James Bell

James Bell

Birth : 1891-12-01, Suffolk, Virginia, USA

Death : 1973-10-26

Profile

James Bell

Movies

Double Cross
Chubby
A chance encounter with a blonde in a sports car causes a man to give chase in his souped up mustang.
Twilight of Honor
Charles Crispin
A young lawyer defends a drifter accused of murder that he has already confessed to. He asks a retired, legendary lawyer for help.
Claudelle Inglish
Josh
A young daughter of poor farmers is forced by her mother to ditch her young boyfriend in order to marry an old rich neighbor but the girl rebels by becoming the town's harlot.
Posse from Hell
Benson
Murphy goes after bad guys who shot his friend the sheriff and abducted a local girl. In a plot reminiscent of High Noon, the posse of town blowhards gradually abandons Murphy; only tenderfoot banker Saxon remains, to prove his manhood. When they find the girl, obviously abused by her captors, Murphy shows her acceptance and sympathy whereas the others disply only revulsion.
Escape to Sonoita
Andy Davis
Two kidnappers think they have made their escape when they hijack a tanker in the dry desert, leaving the occupants and a female victim behind to die.
-30-
Ben Quinn
A newspaper editor deals with a particularly stressful day in the newsroom.
The Oregon Trail
Jeremiah Cooper
In 1846, a reporter for the New York Herald joins a wagon train bound for the Oregon Territory. He hopes to confirm a rumor that President Polk is sending in soldiers disguised as settlers in order to strengthen American claims to the Territory.
The Trap
Clint Edwards
Lawyer Ralph Anderson arrives in Tula, an amazingly remote town in the desert, as reluctant emissary of mob chief Victor Massonetti, who wants the airstrip clear for his unofficial exit from the country. Ralph's arrival has a profound effect on his estranged father, the sheriff; his brother Tip, an alcoholic deputy; and his ex-sweetheart Linda, now married to Tip. Tension builds as a small army of gangsters takes over the town. Then the situation abruptly changes...
In Love and War
Sidney Lenaine
Three Marines take shore leave in San Francisco during World War II. Frankie O'Neill visits his lower-class dysfunctional family; Nico Kantaylis visits his pregnant fiancée; and the upper-class Alan Newcombe visits his high-living playgirl girlfriend. Each must decide whether to make the best of his situation or break out of it. O'Neill drowns his troubles in alcohol, losing the respect of a potential lover; Kantaylis marries his fiancée, but realizes he may not survive the war to see his child; while Newcombe sheds his decadent girlfriend for a pure-hearted Hawaiian nurse. Later, in battle, a heroic act costs one of the Marines his life.
The Tin Star
Judge Thatcher
An experienced bounty hunter helps a young sheriff learn the meaning of his badge.
Johnny Trouble
Rev. Harrington
An elderly woman becomes convinced that a trouble-making college student is her grandson she's never met.
Back from the Dead
Mr. Bradley
A woman is possessed by the spirt of her husband's deceased first wife, turning her into a cold, scheming flirt who will stop at nothing to get what she wants. The woman's sister, husband and the sister's new boyfriend struggle with accepting what has happened, who has caused it and how to correct it, which soon brings them into contact with a coven of devil-worshippers and forces of the supernatural.
The Lonely Man
Judge Hart
Aging gunslinger Jacob Wade hopes to settle down with his estranged son, but his old enemies have other plans for him. Gunslinger Jacob Wade finds his long-abandoned son Riley, now a young man who hates his father but has nowhere else to go. Hoping to settle down, Jacob finds no town will have him. They end at Monolith, the ranch of Jacob's former girlfriend Ada, to whom he had no intention of returning. A mustang hunt finds Riley himself attracted to the shapely Ada...and Jacob having trouble with his eyesight. And his visions of a quiet life are doomed by the re-appearance of enemies from his past...
The Search for Bridey Murphy
Hugh Lynn Cayce
After being shown what hypnotism can do, a doctor starts to study it in depth. When he experiments on a friend's wife, she regresses into an early life, that of Bridey Murphy.
Huk!
Stephen Rogers
