William PineFilmography

The Big Caper

Crew: Producer

Actors: Rory Calhoun, Mary Costa, James Gregory, Robert H. Harris, Roxanne Arlen

Synopsis: Obviously inspired by such films as The Asphalt Jungle and The Killing, The Big Caper takes place in a small town with a large bank. James Gregory plays the leader of a gang of thieves who intends to knock over the bank--but not without meticulous pre-planning. In the months prior to the holdup Read More

Nightmare

Crew: Producer

Actors: Edward G. Robinson, Kevin McCarthy, Connie Russell, Virginia Christine, Rhys Williams

Synopsis: Jazz musician Stan Grayson (Kevin McCarthy) wakes up from a dream in which he has killed a man during a struggle in a bizarre mirrored room. However, thumbprints on his neck, a strange key in his pocket, and a haunting, otherworldly musical riff in his head quickly convince him that it was not Read More

Lucy Gallant

Crew: Producer

Actors: Edith Head, Jane Wyman, Charlton Heston, Claire Trevor, Thelma Ritter, William Demarest

Synopsis: An unusually matronly Jane Wyman plays the title character in Lucy Gallant. Adapted from a novel by Margaret Cousins, the story concerns the efforts by Lucy Gallant to make the wide-open spaces of Texas a mecca for High Fashion. Jilted at the altar, Lucy retreats to a booming oil town, where she Read More

Hell's Island

Crew: Producer, Screenwriter

Actors: John Payne, Mary Murphy, Francis L. Sullivan, Eduardo Noriega, Arnold Moss

Synopsis: Phil Karlson, well-regarded by film buffs for his tough, no-nonsense crime dramas, directed this adventure story shot partially on location in the Caribbean. Mike Cormack (John Payne) was once a District Attorney, until his fiancée, Janet Martin (Mary Murphy), left him to marry another man. Read More

Run for Cover

Crew: Producer

Actors: James Cagney, John Derek, Viveca Lindfors, Jean Hersholt, Ernest Borgnine, Grant Withers

Synopsis: In his first western since 1939's The Oklahoma Kid, James Cagney is a pillar of integrity in the Pine-Thomas production Run for Cover. Cagney plays Matt Dow, who at the beginning of the film has been released from prison after serving six years for a crime he didn't commit. Heading westward, Matt Read More

The Far Horizons

Crew: Producer

Actors: Fred MacMurray, Charlton Heston, Donna Reed, Barbara Hale, William Demarest

Synopsis: The Untamed West is the reissue title of the Pine-Thomas production The Far Horizons. This romanticized retelling of the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1803-06 stars Fred MacMurray as Meriwether Lewis and Charlton Heston as Bill Clark. The film doesn't delve much into the real-life animosity Read More

Jivaro

Crew: Producer

Actors: Fernando Lamas, Rhonda Fleming, Brian Keith, Lon Chaney, Jr., Richard Denning

Synopsis: In this adventure, four explorers search for a vast treasure in the Amazon jungle. One of the explorers is a woman who got involved after she traveled from California to marry her fiance whom she hasn't seen in two years. Another man tries to convince her that her fiance has become an alcoholic Read More

Those Redheads from Seattle

Crew: Producer

Actors: Rhonda Fleming, Gene Barry, Agnes Moorehead, Guy Mitchell, Teresa Brewer

Synopsis: Paramount's Pine-Thomas production unit takes the plunge into the 3-D craze in Those Redheads from Seattle. The titular carrot-tops are played by Rhonda Fleming, Teresa Brewer and Cynthia and Kay Bell, as members of a singing-sister act. Arriving in the Yukon during the Gold Rush days in the Read More

Sangaree

Crew: Producer

Actors: Fernando Lamas, Arlene Dahl, Patricia Medina, Francis L. Sullivan, Charles Korvin

Synopsis: Filmed in 3-D, Sangaree is a satisfactory swashbuckler adapted from a novel by Frank G. Slaughter. Fernando Lamas portrays the son of an 18th century slave whose fortunes take a radical turn when he inherits a huge cotton plantation in the American colonies. Arlene Dahl (later Mrs. Fernando Lamas) Read More

