rockne, All American

Actors: Pat O'Brien, Gale Page, Ronald Reagan, Donald Crisp, Albert Basserman

Synopsis: Knute Rockne-All American was Pat O'Brien's finest hour: thanks to intensive rehearsals and numerous makeup applications, he so closely resembled the title character that, in the words of Rockne's widow, "I almost expected him to make love with me". The life of the legendary Notre Dame football Read More

Nancy Drew, Reporter

Actors: Bonita Granville, John Litel, Mary Lee, Sheila Bromley

Synopsis: The second entry in Warner Bros.' popular detective series, Nancy Drew, Reporter presented young sleuth Bonita Granville at her busybody best. This time, the irrepressible Miss Drew has entered a junior newspaper-reporter contest and, determined to win, insinuates herself into the ongoing Read More

You Can't Get Away with Murder

Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Gale Page, Billy Halop, John Litel, Henry Travers

Synopsis: A young punk hooks up with a mobster and helps him rob a gas station in this crime drama. From there the crimes become more serious and the boy is very happy until something goes wrong and the gangster shoots someone using the stolen gun of the boy's sister's lover. The innocent lover is given the Read More

Dodge City

Actors: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Ann Sheridan, Bruce Cabot, Frank McHugh

Synopsis: This landmark western -- which, along with Stagecoach, has often been credited with revitalizing what had become a stagnant genre -- stars Errol Flynn as Wade Hatton, a cattle man who arrives in the frontier community of Dodge City, which is overrun by footloose cowboys and outlaws. When Hatton Read More

Wings of the Navy

Actors: George Brent, Olivia de Havilland, John Payne, Frank McHugh, John Litel

Synopsis: Filmed on-location at the Naval Air Training Stations in San Diego, CA, and Pensacola, FL, this black-and-white Warner Bros. drama was dedicated to the U.S. Naval Aviation Service and probably served as propaganda when it was released in 1939, right before the U.S. involvement in WWII. Submarine Read More

Land of Liberty

Synopsis: Originally designed for exhibition at the 1939 World's Fair, Land of Liberty is a 137-minute compendium of filmclips from past American historical epics. The project was sponsored by the Motion Picture Producers & Distributors of America, Inc. and supervised by Cecil B. DeMille, who also edited Read More

Dust Be My Destiny

Actors: John Garfield, Priscilla Lane, Alan Hale, Frank McHugh, Billy Halop

Synopsis: John Garfield once more plays a social outcast who's had nothing but lousy breaks. Released from prison for a crime he didn't commit, Garfield is promptly arrested as a vagrant and sent to a work farm. He falls in love with Priscilla Lane, stepdaughter of the farm's no-good foreman. Garfield Read More

The Dead End Kids on Dress Parade

Actors: Billy Halop, Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, Gabriel Dell

Synopsis: In this entry in the long-running series, one of the Kids goes to military school and learns, with the help of his late father's friend who promised to watch over the lad, to be a real man. The kid is initially, quite rebellious. One boy tries to help him, but the kid throws him out a second story Read More

Secret Service of the Air

Actors: John Litel, Ila Rhodes, James Stephenson, Eddie Foy, Jr.

Synopsis: In this, the premiere entry in the "Brass" Bancroft series (starring the man who would-be President, Ronald Reagan), Brass is seen as an ex-Army pilot who works as a commercial airline pilot. One day he quits his well-paying, safe job to become an agent for the Secret Service. His first assignment Read More

Nancy Drew, Trouble Shooter

Actors: Bonita Granville, Frankie Thomas, John Litel, Aldrich Bowker, Charlotte Wynters

Synopsis: The third of Warner Bros.' series based on the teenaged sleuth created by Carolyn Keene, Nancy Drew, Trouble Shooter stars Bonita Granville as the plucky Nancy. Nancy's father Judge Drew (John Litel) is tormented by the fact that an old friend has been accused of murder. The Judge insists that Read More

Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase

Actors: Bonita Granville, Frankie Thomas, John Litel, Frank Orth, Renie Riano

Synopsis: This final entry in Warner Bros.' Nancy Drew series is the only one actually based on a novel by Nancy Drew creator Carolyn Keene. Bonita Granville returns as the ebullient titular teenaged sleuth, while Frankie Thomas portrays Nancy's best friend and fellow "gumshoe" Ted Nickerson. The plot Read More

On Trial

Actors: John Litel, Margaret Lindsay, Edward Norris, Janet Chapman, James Stephenson

Synopsis: This second film version of Elmer Rice's play On Trial stars Edward Norris as a green lawyer on his first case. He is assigned to defend alleged killer John Litel, who makes Norris' job doubly hard by refusing to defend himself. Through flashbacks, Norris discovers the reason behind Litel's Read More

One Hour to Live

Actors: Charles Bickford, Doris Nolan, John Litel, Samuel S. Hinds, Paul Guilfoyle