After 14 years in the United States, Greg Dickson returns to his family's plantation in the Philippines to settle his slain father's estate. Boyhood friend Bart Rogers and his wife Cindy meet Greg's plane at Manila, but he dismisses their warnings about the marauding Huks, fanatic guerrillas who are plundering nearby plantations. They repulse a Huk attack on the way to the plantation and are met by Stephen Rogers, Bart's father and the village schoolteacher. With him is Philippine Army Major Balatbat who tells Greg that Kalak, leader of the Huks and murderer of Greg's father, is also after him.
A Day of Fury
Doc Logan
Town marshal Alan Burnett life is saved by a stranger he meets on the trail. His rescuer turns out to be Jagade, a gunslinger just returned after years away, who finds when he gets into town that he can't abide the peace that has been settled between "his" people (i.e. the saloon-keepers, gamblers, etc.) and the righteous, "respectable" folk.
Tribute to a Bad Man
L.A. Peterson
Jeremy Rodock is a tough horse rancher who strings up rustlers soon as look at them. Fresh out of Pennsylvania, Steve Miller finds it hard to get used to Rodock's ways, although he takes an immediate shine to his Greek girl Jocasta.
Man on the Ledge
Mr. Cosick
Beat cop Bragan is about to go off duty when he discovers a man standing on the ledge of a hotel more than a dozen stories up. Bragan tries to talk the man, Robert Cosick, down from his threatening perch and in the process learns the reasons for the Robert's suicide attempt.
Texas Lady
Clay Ballard (Clarion owner)
Claudette 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 print crusade is aimed at gambler Chris Mooney (Barry Sullivan), whom Prudence holds responsible for her dad's suicide. She then takes aim at a couple of crooked cattle barons (Ray Collins and Walter Sande), who'd like nothing better than to put Prudence out of the way for keeps.
A Lawless Street
Asaph Dean
A Marshal must face unpleasant facts about his past when he attempts to run a criminal gang out of town.
Sincerely Yours
Grandpa Hunt
He dazzled America for decades with his musical artistry. Now fans as well as those curious about this exciting entertainer’s unique appeal can relive the Liberace magic in his only starring film, Sincerely Yours. In a poignant story scripted by Irving Wallace, Liberace plays a concert pianist threatened by deafness. Plunged into despair, he finds escape from personal sorrow by secretly involving himself in the problems of strangers. Liberace touches the heart and delights the ear with sparkling renditions of 31 selections from Chopin to Chopsticks. Along the way he romances Joanne Dru and Dorothy Malone, trades barbs with old pro William Demarest and in a warmly humorous nightclub scene, pokes fun at his own image as the 1950s matinee idol of the little-old-lady set. From beginning to end, Sincerely Yours perfectly captures the charisma and sheer musicality of the legendary Mr. Showmanship.
Teen-Age Crime Wave
Thomas Paul Grant
A delinquent girl involves an innocent friend in an armed robbery followed by a jail-break and hostage-taking with her equally delinquent boyfriend.
Lay That Rifle Down
Mr. Fetcher
Director Charles Lamont's 1955 comedy, about a girl from the sticks doing drudge work at a hotel and dreaming of a better life, stars Judy Canova, Robert Lowery, Jacqueline de Wit, Richard Deacon, Robert Burton, James Bell, Marjorie Bennett, Leon Tyler, William Fawcett and Mimi Gibson.
The Tilted Tenderfoot
Jim Corbett, trapper
Two episodes of the TV series "Wild Bill Hickok" edited together and released as a feature.
Marty
Mr. Snyder (uncredited)
Marty, a butcher who lives in the Bronx with his mother is unmarried at 34. Good-natured but socially awkward he faces constant badgering from family and friends to get married but has reluctantly resigned himself to bachelorhood. Marty meets Clara, an unattractive school teacher, realising their emotional connection, he promises to call but family and friends try to convince him not to.
Black Tuesday
John Norris
Vicious gangster Vincent Canelli pulls off a daring prison escape just moments before going to the electric chair, taking with him Peter Manning – a bank robber and cop killer who was to die right after him. Taking several hostages along, they try to get their hands on the loot from Manning’s robbery to finance their escape from the country.
About Mrs. Leslie
Mr. Herbert Poole
A lonely, unhappy owner of a Beverly Hills boarding house reflects on her lonely, unhappy life and the lonely, unhappy man she once loved.
Riding Shotgun
Doc Winkler
When a stagecoach guard tries to warn a town of an imminent raid by a band of outlaws, the people mistake him for one of the gang