Jamaica Run

Crew: Producer

Actors: Ray Milland, Arlene Dahl, Wendell Corey, Patric Knowles, Laura Elliot

Synopsis: Paramount's William Pine- William Thomas production unit came up with another moneyspinner in Jamaica Run. Ray Milland plays Patrick Fairlie, a schooner master who is inveigled into salvaging a wrecked ship. Somewhere in the wreckage is a century-old bill of sale, which will prove that a huge Read More

Tropic Zone

Crew: Producer

Actors: Ronald Reagan, Rhonda Fleming, Noah Beery, Jr., Grant Withers

Synopsis: It's always fun to watch Ronald Reagan play a slightly disreputable type, and Tropic Zone is no exception. Reagan stars as Dan McCloud, a self-styled "banana expert" who is hiding out in a mythical South American country for obscure political reasons. Motivated by greed, McCloud comes to the aid Read More

The Vanquished

Crew: Producer

Actors: John Payne, Coleen Gray, Jan Sterling, Lyle Bettger, Willard Parker

Synopsis: The Vanquished represented another winner from Paramount's Pine-Thomas unit. John Payne plays Rock Grayson, a Civil War POW who returns to his Southern home to find carpetbagger Roger Hale (Lyle Bettger) in charge of things. An old enemy of Grayson's, Hale has commandeered the Grayson Read More

Caribbean

Crew: Producer

Actors: John Payne, Arlene Dahl, Cedric Hardwicke, Francis L. Sullivan, Willard Parker

Synopsis: Caribbean was another box-office winner from Paramount's "two dollar bills," producers William H. Pine and William Thomas. Set in the 18th century, the film stars John Payne as adventurer Dick Lindsay, hired by pirate leader Charles Barclay (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) to pose as the long-lost nephew of Read More

The Blazing Forest

Crew: Producer

Actors: John Payne, William Demarest, Agnes Moorehead, Richard Arlen, Susan Morrow

Synopsis: Library footage from the 1940 Paramount feature The Forest Rangers is used sparingly but effectively in the 1952 Pine-Thomas production The Blazing Forest. John Payne plays troubleshooting logger Kelly Hanson, who is hired by timber baroness Jessie Crain (Agnes Moorehead). Hanson is promised a Read More

Cavalry Charge

Crew: Producer

Actors: Ronald Reagan, Rhonda Fleming, Bruce Bennett, Bill Williams, Peter Hansen, Noah Beery, Jr.

Synopsis: Paramount's immensely successful Pine-Thomas production unit once more struck box-office gold with The Last Outpost. Ronald Reagan stars as devil-may-care Confederate officer Vance Britton, who leads a band of guerillas on a series of sabotage raids. The Northern Army dispatches Vance's brother Read More

Hong Kong

Crew: Producer

Actors: Ronald Reagan, Rhonda Fleming, Nigel Bruce, Marvin Miller

Synopsis: This thriller is set in Asia and follows the exciting exploits of a villainous soldier of fortune (Ronald Reagan) involved in shady shenanigans with the communists who gets caught red-handed by the authorities. He manages to escape and during his flight encounters a charming Chinese orphan who Read More

Passage West

Crew: Producer

Actors: John Payne, Dennis O'Keefe, Arleen Whelan, Frank Faylen, Mary Anderson

Synopsis: Somewhat similar to John Ford's Wagon Master (1950), Passage West deals with a band of religious pioneers, led by a peace-loving minister (Dennis O'Keefe), heading across the desert. Along the trail, the travellers are forced to accompany with six escaped convicts who join the wagon train. The Read More

Crosswinds

Crew: Producer

Actors: John Payne, Rhonda Fleming, Forrest Tucker, Robert Lowery, Alan Mowbray

Synopsis: Paramount's Pine-Thomas unit served up another winner with the Technicolor actioner Crosswinds. Set in New Guinea, the film stars John Payne as schooner captain Pete Singleton, who loses his boat to a pair of scheming gold thieves (Forrest Tucker, Robert Lowery). On board the vessel as a Read More

The Lawless

Crew: Producer

Actors: MacDonald Carey, Gail Russell, Lalo Rios, John Hoyt, Johnny Sands, Lee Patrick

