Frank O'Connor
Frank O'Connor was an American screen and television actor, as well as a director, screenwriter, and producer. His lengthy film acting career began in 1915.
Featured Characters
Roles you can spot in Whatthemovie snapshots
Decision at Sundown
Bart Allison and sidekick Sam arrive in the town of Sundown on the wedding day of town boss Tate Kimbrough, whom Allison blames for his wife's death years earlier.
Top Gun
A gunslinger returns to his hometown to warn of an impending outlaw gang attack, but he's met with hatred and fear for his previous killings.
A Lawless Street
Marshal Calem Ware must face unpleasant facts about his past when he attempts to run a criminal gang out of town.
Woman They Almost Lynched
Civil War period film about refined young woman Leslie who comes to Western town and learns to tote gun; title tells the rest.
The Blue Gardenia
Anne Baxter stars as Norah Larkin, a single woman whose heart is broken after receiving a "Dear John" letter. After a night of drinking she passes out in the apartment of womaniser Harry Prebble (Raymond Burr), awaking to find herself accused of his murder.
The Quiet Man
A disgraced American boxer retires to Ireland, where he finds love.
Smoky Canyon
Mahoney is a sheep man who's framed for the murder of a rancher. It's all part of a scheme by a dishonest cattleman who hopes to extenuate a range war for his own profit. The Durango Kid helps clear Mahoney's name.
Scandal Sheet
A tabloid editor assigns a young reporter to solve a murder the editor committed himself.
Carrie
Carrie's dreams of adventure in the big city are quickly squashed as she discovers all that awaits her there is a bleak life of grueling and poorly-paid factory work. That is, until a traveling salesman named Drouet steps into her life and changes her outlook...
Angel Face
Ambulance driver Frank Jessup is ensnared in the schemes of the sensuous but dangerous Diane Tremayne.
The Stooge
Bill Miller is an unsuccessful Broadway performer until his handlers convince him to enhance his act with a stooge—Ted Rogers, a guy positioned in the audience to be the butt of Bill's jokes. After Ted begins to steal the show, Bill's girlfriend and his pals advise him to make Ted an equal partner.
The Blue Veil
A World War I widow loses her only child and spends the rest of her life as a children's nurse.
Hollywood Story
A producer takes over a small film studio and - sensing that it'll be a good movie- begins investigating an old murder of a silent film star shot in his office years ago. He finds that his life is threatened as he digs deeper into the mystery.
Here Comes the Groom
Foreign correspondent Pete Garvey has 5 days to win back his former fiancée, or he'll lose the orphans he adopted.
A Place in the Sun
An ambitious young man wins an heiress's heart but has to cope with his former girlfriend's pregnancy.
Woman in Hiding
As far as the rest of the world is concerned, mill heiress Deborah Chandler Clark 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, Deborah is now a “woman in hiding,” living in mortal fear that someday her husband will catch up with her again.
The Men
A paralyzed war vet tries to adjust to the world without the use of his limbs.
Sunset Blvd.
Director Billy Wilder is ice cold in his captivating Hollywood drama Sunset Blvd. A screenwriter begins an affair with a silent film actress who thinks she’s at the top of her field...
No Sad Songs for Me
Mary Scott learns she only has ten months to live before dying of an incurable disease. She manages to keep the news from her husband, Brad and daughter, Polly. She tries to make every moment of her life count, but her effort is weakened by the discovery that Brad is interested in his assistant, Chris Radner.
Mister 880
The Skipper is a charming old man loved by all his neighbors. What they don't know is that he is also Mr. 880, an amateurish counterfeiter who has amazingly managed to elude the Secret Service for 20 years.
The Stratton Story
Star major league pitcher Monty Stratton loses a leg in a hunting accident, but becomes determined to leave the game on his own terms.
Shockproof
A parole officer falls in love with the ex-con who was his charge.
Sands of Iwo Jima
The relationship between Sergeant Stryker and a group of rebellious recruits is made difficult by the Sergeant's tough training tactics. At Tarawa, the leathernecks have a chance to see Stryker in action, and begin to appreciate him.
King of the Rocket Men
Prof. Millard pretends to be dead and helps Jeff King ferret out Vulcan, the evil traitor at the science academy. Donning his Rocket Man costume King goes from one hair raising rescue to the next in order to keep the newly invented Decimator out of the clutches of Vulcan and his minions.
Ghost of Zorro
It is 1865 and the telegraph is heading west. George Crane, wanting to keep law and order out of his territory, is out to stop the construction. The engineer on the job is Ken Mason and he is the grandson of Don Diego Vega (also known as Zorro).