Synopsis: One Hour to Live affords John Litel, usually cast as rock-solid businessmen and incorruptable attorneys, the opportunity to play a double-dyed villain. Litel is cast as crooked fight manager Rudy Spain, who orders the murder of a boxer (Jack Carr) who has turned honest. By having his dirty work Read More

The Return of Doctor X

Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Rosemary Lane, Dennis Morgan, John Litel, Huntz Hall, Wayne Morris

Synopsis: Humphrey Bogart makes his first and last appearance in a horror movie in this film. Though the title implies that it is a sequel to the classic 1932 chiller Dr. X it is not. The terror begins when an eager-beaver reporter stumbles across the corpse of a popular actress who turns up, after much Read More

My Bill

Actors: Kay Francis, Bonita Granville, Anita Louise, John Litel

Synopsis: The ever-suffering Kay Francis once again makes an assault on the audience's tear ducts in My Bill. Francis is cast as Mary Colbrook, an impoverished widow with four children, ranging in age from 10 to 19. When she realizes she can no longer provide for her family, Mary ships the three eldest Read More

The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse

Actors: Edward G. Robinson, Claire Trevor, Humphrey Bogart, Allen Jenkins, Donald Crisp

Synopsis: Edward G. Robinson shines in a fine comic role as Dr. Clitterhouse, a brilliant psychiatrist doing research into the criminal mind. The good doctor wants to gain a clearer understanding of how a thief feels when he's in the midst of a robbery, so strictly for academic purposes he tries to crack a Read More

Over the Wall

Actors: Dick Foran, June Travis, Dick Purcell, Veda Ann Borg

Synopsis: In this drama, an innocent man is framed for murder and sent to Sing Sing where he meets a kindly prison chaplain who helps him prove that he was wronged. He also learns to sing, and decided that he will become a professional after he is released. He is good, and is soon allowed to travel with the Read More

Nancy Drew - Detective

Actors: Bonita Granville, John Litel, James Stephenson, Frankie Thomas, Frank Orth

Synopsis: Nancy Drew -- Detective was the first in a series of breezy B-pictures based on the teenaged sleuth created by Carolyn Keene. Bonita Granville is perfectly cast as Nancy, while John Litel and Frankie Thomas are equally effective as Nancy's attorney father, Carson Drew, and erstwhile boyfriend, Ted Read More

Jezebel

Actors: Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, George Brent, Margaret Lindsay, Donald Crisp, Fay Bainter

Synopsis: In 1938, Jezebel was widely regarded as Warner Bros.' "compensation" to Bette Davis for her losing the opportunity to play Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind. Resemblances between the two properties are inescapable: Jezebel heroine Julie Marsden (Davis) is a headstrong Southern belle not unlike Read More

Comet over Broadway

Actors: Kay Francis, Ian Hunter, John Litel, Donald Crisp, Minna Gombell

Synopsis: Despite the presence of Busby Berkeley in the director's chair, Comet Over Broadway contains nary a single musical number. Instead, the film concentrates on the lachrymose private life of stage star Eve Appleton (Kay Francis). While appearing in amateur theatricals, Eve indirectly causes the death Read More

Little Miss Thoroughbred

Actors: John Litel, Ann Sheridan, Frank McHugh, Janet Chapman, Eric Stanley

Synopsis: In this heartwarming tearjerker, an adorable orphan becomes determined to find her father, whom she is convinced is still alive. She then leaves the nuns who have been her guardians and sets out on her quest. She never finds her real father, but she does manage to find a soft-hearted gambler who Read More

Gold Is Where You Find It

Actors: George Brent, Olivia de Havilland, Claude Rains, John Litel

Synopsis: Michael Curtiz directs this Technicolor Western based on the familiar story by Clements Ripley about the rivalry between farmers and miners in the Sacramento valley during the years following the California Gold Rush. Handsome engineer Jared Whitney (George Brent) from the Golden Moon mining Read More

A Slight Case of Murder

Actors: Edward G. Robinson, Jane Bryan, Allen Jenkins, Ruth Donnelly, Willard Parker

Synopsis: Slight Case of Murder is a breakneck-paced comedy starring Edward G. Robinson as a tough but good-hearted bootlegger. When Prohibition is repealed, Robinson faces a financial crisis: His beer tastes so awful that no one wants to drink it legally. As an additional headache, Robinson is under Read More

Broadway Musketeers

Actors: Margaret Lindsay, Ann Sheridan, Marie Wilson, John Litel, Janet Chapman

Synopsis: Broadway Musketeers is a remake of the 1932 Warner Bros. drama Three on a Match, with numerous concessions made to the now more stringent Hollywood censors. Brought up together in an orphanage, three young ladies-Isabel (Margaret Lindsay), Fay (Ann Sheridan) and Connie (Marie Wilson)-vow to remain Read More

Valley of the Giants

Actors: Wayne Morris, Claire Trevor, Frank McHugh, Alan Hale, Donald Crisp, Charles Bickford

Synopsis: This third film version of Peter B. Kyne's Valley of the Giants benefits from the breahtaking Technicolor location photography of Sol Polito. Hero Bill Cardigan (Wayne Morris) is a lifetime resident of California's Tall Timber country. When evil land-despoiler Howard Fallon (Charles Bickford) Read More