Synopsis: The Lawless was director Joseph Losey's second feature-length film. The story concerns a group of Mexican-American migrant workers who are subjected to all sorts of abuse and intolerance by their California bosses. A violent clash between whites and Latinos at a dance results in a torrent of Read More

The Eagle and the Hawk

Crew: Producer

Actors: John Payne, Rhonda Fleming, Dennis O'Keefe, Thomas Gomez, Fred Clark

Synopsis: Paramount producing team William H. Pine and William Thomas weren't known as the "Two Dollar Bills" for nothing. Like their medium-budget adventure yarns of the 1940s, their "A" western The Eagle and the Hawk proved a moneyspinner for Paramount's distribution channels. In his first western, John Payne Read More

Tripoli

Crew: Producer

Actors: Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Howard Da Silva, Phillip Reed, Grant Withers

Synopsis: The fabled 19th-century clashes between U.S. Marines and the pirates of Tripoli have provided story material for dozens of films. Tripoli stars John Payne as two-fisted marine lieutenant O'Bannon, though top billing is bestowed upon Maureen O'Hara as Countess D'Arneau, who has come to Tripoli Read More

Special Agent

Crew: Producer

Actors: George Reeves, Laura Elliot, Paul Valentine, Tom Powers

Synopsis: It had been said that the Pine-Thomas production unit never lost money for Paramount Pictures. Even without major star names to carry the box-office weight, Pine-Thomas' Special Agent managed to post a tidy profit. William Eythe stars as Johnny Douglas, an operative of the combined railroads' Read More

Manhandled

Crew: Producer

Actors: Dorothy Lamour, Sterling Hayden, Dan Duryea, Irene Hervey, Phillip Reed

Synopsis: Produced by Paramount's Pine-Thomas unit, Manhandled is a no-nonsense film noir with a well-chosen cast. Small-time hoodlum Karl Benson (Dan Duryea) uses and abuses several innocent people in his efforts to get ahead. Among Benson's victims is Merl Kramer (Dorothy Lamour), who doesn't find out Read More

Dynamite

Crew: Director, Producer

Actors: William Gargan, Virginia Welles, Richard Crane, Irving Bacon, Mary Newton

Synopsis: Dynamite is a 1949 effort from the Pine-Thomas production mill. William Gargan and Richard Crane star as Gunner and Johnny, troubleshooters for dynamite contractor Hard Rock Mason Frank Ferguson. Though forced to work as a team on the job, Gunner and Johnny fall out when romance enters the picture Read More

El Paso

Crew: Producer

Actors: John Payne, Gail Russell, Sterling Hayden, George "Gabby" Hayes, Dick Foran

Synopsis: Produced in garish Cinecolor, this aspiring "A" Western features John Payne as Clay Fletcher, an Eastern lawyer assigned to track down a judge whose signature is needed for some estate papers. Clay traces the judge, Henry Jeffers (Henry Hull), to El Paso, a lawless town ruthlessly run by saloon Read More

Captain China

Crew: Producer

Actors: John Payne, Gail Russell, Jeffrey Lynn, Lon Chaney, Jr., Edgar Bergen

Synopsis: Paramount's Pine-Thomas production unit was afforded a larger budget than usual for Captain China. The title character, played by John Payne, is a ship's captain whose embittered behavior after losing his lady love seemingly leads to tragedy. Accused of deliberately scuttling his ship during a Read More

Speed to Spare

Crew: Producer

Actors: Richard Arlen, Jean Rogers, Richard Travis, Pat Phelan, Nanette Parks

Synopsis: Speed to Spare is an efficient entry from the Pine-Thomas Productions assembly line. Ricard Arlen, who'd been a "regular" with the P-T output since the early 1940s, stars as daredevil auto racer Cliff Jordan. Opting for a safer profession, Jordan forms a trucking firm with his somewhat more Read More

Big Town Scandal

Crew: Producer

Actors: Phillip Reed, Hillary Brooke, Stanley Clements, Darryl Hickman, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer

Synopsis: Pine-Thomas Productions' "Big Town" film series, based on the radio program of the same name, came to an end with Big Town Scandal. Returning for their fourth go-round are Philip Reed as Steve Wilson, crusading editor of the Illustrated Daily Press, and Hillary Brooke as Lorelei Kilbourne Read More