Cowboy and the Prizefighter
Red Ryder (Jim Bannon) KO's a fight racket with sidekick Little Beaver (Little Brown Jug) and a new friend.
Challenge of the Range
Charles Starrett once more dons the mask of mysterious do-gooder "The Durango Kid" in Columbia's Challenge of the Range. Wandering cowboy Steve Roper (Starrett) is hired by the Farmers Association to stem the activities of a group of gunmen who are driving ranchers off their land.
All the King's Men
A man of humble beginnings and honest intentions rises to power by nefarious means. Along for the wild ride are an earnest reporter, a heretofore classy society girl, and a too-clever-for-her-own-good political flack.
Who Killed Doc Robbin
A group of people find themselves trapped in a creepy mansion, complete with secret passageways, a mad doctor and a murderous gorilla.
Wake of the Red Witch
Captain Ralls fights Dutch shipping magnate Mayrant Sidneye for the woman he loves, Angelique Desaix, and for a fortune in gold aboard the Red Witch.
The Noose Hangs High
Two window washers mistakenly receive, and lose, $50,000 belonging to a shady bookie, and have only forty-eight hours to retrieve the money.
The Egg and I
World War II veteran Bob MacDonald surprises his new wife, Betty, by quitting his city job and moving them to a dilapidated farm in the country. While Betty gamely struggles with managing the crumbling house and holding off nosy neighbors and a recalcitrant pig, Bob makes plans for crops and livestock.
Shoot to Kill
A gritty crime story involving a newspaper man and crooked politicians.
Secret Beyond the Door...
Fritz Lang’s psycho thriller tells the story of a woman who marries a stranger with a deadly hobby and through their love he attempts to fight off his obsessive-compulsive actions.
Nightmare Alley
The movie follows the rise and fall of a con man — a story that begins and ends at a seedy travelling carnival. Stanton Carlisle (Tyrone Power) joins the carnival, working with "Mademoiselle Zeena" (Joan Blondell) and her alcoholic husband, Pete (Ian Keith).
Homesteaders of Paradise Valley
Red Ryder convinces homesteaders to settle in Paradise Valley. Business men in nearby Central City want control of the valley and water supply and propose to build a dam for half interest in the land. They use Red to generate interest in the dam but when the dam is completed, they rig the stockholder's meeting so Central City will get the water.
Dick Tracy's Dilemma
Dick Tracy investigates the theft of a fortune of fur coats, a possible insurance swindle and several murders, all linked to a huge thug who wears a hook in place of his right hand.
Desperate
An innocent trucker takes it on the lam when he's accused of robbery.
The Brute Man
A facially deformed and mentally unhinged man wreaks his revenge on those who deformed him with a series of brutal murders.
Sun Valley Cyclone
In this western, Red Ryder rounds up a gang of horse thieves who have been stealing cavalry horses.
Strange Impersonation
A female research scientist conducting experiments on a new anesthetic has a very bad week. Her scheming assistant intentionally scars her face, her almost-fiancee appears to have deserted her and she finds herself being blackmailed by a women she accidentally knocked down with her car.
Stagecoach to Denver
Lambert has the stagecoach wrecked killing the Commissioner so his phony replacement can alter Coonskin's land survey. When Red Ryder exposes the survey hoax, Lambert has his stooge Sheriff put Red in jail.
Night Editor
"Night Editor" was based on the already existing radio program in which a newspaper editor would recount the 'inside story' of some bit newspaper story, and later became a television series.
It's a Wonderful Life
An angel helps a compassionate but despairingly frustrated businessman by showing what life would had been like if he never existed.
Badman's Territory
Sheriff Mark Rowley and his brother John find themselves in an annexed area of Indian Territory which is home to notorious outlaws like Jesse James and Sam Bass.
The Vampire's Ghost
In a small African port, a tawdry bar is run by a old man named Webb Fallon. Fallon is actually a vampire, but he is becoming weary of his "life" of the past few hundred years.
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Dorian Gray, wishing to remain young and handsome for eternity, essentially sells his soul so that a portrait can age instead of him. Over the course of the years, Dorian commits every sort of sin, heavily influenced by his friend Lord Henry Wotton. But as his life goes on, he slowly realises the emptiness and evil which he has succumbed to.
Sing Your Way Home
A war journalist escorts a spirited teen band back to NYC post-WWII, turning the journey into a musical comedy filled with memorable performances.
Mildred Pierce
After her cheating husband leaves her, Mildred Pierce proves she can become independent and successful, but can't win the approval of her spoiled daughter.