The Glenn Miller Story
Mr. Burger
A vibrant tribute to one of America's legendary bandleaders, charting Glenn Miller's rise from obscurity and poverty to fame and wealth in the early 1940s.
Crime Wave
Daniel O'Keefe
Reformed parolee Steve Lacey is caught in the middle when a wounded former cellmate seeks him out for shelter. The other two former cellmates then attempt to force him into doing a bank job.
Devil's Canyon
Dr. Betts
An outlaw woman helps one Arizona convict stop another with a Gatling gun.
Hannah Lee: An American Primitive
Man at Carousel
Professional killer Bus Crow is hired by cattlemen to eliminate squatters. When Marshal Sam Rochelle is sent to investigate, saloon owner Hallie has to be a reluctant witness.
The Last Posse
Will Romer
A posse's pursuit of bank robbers ends with loot missing and a sheriff (Broderick Crawford) wounded.
Million Dollar Mermaid
Judge
After overcoming polio, Annette Kellerman achieves fame and creates a scandal when her one-piece bathing suit is considered indecent.
Ride the Man Down
John Evarts
After Celia's father dies, a war erupts over control of his land.
Wild Horse Ambush
Sheriff Tom White
A man has kidnaped an engraver and has him forging Mexican bills. He captures wild horses supposedly to sell for hides but uses them to transport the bills across the border. Police captain Juan Reyes (Richard Avonde) is posing as a bandit to uncover the counterfeiters smuggling fake pesos into Mexico, and is assisted by feisty youngsters Red (Michael Chapin) and Judy (Eilene Janssen), who are trying to protect the wild horses being used by the gang. The kids suspect that rancher Big John Harkins (Roy Barcroft) is the leader of the gang and that he is forcing Mexican artist Espinosa (Julian Rivero) to help him.
Japanese War Bride
Ed Sterling
A Korean war vet and his bride face subtle and sometimes extreme racism when they return to his home in rural California.
Red Mountain
Dr. Terry
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.
Arizona Manhunt
Sheriff Tom White
Arizona Manhunt was the second entry in Republic's "Rough Ridin' Kids" series. Michael Chapin returns as Red, the precocious grandson of Sheriff White (James Bell), while Eilene Janssen likewise reappears as Red's best friend Judy. Once again, the two kids get involved with grown-up western desperadoes, in this case the outlaw gang formerly controlled by Judy's foster father.
Flying Leathernecks
Colonel
Major Daniel Kirby takes command of a squadron of Marine fliers just before they are about to go into combat. While the men are well meaning, he finds them undisciplined and prone to always finding excuses to do what is easy rather than what is necessary. The root of the problem is the second in command, Capt. Carl 'Griff' Griffin. Griff is the best flier in the group but Kirby finds him a poor commander who is not prepared to the difficult decision that all commanders have to make - to put men in harm's way knowing that they may be killed.
The Dakota Kid
Sheriff Tom White
Dakota Kid is a young outlaw who joins a gang headed by Ace Crandall. Crandall's aim is to unseat Sheriff Tom White and then use his power to enrich himself at the community's expense. Dakota impersonates a long-lost nephew of the sheriff, and is made a marshal. Through his association with the sheriff's grandson, Red White and his friend Judy, plus falling in love with Mary Lewis, the Kid gradually reforms.
Buckaroo Sheriff of Texas
Sheriff Tom White
At the end of the Civil War, Sam White returns home to his ranch in the Texas ranch -The Panhandle - to find it in the hands of a gang of outlaws
The Company She Keeps
Mr. Neeley
A lady con artist sets out to steal her parole officer's fiance.
Dial 1119
Harrison D. Barnes
A killer holds the customers at a bar hostage.
Streets of Laredo
Ike
Texas, 1878: cheerful outlaw-buddies Jim, Lorn and Wahoo rescue spunky orphan Rannie Carter from rustling racketeers, then are forced to separate. Lorn goes on to bigger and better robberies, while Jim and Wahoo are (at first reluctantly) maneuvered into joining the Texas Rangers. For friendship's sake, the three try to keep out of direct conflict, but a showdown begins to look inevitable. And Rannie, now grown into lovely young womanhood, must choose between Lorn and Jim
Roughshod
Pa (Ed) Wyatt