Love, Honor and Behave

Actors: Wayne Morris, John Litel, Dick Foran, Mona Barrie, Donald Briggs

Synopsis: In this comedy drama, a Yale tennis star endeavors to be a good sport at every turn. He finds a girl and together they elope. One day, while he is off on a business trip, she resumes a old fling. When he finds out, the tennis player discovers he is a sore loser, but not nearly as sore as the Read More

The Life of Emile Zola

Actors: Paul Muni, Gloria Holden, Gale Sondergaard, Joseph Schildkraut, Robert Warwick, Donald Crisp

Synopsis: The second of Paul Muni's biographical films for Warner Bros., the Oscar-winning The Life of Emile Zola is by far the best, even allowing for the dramatic license taken with the material. When first we meet French novelist and essayist Zola, he is starving in a Parisian garret with his painter Read More

Marked Woman

Actors: Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Isabel Jewell, Eduardo Ciannelli, Lola Lane, Rosalind Marquis

Synopsis: Bette Davis' famous walk-out from her home studio of Warner Bros. may have hurt her financially, but in the long run it paid off with bigger parts in better films. Like many Warners films of the period, Marked Woman was "torn from today's headlines." Specifically, it was inspired by the recent Read More

Fugitive in the Sky

Actors: Jean Muir, Warren Hull, Gordon Oliver, Carlyle Moore, Jr., Howard Phillips

Synopsis: Fugitive in the Sky closely resembles such earlier aviation programmers as 13 Hours by Air and Absolute Quiet. Once again, a plane-load of diverse passengers is hijacked by a fugitive criminal, who this time forces the plane to land during a dust storm. This incident opens a whole new can of worms Read More

Back in Circulation

Actors: Pat O'Brien, Joan Blondell, Margaret Lindsay, John Litel, Ben Welden

Synopsis: In this newsroom drama, a tabloid's ace reporter's investigations lead to a chorine's conviction for murdering her husband. The trouble begins when the reporter digs a little deeper and realizes that the showgirl is really innocent. Now, despite the objections of her editor, the reporter must Read More

Midnight Court

Actors: Ann Dvorak, John Litel, Carlyle Moore, Jr., Joseph Crehan, Walter Miller

Synopsis: District attorney Victor Shanley (John Litel) is forced out of his job through the machinations of gang boss Al Kruger (William B. Davidson). Thirsting for revenge against the legal system that apparently failed to back him up, Shanley goes to the "other side," becoming a defense lawyer on Read More

Slim

Actors: Pat O'Brien, Henry Fonda, Margaret Lindsay, Stuart Erwin, John Farrell MacDonald

Synopsis: Making his debut with Warner Brothers, Henry Fonda plays an apprentice high-voltage lineman working with the no-nonsense, but very experienced Pat O'Brien. Stringing up the high-tension electrical wires on tall metal towers is dangerous work, but from the moment he sees the linemen at work, farm Read More

Black Legion

Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Dick Foran, Erin O'Brien-Moore, Ann Sheridan, Robert H. Barrat

Synopsis: This hard-hitting, socially conscious drama, the sort of story that Warner Bros. made their hallmark in the 1930s, concerns a factory worker named Frank Taylor (Humphrey Bogart), who is convinced that a big promotion is right around the corner for him. However, the promotion goes to a Read More

Alcatraz Island

Actors: Ann Sheridan, Mary Maguire, Dick Purcell, Addison Richards, George E. Stone

Synopsis: Gat Brady (John Litel) is a wealthy gangster, though he's never killed anyone, an he is devoted to his teenaged daughter Annabel (Mary Maguire). When he's arrested for tax evasion on the eve of a European trip, he has Annabel's governess Flo Allen (Ann Sheridan) continue on the trip with the girl Read More

Missing Witnesses

Actors: John Litel, Dick Purcell, Jean Dale, William Haade

Synopsis: The racket-busting activities of New York DA Thomas E. Dewey was the inspiration for several late-1930s crime films, including Warner Bros.' Missing Witnesses. The Dewey counterpart this time out is Inspector Lane (John Litel), assigned to drive all organized crime out of his community. But Lane Read More

Give Me Liberty

Wayward

Actors: Nancy Carroll, Richard Arlen, Pauline Frederick, John Litel

Synopsis: In this drama, a rich man's wife finds herself victimized by her cruel mother-in-law who doesn't think the girl is good enough for her son. Not only does she try to destroy their marriage, the meddlesome mom also tries to steal their baby. The wife takes the baby and flees. In the end, the couple Read More

On the Border

Actors: Rin Tin Tin, Armida, Philo McCullough, Bruce Covington

Synopsis: Having already made a successful transition to talkies, canine star Rin-Tin-Tin remained on the Warner Bros. payroll throughout 1930. In On the Border, Rinty plays a police dog living at a lavish California hacienda near the Mexican border. The villainous Farrell (Philo McCullough) decides to use Read More