Alan Ladd
Alan Walbridge Ladd (September 3, 1913 – January 29, 1964) was an American actor and producer known for his cool, understated screen presence and his defining roles in 1940s and 1950s film noir and Westerns. Standing 5 ft 6 in (168 cm), Ladd became famous for the contrast... Read full bio →
Featured Characters
Roles you can spot in Whatthemovie snapshots
Shane
1953
Frantic
Ford plays an American doctor whose wife suddenly vanishes in Paris. To find her, he navigates a puzzling web of language, locale, laissez-faire cops, triplicate-form filling bureaucrats and a defiant, mysterious waif who knows more than she tells.
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
Juliet Forrest is convinced that the reported death of her father in a mountain car crash was no accident. Her father was a prominent cheese scientist working on a secret recipe. To prove it was murder, she enlists the services of private eye Rigby Reardon.
The Movie Orgy
A montage of 1950s B-movies, TV shows & vintage commercials create a nostalgic collage about aliens & monsters attacking America.
The Carpetbaggers
Jonas Cord is a disagreeable young tycoon who's building planes, directing films, and catting around on the corporate make in 1930s Hollywood.
13 West Street
An aerospace engineer (Ladd) ignores a policeman (Steiger) and hunts down a gang of juvenile delinquents.
Orazi e Curiazi
A Roman nobleman, Horatius leads an imperial legion during the long and bloody war between the Romans and the Albans. A desperate arrangement is agreed on how to settle the war. Three valiant brothers are chosen from each side to fight one last fierce and bloody duel...
One Foot in Hell
Mitch Barrett becomes embittered because his wife is allowed to die when he can't pay for the medicine she needs. The remorseful townspeople hire Mitch to be a deputy sheriff, thereby enabling him to plot an elaborate bank robbery with the help of an artist, a pickpocket, a gunslinger and a bar-girl.
The Man in the Net
A artist living in a quiet Connecticut is the main suspect in the disappearance of his shrew wife. Things really turn ugly when the townsfolk attempt to take the law into their own hands.
The Proud Rebel
A Confederate veteran living in the Yankee North struggles with his son's shock-induced muteness and the Northerners' hatred.
The Badlanders
Two men are released from the Arizona Territorial Prison at Yuma in 1898. One, the Dutchman, is out to get both gold and revenge from the people of a small mining town who had him imprisoned unjustly. The other, McBain, is just trying to go straight, but that is easier said than done once the Dutchman involves him in his gold theft scheme.
Boy on a Dolphin
Phaedra is a poor sponge diver on the lovely Greek isle of Hydra. While diving, she discovers an ancient brass and gold statue of a boy riding a dolphin, which is said to have the magical power to grant wishes.
A Cry in the Night
A police captain's emotions get in the way when his daughter is kidnapped.
Hell on Frisco Bay
A cop framed for a murder he did not commit hunts the San Francisco waterfront for the Mob racketeers who are responsible.
Saskatchewan
In 1877 Western Canada, a police inspector revolts against his inept commander, taking a safer route to the U.S. border in order to stop invading hostile Indians.
Drum Beat
In 1872, Indian fighter Johnny MacKay is appointed peace commissioner for the California and Oregon territory but he faces tough opposition from the renegade Modocs led by their chief Captain Jack.
Shane
A weary gunfighter attempts to settle down with a homestead family, but a smouldering settler and rancher conflict forces him to act.
The Iron Mistress
The exploits of nineteenth-century pioneer Jim Bowie after settling in New Orleans.
Botany Bay
Based on the story of the start of Australia's colonisation. An American medical student is falsely convicted of robbery, with his sentence involving the torturous voyage with other prisoners to the new penal colony at Botany Bay. Because of his attempt to escape, evil Captain Gilbert decides to return him to England on charges of mutiny.
Red Mountain
Towards the end of the American Civil War, a rebel captain flees to Colorado to join a band of Southern mercenaries. He drags an innocent gold prospecting couple into trouble when the husband is accused of a murder he committed.
Appointment with Danger
Al Goddard, a detective who works for the United States Postal Inspection Service, is assigned to arrest two criminals who've allegedly murdered a U.S. postal detective.
Captain Carey, U.S.A.
A group of agents in the U. S. Office of Strategic Services (forerunner of the C. I. A.)are sent to France, during World War II, to knock out the French railroad system and, in accomplishing this mission, most of them will be killed because of an inside betrayal. After the war, one of the agents returns to find the traitor.
The Great Gatsby
Nick Carraway, a young Midwesterner now living on Long Island, finds himself fascinated by the mysterious past and lavish lifetyle of his landlord, the nouveau riche Jay Gatsby. He is drawn into Gatsby's circle, becoming a witness to obsession and tragedy.