Shaggy

Crew: Producer

Actors: Brenda Joyce, George Nokes, Robert Shayne, Jo Gilbert, Ralph Sanford

Synopsis: Shaggy is a lovable dog, owned by equally lovable young George Nokes. The put-upon pooch is accused of killing sheep by a grouchy neighbor. The real villain is a wolf, which is eventually dispatched by faithful, fearless Shaggy. Before this happens, however, Nokes spends most of his screen time Read More

Disaster

Crew: Director, Producer

Actors: Richard Denning, Trudy Marshall, Damian O'Flynn, Will Wright, James Millican

Synopsis: It's always a risky venture to give a film a title like Disaster (certain critics, like certain vultures, just can't wait to pounce), but the Pine-Thomas unit at Paramount seldom lost money. The unit's favorite leading man Richard Arlen isn't around this time, so another Richard, Denning by name Read More

Mr. Reckless

Crew: Producer

Actors: William Eythe, Barbara Britton, Walter Catlett, Nestor Paiva

Synopsis: The same week that Pine-Thomas Productions' Speed to Spare was tradeshown in Los Angeles, the company released another of its patented adventure programmers, Mr. Reckless. William Eythe plays the title character, an oil-well digger named Jeff Lundy. Returning to his hometown after a long absence Read More

Caged Fury

Crew: Producer

Actors: Richard Denning, Sheila Ryan, Mary Beth Hughes, Frank Wilcox

Synopsis: Caged Fury was the last of three Pine-Thomas productions tradeshown in Los Angeles within the same February week in 1948. The story takes place in a seedy circus, where malevolent clown Smiley (Buster Crabbe, in a truly despicable characterization) plots to further the career of aspiring lion Read More

Waterfront at Midnight

Crew: Producer

Actors: William Gargan, Mary Beth Hughes, Richard Travis, Richard Crane, Cheryl Walker

Synopsis: The Pine-Thomas action/adventure assembly line put together another winner with Waterfront at Midnight. Hoping to put the cuffs on criminal mastermind Socks Barstow (Richard Travis), detective Mike Hanrohan (William Gargan) is stymied by the fact that his younger brother Denny (Richard Crane) has Read More

Big Town

Crew: Producer

Actors: Phillip Reed, Hillary Brooke, Robert Lowery, Byron Barr, Veda Ann Borg

Synopsis: Big Town was the first of a series of Pine-Thomas productions inspired by the radio series of the same name--which in turn was spun off into a long-running TV series. Philip Reed stars as crusading newspaper editor Steve Wilson, while Hillary Brooke portrays Wilson's ever-loving, ever-efficient Read More

Big Town After Dark

Crew: Producer

Actors: Phillip Reed, Hillary Brooke, Richard Travis, Vince Barnett

Synopsis: Top-notch police reporter Lorelei Kilbourne (Hillary Brooke) decides to resign her job when her novel is published, and gives Big Town Illustrated Press editor-in-chief Steve Wilson (Philip Reed) her two-weeks' notice. Lorelei is surprised when Steve hires a replacement that day, Susan Peabody Read More

Jungle Flight

Crew: Producer

Actors: Robert Lowery, Ann Savage, Barton MacLane, Douglas Blackley, Douglas Fowley

Synopsis: On February 17, 1947, two efforts from Paramount's Pine-Thomas productions were tradeshown in tandem. The first was I Cover Big Town; the second was Jungle Flight.The latter film stars Robert Lowery and Douglas Blackley as Kelly Jordan and Andy Melton, troubleshooting freight pilots engaged in Read More

Fear in the Night

Crew: Producer

Actors: Paul Kelly, DeForest Kelley, Kay Scott, Ann Doran, Robert Emmett Keane

Synopsis: One of several low-budget mellers directed by scriptwriter Maxwell Shane, Fear in the Night was based on the short story Nightmare by William Irish (pseudonym for Cornell Woolrich). In his first starring role, DeForest Kelley plays Vince Grayson, a young man who has a terrible nightmare wherein he Read More

I Cover Big Town

Crew: Producer

Actors: Phillip Reed, Hillary Brooke, Robert Lowery, Robert Shayne, Louis Jean Heydt