I Love a Mystery
This first film in the Columbia series was based on the radio serial, "The Decapitation of Jefferson Monk." A detective tries to protect a man who has predicted his murder will take place in three days.
Hold That Blonde!
A kleptomaniac falls in love with a woman who is member of a gang of jewel thieves, although he's initially unaware of her true occupation.
Fallen Angel
An unemployed drifter, Eric Stanton wanders into a small California town and begins hanging around the local diner. While Eric falls for the lovely waitress Stella, he also begins romancing a quiet and well-to-do woman named June Mills.
Escape in the Fog
A woman dreams of murder on the Golden Gate Bridge.
A Song to Remember
Biography of Frederic Chopin. Vidor romanticizes Chopin's patriotism in the film, which was produced during World War II. Chopin, played by Cornel Wilde, is first presented to the audience as a child prodigy playing a piece by Mozart, but suddenly starts
The Missing Juror
A detective tries to stop whomever is murdering the jurors on a notorious murder case.
The Falcon in Mexico
The Falcon travels to Mexico where he gets involved with murder and a mysterious painting.
This Land Is Mine
A soft-spoken school teacher tries to prove he's not a Nazi collaborator.
The Moon Is Down
During the Nazi occupation of Norway, a small Norwegian village struggles to cope with the invaders and some locals choose collaboration while others prefer armed resistance.
The Chance of a Lifetime
Sleuth Boston Blackie (Chester Morris) helps a wartime convict (Erik Rolf) who was framed for a murder while out on parole.
Riders of the Rio Grande
A banker struggles to keep his bank solvent and his town from going bankrupt after the bank is robbed and all its money taken. The Three Mesquiteers ride into town and set out to help.
False Colors
Before he was killed by Mark Foster's men, Bud Lawton willed part ownership in his ranch to Hoppy and his two pals. When the three arrive they find a fake posing as Lawton. When they expose the imposter, Foster gets the Sheriff to jail them for Lawton's murder.
X Marks the Spot
A private detective, soon to enlist in the army, is drawn into one final case when his police officer father is killed in the line of duty. Soon his prime suspect is murdered as well, and he finds himself framed for the crime.
The Talk of the Town
When the Holmes Woolen Mill burns down, political activist Leopold Dilg is jailed for arson (and murder; one man was lost). Escaping, Leopold hides out in the home of his childhood sweetheart Nora Shelley ...which she has just rented to unsuspecting law professor Michael Lightcap.
The Falcon Takes Over
A society sleuth and a lady reporter try to track down a murderous thug's lost girlfriend.Based on the Raymond Chandler book "Farewell, My Lovely".
The Big Street
A busboy in unrequited love with a nightclub performer grows closer to her after she is paralyzed in an attack by her gangster boyfriend.
Quiet Please: Murder
A forger steals and kills for a rare book from a library in order to make forgeries to sell to rich suckers.
Mr. Wise Guy
The gang is sent to the Wilton Reform School after they are unjustly convicted of stealing a truck. Bill Collins, brother of co-leader Danny, becomes involved in a killing and, while also innocent, is convicted and sentenced to death.
In Old California
During the California Gold Rush, Boston pharmacist Tom Craig sets up shop in Sacramento where he clashes with local town crook Britt Dawson.
A Date with the Falcon
A scientist has discovered how to make synthetic diamonds and a criminal gang (closely pursued by the Falcon) are out to discover the formula.
The Gay Falcon
A society grand dame who hosts charity parties in her home is mixed up in a jewel theft racket which defrauds insurance companies. When she is murdered, Gay Laurence (a.k.a. The Falcon)and assistant 'Goldie' Locke are on the case with help from beautiful Helen Reed, who becomes a rival to Gay's fiancée Elinor for the sleuth's affections.
Robbers of the Range
Railroad agents frame a landowner who wont sell out to them.
Man Made Monster
Mad scientist turns a man into an electrically-controlled monster to do his bidding.
Honky Tonk
Fast-talking con-man and grifter Candy Johnson rises to be the corrupt boss of Yellow Creek, but his wife's alcoholic father tries to set things right.
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.
All-American Co-Ed
All-girl school Mar Brynn tries to get more pupils and publicity by making fun of the Quincton college. For revenge, the boys there sent Bob Sheppard to Mar Brynn, dressed as a girl, to give them a slight scandal.
A Man Betrayed
Bucolic lawyer John Wayne takes on big-city corruption in A Man Betrayed. He sets out to prove that an above-suspicion politician (Edward Ellis) is actually a crook. The price of integrity is sweet in this instance, since Wayne happens to be in love with the politician's daughter (Frances Dee).