Chicago Deadline
On Chicago's South Side reporter Ed Ames finds the body of a dead girl. Her address book leads to a host of names of men frightened by her death but claiming never to have known her. Ames comes to know quite a lot, dangerously so.
Whispering Smith
Legendary railroad detective Whispering Smith becomes convinced that old friend and colleague Murray Sinclair has joined a criminal band to loot the railroad.
Variety Girl
Dozens of star and character-actor cameos and a message about the Variety Club (a show-business charity) are woven into a framework about two hopeful young ladies who come to Hollywood, exchange identities, and cause comic confusion (with slapstick interludes) throughout the Paramount studio.
My Favorite Brunette
Ronnie Jackson is a lowly baby photographer who secretly fantasizes about being a private detective. When a lovely baroness actually mistakes him for one and asks him to help locate her missing husband, Baron Montay, Ronnie finds himself agreeing.
The Blue Dahlia
This film noir stars Alan Ladd as a war veteran framed for the murder of his own wife and follows his search for the real murderer. Veronica Lake plays the sultry femme fatale who provides unexpected help.
Calcutta
Neale and Pedro fly cargo between Chungking and Calcutta. When their buddy Bill is murdered they investigate. Neale meets Bill's fiancée Virginia and becomes suspicious of a deeper plot while also falling for her charms.
Salty O'Rourke
A gambler (Alan Ladd) and his buddy (William Demarest) find a wise-guy jockey for their long-shot horse.
China
During the Japanese invasion of China, a cynical, macho profiteer meets a compassionate, beautiful schoolteacher.
This Gun for Hire
When assassin Philip Raven shoots a blackmailer and his beautiful female companion dead, he is paid off in marked bills by his treasonous employer who is working with foreign spies.
The Glass Key
When a corrupt politician Paul Madvig (Brian Donlevy) is accused of murder, his friend and right hand man Ed Beaumont (Alan Ladd) is determined to track down the real killer. Fending off amorous advances from his boss’ fiancée Janet Henry (Veronica Lake) and attacks from gangsters with nothing to lose, Beaumont’s loyalty is severely tested.
Lucky Jordan
A New York gangster is unwillingly drafted into the army and deserts but becomes patriotic when he stumbles upon foreign spies bent on stealing American military secrets.
The Reluctant Dragon
Humorist Robert Benchley attempts to find Walt Disney to ask him to adapt a short story about a gentle dragon who would rather recite poetry than be ferocious. Along the way, he is given a tour of Walt Disney Studios, and learns about the animation process.
The Black Cat
Greedy heirs wait in a mansion for a rich cat lover to die, only to learn her cats come first.
Paper Bullets
Circumstances force naive Dorothy Adams into serving an unjust prison term, but she emerges from it a cynical criminal who rises to power in the local crime organization.
Great Guns
Laurel and Hardy join the army. They are hardly soldiers, but they believe their employer will need them now he's drafted.
Citizen Kane
Orson Wells was 26 when he made his first feature film Citizen Kane. The film became known as one of the greatest of all time and earned him international celebrity. The story is about the publishing business and how one thrill-seeker’s struggle for power negatively affected everybody he came in contact with and eventually lead to a merciless war.
Those Were the Days!
A middle-aged couple think back to their college days and courtship.
The Howards of Virginia
Beautiful young Virginian Jane steps down from her proper aristocratic upbrining when she marries down-to-earth surveyor Matt Howard. Matt joins the Colonial forces in their fight for freedom against England. Matt will meet Jane's father in the battlefield.
Ellery Queen, Master Detective
Famed detective and crime novelist Ellery Queen solves a case involving the suspicious death of a rich man whose inheritors fight over his estate.
Hitler - Beast of Berlin
Hans Memling, a young intellectual, patriotic German, is secretly opposed to the Nazi regime. With the aid of Gustav Schultz, Father Pommer, Anna Wahl and others, he is gleaning accurate information from foreign radio broadcasts and distributing it through Germany with an underground-press operation.
Souls at Sea
Cooper and Raft save lives during a sea tragedy in this story about slave trade on the high seas in 1842.
Pigskin Parade
Married coaches Slug and Bessie find hillbilly football tosser Amos and the team gets invited to the Yale Bowl.
Murder at the Vanities
A homicide detective with an eye for the ladies, investigating a murder in Earl Carroll's Vanities, allows the music revue to continue during the investigation.
Island of Lost Souls
An obsessed scientist conducts profane experiments in evolution, eventually establishing himself as the self-styled demigod to a race of mutated, half-human abominations.