Synopsis: This was the second entry in Pine-Thomas' film series based on the popular radio show Big Town. Philip Reed and Hillary Brooke return respectively as Steve Kilgore, crusading editor of the Illustrated Daily Press, and Steve's plucky Gal Friday Lorelei Kilbourne. In this one, Steve suspects Read More

Albuquerque

Crew: Producer

Actors: Randolph Scott, Barbara Britton, George "Gabby" Hayes, Lon Chaney, Jr., Russell Hayden

Synopsis: Randolph Scott puts in time with Paramount's Pine-Thomas unit in the big-budget western Albuquerque. Scott is cast as Cole Armin, the nephew of tyrannical town boss John Armin (George Cleveland). Defying his grasping uncle, Cole sides with a small wagon-train line which the elder Armin hopes to Read More

Seven Were Saved

Crew: Director, Producer

Actors: Richard Denning, Catherine Craig, Russell Hayden, Ann Doran

Synopsis: A plane crash over the Pacific leaves seven survivors stranded in a life raft in this war-time disaster movie. One of the passengers is a captured Japanese official en route to stand trial for war crimes. Two of the survivors spent time in a Japanese prison camp. Both pilots survived as did a Read More

Adventure Island

Crew: Producer

Actors: Rory Calhoun, Rhonda Fleming, Paul Kelly, John Abbott, Alan Napier

Synopsis: Adventure Island is a shorter and less satisfying remake of the 1937 Paramount actioner Ebb Tide. Rory Calhoun, Paul Kelly and John Abbott star as Herrick, Lochlin and Hulsh, three mercenary seamen involved in illegal activities in the South Seas. Hired to pilot a schooner to Australia, the Read More

Danger Street

Crew: Producer

Actors: Jane Withers, Robert Lowery, Bill Edwards, Elaine Riley

Synopsis: Having just come into a $375,000 trust fund on her 21st birthday, former child star Jane Withers certainly didn't need to star in the Pine-Thomas melodrama Danger Street, but she was determined to prove her worth as an adult dramatic actress. Withers and Robert Lowery costar as Pat Marvin and Read More

Swamp Fire

Crew: Director, Producer

Actors: Marcelle Corday, Larry "Buster" Crabbe, Pedro de Cordoba, Virginia Grey, Edwin Maxwell

Synopsis: This adventure, set upon the mighty Mississippi, features two former Tarzans. One of them is a river-boat captain who was shell shocked in the war. The other is an evil trapper. The trouble is caused by their shared affection for a pretty young woman. Their rivalry climaxes as the two wrestle it Read More

Hot Cargo

Crew: Producer

Actors: William Gargan, Jean Rogers, Phillip Reed, Larry Young, Harry Cording

Synopsis: In this drama two wandering WW II vets visit the family of a former buddy who had been killed in action. Finding the family nearly destitute and their trucking business on the brink of ruin, the friends decide to stay and help them fight the rival companies behind the mayhem. Unfortunately, the Read More

They Made Me a Killer

Crew: Producer

Actors: Robert Lowery, Barbara Britton, Frank Albertson, Lola Lane, James Bush

Synopsis: This Pine-Thomas Production was scripted by Geoffrey Homes (aka Daniel Mainwaring), best known as the author of the novel upon which the "film noir" classic Out of the Past was based. Robert Lowery plays victim-of-circumstance Tom Durling, in the wrong place at the wrong time when a bank robbery Read More

Scared Stiff

Crew: Producer

Actors: Jack Haley, Ann Savage, Barton MacLane, Veda Ann Borg, Arthur Ayleswofth

Synopsis: This comedy centers around an inept reporter who wouldn't recognize a hot story if it burned him on the hand. The trouble begins when he is assigned to do a story on a local wine festival. Meanwhile an escaped convict holds the heated interest of the rest of the newspaper employees. The bungler Read More

Follow That Woman

Crew: Producer

Actors: William Gargan, Nancy Kelly, Regis Toomey, Don Costello

Synopsis: Follow That Woman is a tad more light-hearted than most Pine-Thomas adventure efforts. William Gargan plays private eye Sam Boone, who is about to be inducted into the Army. Before donning uniform, Boone attempts to solve a murder, but Uncle Sam is a little faster than he is. Still on the Read More