You'll Find Out
The manager of Kay Kyser’s band books them for a birthday party bash for an heiress at a spooky mansion, where sinister forces try to kill her.
Triple Justice
A rancher trying to do the right thing unwittingly gets mixed up with bank robbers.
The Invisible Man Returns
The owner of a coal mining operation, falsely imprisoned for fratricide, takes a drug to make him invisible, despite its side effect: gradual madness.
The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath is a social drama filmed in 1939 based on the novel by the same name from acclaimed author John Steinbeck.
Stranger on the Third Floor
Newspaper reporter Michael Ward plunges into a nightmare of guilt, fearing that his "evidence" has sentenced the wrong man to death.
Little Nellie Kelly
Irish Nellie marries Jerry despite her father's objections. They move to NY, followed by her dad. Jerry becomes a cop. After Nellie dies in childbirth, Jerry and his father-in-law clash while raising her namesake daughter.
I Love You Again
Boring businessman Larry Wilson recovers from amnesia and discovers he's really a con man...and loves his soon-to-be-ex wife.
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.
Christimas in July
After the co-workers of an ambitious clerk trick him into thinking he has won $25,000 in a slogan contest, he begins to use the money to fulfill his dreams. What will happen when the ruse is discovered?
Adventures of Red Ryder
Calvin Drake employs a group of low-lifes to drive away land owners along the path of a new railroad; Red Ryder opposes this strategy.
You Can't Cheat an Honest Man
Fields plays "Larsen E. Whipsnade", the owner of a shady carnival that is constantly on the run from the law. Whipsnade is struggling to keep a step ahead of foreclosure, and clearly not paying his performers, including Bergen and McCarthy, who try to coax money out of him, or in McCarthy's case, steal some outright.
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle
The story of the dancing team who taught the world to two-step.
The Saint Strikes Back
The Saint returns... but this time he's up to his old tricks in San Francisco.
The Night Riders
Talbot uses a phony land grant to rule thirteen million acres, taxing everyone heavily and evicting those who won't pay. The Three Mesquiteers becomes mysterious "night riders" to fight this evil.
Smashing the Money Ring
T-Man Brass Bancroft goes undercover in a prison which has a secret counterfeit operation set up in the print shop.
Silver on the Sage
Hoppy goes undercover as a gambler from the East when Bar 20 cattle are stolen by unknown rustlers. Brennan/Talbot are twin brothers (one a casino owner, the other a rancher) and Hoppy believes they provide alibis for each other while one is out committing crimes.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
A naive man is appointed to fill a vacancy in the US Senate. His plans promptly collide with political corruption, but he doesn't back down.
Each Dawn I Die
A corrupt D.A. (Thurston Hall) with political ambitions is angered by news stories implicating him in criminal activity and decides to frame the reporter (James Cagney) for manslaughter in order to silence him.
Dick Tracy's G-Men
A mad doctor named Zanoff uses a drug to bring himself back from the dead after his execution in prison. Dick Tracy sets out to capture Zanoff before he can put his criminal gang back together again.
Buried Alive
A prison trustee rescues a despondent executioner from a bar-room brawl, and is blamed for the fight by a tabloid reporter who actually started it, and loses parole, becomes embittered, and gets blamed for murder of guard.
The Saint in New York
The first film adaption of Leslie Charteris's hero Simon Templar, aka The Saint finds The Saint In takes on the task of cleaning out organized crime in the "Big Apple."
Riders of the Black Hills
Riders of the Black Hills is a 1938 American Western directed by George Sherman.
Red River Range
The Cattlemen's Association has called in the Mesquiteers to find cattle rustlers. They get Tex Riley to pose as Stony so Stony can arrive posing as a wanted outlaw. This gets Stony into the gang of rustlers and he alerts Tucson and Lullaby as to the next raid.
Born to Be Wild
Truck drivers Steve Hackett and Bill Purvis are fired from their jobs with the West Coast Trucking company for not using second-gear going down steep grades. Davis, the company vice-president, surprisingly asks them to carry a load of merchandise to Arrowhead and offers a $1000 bonus. He tells them it is a load of lettuce.
Alexander's Ragtime Band
Classical violinist Roger Grant disappoints his family and teacher when he organizes a jazz band, but he and the band become successful. Roger falls in love with the band's singer, Stella, but his reluctance to lose her leads him to thwart her efforts to become a solo star.
Topper
Madcap couple George and Marion Kerby are killed in an automobile accident. They return as ghosts to try and liven up the regimented lifestyle of their friend, bank president Cosmo Topper. When Topper starts to live it up, it strains relations with his stuffy wife.