High Powered

Crew: Producer

Actors: Robert Lowery, Phyllis Brooks, Mary Treen, Joe Sawyer, Roger Pryor

Synopsis: Pine-Thomas Productions' High Powered is the mixture as before, a two-fisted adventure tale with a melodramatic "tortured hero" subtext. High-rigger Tim Scott (Robert Lowery) can't get over the fact that his brother died in an on-the-job wiring mishap. Nor does Rod Farrell (Roger Pryor), who holds Read More

Tokyo Rose

Crew: Producer

Actors: Lotus Long, Byron Barr, Osa Massen, Donald Douglas, Richard Loo

Synopsis: Tokyo Rose is a standard wartime melodrama with the slight advantage of topicality. Lotus Long plays the title role, an American-educated Japanese woman broadcasting enemy propaganda to American troops. Captured GI Pete Sherman (Byron Barr) is one of a group of POWS slated to be interviewed on Read More

Gambler's Choice

Crew: Producer

Actors: Chester Morris, Nancy Kelly, Russell Hayden, Sheldon Leonard, Lee Patrick

Synopsis: Paramount's Pine-Thomas production unit continued its unbroken string of box-office successes with Gambler's Choice. Pine-Thomas perennial Chester Morris plays turn-of-the-century gambler Ross Hadley, owner of a posh gaming establishment in the heart of New York. Hadley's chief antagonist is his Read More

One Body Too Many

Crew: Producer

Actors: Jean Parker, Bela Lugosi, Bernard Nedell, Blanche Yurka

Synopsis: Another of Jack Haley's comedy vehicles for Pine-Thomas productions, One Body Too Many casts Haley as timid insurance salesman Albert Tuttle. Much against his better judgment, Tuttle makes a business call at a sinister old mansion, intending to sell life insurance to the owner. He proves a bit Read More

Timber Queen

Crew: Producer

Actors: Mary Beth Hughes, June Havoc, Sheldon Leonard, George E. Stone

Synopsis: Timber Queen is another of Pine-Thomas' rugged low-budget adventure films of the 1940s, most of which (like this one) starred Richard Arlen. It all begins when Russ (Arlen), a former Army pilot, comes home after a physical discharge. He befriends Elaine (Mary Beth Hughes), the widow of an Army Read More

The Navy Way

Crew: Director, Producer

Actors: Robert Lowery, Jean Parker, Bill Henry, Roscoe Karns, Sharon Douglas

Synopsis: Johnny Jersey (Robert Lowery) learns The Navy Way in this typical Pine-Thomas actioner. A product of the streets, Johnny has no time for authority and protocol, thus has a lot of difficulty adjusting to the regimen at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station (where much of the film was shot). Read More

Dark Mountain

Crew: Director, Producer

Actors: Robert Lowery, Ellen Drew, Regis Toomey, Eddie Quillan, Elisha Cook, Jr.

Synopsis: This Pine-Thomas actioner stars Robert Lowery as two-fisted forest ranger Don Bradley. Promoted to supervisor, Bradley finds his success hollow when his childhood sweetheart Kay (Ellen Drew) marries big-time gangster Steve Downey (Regis Toomey). In soon develops that Kay has wedded Downey against Read More

Take It Big

Crew: Producer

Actors: Jack Haley, Harriet Hilliard, Mary Beth Hughes, Richard Lane, Arline Judge

Synopsis: Amidst its usual yearly quota of adventure films, Paramount's Pine-Thomas unit turned out a handful of comedies and musicals. One of these was Take it Big, starring Jack Haley and Harriet Hilliard. Haley plays Jack North, the nether end of a vaudeville horse act who inherits a western ranch. When Read More

Double Exposure

Crew: Producer

Actors: Chester Morris, Nancy Kelly, Phillip Terry, Jane Farrar, Richard Gaines

Synopsis: This breezy Pine-Thomas actioner is all about a team of ace news photographers. Chester Morris plays Larry Burke, editor for a weekly photo magazine. Impressed by the work of photojournalist Pat Marvin, Burke hires Marvin sight unseen, only to discover that "he" is a "she" (Nancy Kelly). Having Read More

High Explosive

Crew: Producer

Actors: Chester Morris, Jean Parker, Barry Sullivan, Rand Brooks, Barbara Lynn

Synopsis: High Explosive is a Hollywood "B" precursor to the later, more critically lionized The Wages of Fear. Chester Morris plays a two-fisted trucker who takes on a deadly assignment: Transporting nitroglycerin over bumpy terrain. As half the supporting cast is blown to smithereens, Morris persists in Read More

Minesweeper

Crew: Producer

Actors: Richard Arlen, Jean Parker, Russell Hayden, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Emma Dunn

Synopsis: Adhering to the formula of such previous Pine-Thomas productions as Forced Landing, Flying Blind and Torpedo Boat, Minesweeper is the action-packed story of military men under wartime pressure. Richard Arlen plays Jim Smith, a once-reliable Naval officer who has virtually destroyed his life with Read More

Submarine Alert

Crew: Producer

Actors: Richard Arlen, Wendy Barrie, Nils Asther, Roger Pryor, Abner Biberman

Synopsis: The plot of the Pine-Thomas adventure quickie Submarine Alert is more than a little beholden to Hitchcock's The 39 Steps. Richard Arlen plays FBI radio engineer Lee Deerhold, who turns bitter and vindictive when he is abruptly fired. Actually, his termination was engineered by his FBI superiors Read More

Alaska Highway

Crew: Producer

Actors: Richard Arlen, Jean Parker, Ralph Sanford, Joe Sawyer

Synopsis: Army engineeer Richard Arlen helps blaze the trail for a crucial highway in the Alaskan wastes. His younger brother William Henry works side by side with Arlen, though Henry is hampered by a tendency to down tools and raise fists whenever someone calls him out. Arlen is willing to bail Henry out Read More

Aerial Gunner

Crew: Director, Producer

Actors: Chester Morris, Richard Arlen, Lita Ward, Jimmy Lydon, Dick Purcell

Synopsis: A wounded aerial gunner tells his story in this wartime propaganda film. He begins with his recruitment and basic training before the war. There he discovers that his sergeant is one of his foes, and that both of them are fighting for the affection of the lovely sister of a fellow recruit who Read More

Tornado

Crew: Producer

Actors: Chester Morris, Nancy Kelly, Joe Sawyer, Gwen Kenyon

Synopsis: Paramount's Pine-Thomas unit continued humming profitably along with 1943's Tornado. Chester Morris (who eventually appeared in eight Pine-Thomas efforts) stars as coal miner Pete Ramsey, who falls in love with, and secretly marries, scheming showgirl Victory Kane (Nancy Kelly). Anxious to escape Read More

A Letter from Bataan

Crew: Director

Actors: Richard Arlen, Susan Hayward

Torpedo Boat

Crew: Producer

Actors: Richard Arlen, Jean Parker, Mary Carlisle, Phillip Terry, Dick Purcell

Synopsis: Torpedo Boat is a typical action-filled effort from Paramount's busy Pine-Thomas unit. Richard Arlen and Phil Terry star as Skimmer and Tommy, two lifelong buddies who've invented a lightweight, high-speed torpedo boat (hence the title). Their copacetic business relationship is strained when Read More

Wrecking Crew

Crew: Producer

Actors: Richard Arlen, Chester Morris, Jean Parker, Joe Sawyer, Esther Dale

Synopsis: No relation to the much-later "Matt Helm" spy comedy of the same name, Pine-Thomas Productions' The Wrecking Crew serves as a virile vehicle for Richard Arlen and Chester Morris. The stars appear respectively as a demolition-crew boss and his top worker. Morris has earned a reputation as a "jinx" Read More

Wildcat

Crew: Producer

Actors: Richard Arlen, Arline Judge, William Frawley, Larry "Buster" Crabbe, Arthur Hunnicutt

Synopsis: One of the most frequently revived of the Pine-Thomas productions of the 1940s, Wildcat is set amongst the oil fields of Oklahoma. With the help of his pal Chicopee Nevins (Elisha Cook Jr.), foresighted oil speculator Johnny Maverick (Richard Arlen) buys up a great deal of property in hopes of Read More

Reap the Wild Wind

Crew: Associate Producer

Actors: Ray Milland, John Wayne, Paulette Goddard, Raymond Massey, Robert Preston