They Gave Him a Gun
With no other prospects, a World War I veteran puts the skills they taught him in the War to use.
The Wrong Road
Bank teller Jimmy Caldwell and his fiance, Ruth Holden, grow weary of struggling to make ends meet and decide to rob Jimmy's bank. The selfish young couple agree that even if they spend ten years in prison, it will not matter because they will have the money when they are released.
Forty Naughty Girls
Hildegarde Withers (ZaSu Pitts) and Inspector Piper (James Gleason) try to solve a murder while attending the opening-night performance of a Broadway show. Comedy-mystery.
Double Wedding
A bohemian free spirit (William Powell) helps meek Waldo (John Beal) win back his fiancée (Florence Rice) and falls in love with her over-controlling sister (Myrna Loy) in the process.
A Day at the Races
Doctor Hugo Hackenbush, Tony, and Stuffy try and save Judy's farm by winning a big race with her horse. There are a few problems. Hackenbush runs a high priced clinic for the wealthy who don't know he has his degree in Veterinary Medicine.
Three Smart Girls
The three Craig sisters, Penny, Kay, and Joan, go to New York to stop their divorced father from marrying gold digger, Donna Lyons, and re-unite him with their mother.
The Mandarin Mystery
Two murders are committed and a $50,000 Chinese Mandarin stamp is stolen, passed around and eventually recovered as a group of valuable stamp counterfeiters is uncovered, through the investigations of Ellery Queen.
Tell Your Children
Cautionary tale features a fictionalized and highly exaggerated take on the use of marijuana. A trio of drug dealers lead innocent teenagers to become addicted to "reefer" cigarettes by holding wild parties with jazz music.
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Longfellow Deeds lives in a small town, leading a small town kind of life. When a relative dies and leaves Deeds a fortune, Longfellow moves to the big city where he becomes an instant target for everyone. Deeds outwits them all until Babe Bennett comes along. When small-town boy meets big-city girl anything can, and does, happen.
Great Guy
The adventures of an investigator (Cagney) for the Bureau of Weights and Measures.
The Mystery Man
Hard-boiled newspaper reporter Larry Doyle (Robert Armstrong) goes a bit too far in celebrating a work bonus and wakes up on a train bound for St. Louis with only a buck on his person. To remedy the problem, Doyle pawns the revolver he's carrying. When the gun is subsequently used in a murder, Doyle's problems only multiply.
His Fighting Blood
A cowboy's brother falls in with a gang of thieves; when he tries to get his brother out of the gang, the gang orders his death--and tells his brother to kill him.
Twentieth Century
Oscar Jaffe is a successful Broadway director; Lily Garland, one of his stars. But when she leaves his direction, his success goes with her. When he recognizes her aboard the Twentieth Century Limited, the train that both of them are riding, he tries to get her back for a new show. But accomplishing that feat isn't as simple as he had thought.
The Thin Man
Comedy-mystery featuring Nick and Nora Charles: a former detective and his rich, playful wife. They solve a murder case mostly for the fun of it.
The Merry Widow
A prince from a small kingdom courts a wealthy widow to keep her money in the country.
Broadway Bill
A runaway heiress and her sister's husband join forces to race the latter's fast horse, Broadway Bill.
The Son of Kong
Beleaguered adventurer Carl Denham returns to the island where he found King Kong.
Parachute Jumper
To share expenses, unemployed Alabama moves in with also unemployed Bill and Toodles. Bill is hired by a gangster's mistress and ultimately becomes the gangster's bodyguard. Alabama unknowingly applies for a stenographer's job at Mr. Weber's (the gangster's) business. Bill is forced to fly a plane carrying narcotics into the U.S. but fights back.
Three on a Match
Although Vivian Revere is seemingly the most successful of a trio of reunited schoolmates, she throws it away by descending into a life of debauchery and drugs.
The Lost Squadron
When World War I comes to an end, three pilots find themselves on hard times. They wind up in Hollywood, where they work as stunt fliers for a sadistic director.
The Death Kiss
The Death Kiss re-unites three of the stars of Dracula in a Hollywood movie-set murder mystery.
20,000 Years in Sing Sing
When his girl commits murder, a hardened criminal takes the rap to protect her honor.
Orphans of the Storm
France, on the eve of the French Revolution. Henriette and Louise have been raised together as sisters. When the plague that takes their parents' lives causes Louise's blindness, they decide to travel to Paris in search of a cure, but they separate when a lustful aristocrat crosses their path.