Synopsis: Cecil B. DeMille's Technicolor historical spectacle Reap the Wild Wind was to have starred Gary Cooper, but Cooper's prior commitment to Goldwyn's Pride of the Yankees compelled DeMille to recast the leading role with John Wayne. The film, set in the mid-19th century, centers around Key West Read More

I Live on Danger

Crew: Producer

Actors: Chester Morris, Jean Parker, Elizabeth Risdon, Edward Norris, Dick Purcell

Synopsis: I Live on Danger is a fast-moving thriller with strong performances and top-notch direction -- by former screenwriter Sam White -- which overcomes some weaknesses in the plot. Jeff Morrell (Chester Morris) is a newscaster who gets involved in saving wrongly accused Eddie Nelson (Edward Norris) Read More

Flying Blind

Crew: Producer

Actors: Richard Arlen, Jean Parker, Nils Asther, Marie Wilson, Roger Pryor

Synopsis: Flying Blind was the third of William Pine and William Thomas' independent productions for Paramount release. The cast includes such Pine-Thomas "regulars" as Richard Arlen and Jean Parker, and like its two predecessors dealt with the more dramatic aspects of aviation. Arlen plays Jim Clark Read More

Power Dive

Crew: Producer

Actors: Richard Arlen, Jean Parker, Helen Mack, Roger Pryor, Don Castle

Synopsis: Power Dive was the first release from Pine-Thomas Productions, marking the beginning of a long and fruitful association between Paramount Pictures and the "Two Dollar Bills," William Pine & William Thomas. The story concentrated on a group of test pilots, busily experimenting with a revolutionary Read More

No Hands on the Clock

Crew: Producer

Actors: Chester Morris, Jean Parker, Rose Hobart, Dick Purcell, Astrid Allwyn

Synopsis: Detective Chester Morris and his nosy wife Jean Parker set up housekeeping in a small Reno hotel room, whence Morris conducts his investigation of a kidnap case. It appears that the abduction has some tenuous connection with a recent bank robbery. As Morris digs deeper, he finds that virtually all Read More

Forced Landing

Crew: Producer

Synopsis: In this war drama, a commercial pilot joins the air corps of a South Pacific island, and there he finds that he must contend with a dictator. He also falls quietly in love with the leader's girlfriend. Unfortunately, the evil leader is the head of the air corps, and to get rid of the young man who Read More

Northwest Mounted Police

Crew: Associate Producer

Actors: Gary Cooper, Madeleine Carroll, Preston S. Foster, Paulette Goddard, Robert Preston

Synopsis: Cecil B. De Mille directed this lavish all-star spectacular paying tribute to America's neighbors to the North. In 1885, as Louis Riel (Francis J. McDonald) tries to organize Indians and French settlers into a fighting force that will battle against the ruling British, Texas Ranger Dusty Rivers (Gary Cooper Read More

Union Pacific

Crew: Associate Producer

Actors: Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, Akim Tamiroff, Robert Preston, Lynne Overman, Brian Donlevy

Synopsis: Cecil B. DeMille takes us back to the 1860s, then rebuilds the first intercontinental railroad in Union Pacific. The real-life spectacle is occasionally interrupted by the fictional adventures of railroad overseer Joel McCrea, postmistress Barbara Stanwyck (with an incredible Irish brogue), and Read More

Land of Liberty

Crew: Production Assistant

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

The Buccaneer

Crew: Associate Producer

Actors: Fredric March, Franziska Gaal, Akim Tamiroff, Margot Grahame, Walter Brennan

Synopsis: Cecil B. DeMille's The Buccaneer stars Fredric March, complete with curly hair, pencil moustache and florid "Sacre Bleu!" French accent, as 18th century pirate Jean Lafitte. Operating out of a "buccaneer's haven" of the coast of New Orleans, Lafitte plunders all passing ships for their wealth, but Read More

The Plainsman

Crew: Producer

Actors: Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, James Ellison, Charles Bickford, Helen Burgess

Synopsis: One is immediately aware that The Plainsman is a Cecil B. DeMille production in the opening scene, wherein President Abraham Lincoln (Frank McGlynn Sr.), on the verge of signing crucial legislation which will determine the future of the American West, is dragged away from his Cabinet by a scolding Read More