Rancher Clay and his brother, Steve, head out across the Sonora mountain pass, followed by Lednov, an ex-con seeking revenge on Clay for putting him behind bars. Clay and Steve unexpectedly cross paths with a group of dance hall girls -- including Mary, Marcia and Helen -- whose stagecoach has broken down, and help them get to the nearest ranch, where Lednov unfortunately catches up to Clay.
Sealed Verdict
Mr. Hockland
John Hoyt plays a high-ranking Nazi being prosecuted by an army tribunal in the aftermath of World War II. Sentenced to death, the general appeals to the American investigating Major (Ray Milland), claiming mitigating circumstances, and providing the names of witnesses who will clear his name. This sends the Major in a search through the ruins of post-war Germany to determine the degree of the general's guilt.
Black Eagle
Frank Hayden
Black Eagle is based on The Passing of Black Eagle, a short story by O. Henry. William Bishop stars as Jason Bond, who stays out of trouble by the simple expedient of avoiding other people. Unfortunately, the plot dictates that Bond must come into contact with several characters, all of whom end up fleecing our hero in one way or another. Even so, Jason manages to enjoy a brief romance with pretty Ginny Long (Virginia Patton) before returning to his life of carefree vagabondage. A very minor film, The Black Eagle makes the most of its excellent supporting cast, including Gordon Jones, Trevor Bardette, Will Wright and stuntman extraordinaire Richard Talmadge.
I, Jane Doe
Judge Bertrand
While stationed in France during World War II, an American fighter pilot marries a French girl but leaves her behind when he returns to the U.S. The French woman follows him to America only to discover he’s already married to a successful lawyer.
Killer McCoy
Father Patrick Ryan
Tommy McCoy grew up poor and scrappy. As a young man he discovers that he can fight with his powerful right arm. He becomes successful at boxing, however he has an alcoholic father.
Driftwood
Sheriff Bolton
An orphan helps a doctor fight an epidemic in a small western town, in one of Allan Dwan’s closely observed studies in Americana.
Philo Vance's Secret Mission
Sheriff Harry Madison
Philo Vance is hired to write a true-crime mystery... but when the facts about an unsolved crime are about to be brought out into the open a murder takes place.
Brute Force
Crenshaw
Timeworn Joe Collins and his fellow inmates live under the heavy thumb of the sadistic, power-tripping guard Captain Munsey. Only Collins' dreams of escape keep him going, but how can he possibly bust out of Munsey's chains?
The Millerson Case
Ezra Minnich
While on vacation, a criminal psychologist investigates a murder during a typhoid epidemic.
The Sea of Grass
Sam Hall
A St. Louis woman marries a New Mexico cattleman who is seen as a tyrant by the locals.
Blind Spot
Det. Lt. Fred Applegate
A mystery writer becomes the prime suspect in a murder investigation when a publisher he last saw is found dead.
Dead Reckoning
Father Logan
Paratroopers Captain 'Rip' Murdock and Sergeant Johnny Drake are mysteriously ordered to travel to Washington, DC. When Drake learns that he is to be awarded the Medal of Honor, he disappears before newspaper photographers can take his picture. Murdock follows the clues and tracks him down, where he learns Drake is dead. Further investigations reveal unexpected twists. Rip learns that Johnny had been accused of murder and sets out to find out whatever he can. He falls in love with Coral whose husband Johnny is supposed to have killed.
The Unknown
Edward Martin
"The Unknown" was the final entry in Columbia’s I Love A Mystery series. A woman hires two detectives to keep her alive long enough to claim her inheritance.
The Spiral Staircase
Constable
On a stormy night, the mute servant to an ailing matriarch is stalked by a serial killer.
The Girl of the Limberlost
Wesley Sinton
Elnora Comstock lives on the edge of a great swamp and collects butterflies to sell in order to go to high school and pay for violin lessons. Her mother, Kate Comstock, hates her as she blames the girl for the father's death as he drowned in a quagmire on the way home the night the girl was born. The years-late revelation that the husband had been off courting a neighbor woman that night brings an attitude adjustment to the mother.
I Love a Soldier
Williams
During World War II in San Francisco, Eve Morgan and her single girlfriends spend their days welding ships and their nights dancing with soldiers and sailors shipping out that night. Eve is determined to avoid any romantic entanglements until the war is over she refuses to spend her days and nights worrying about getting bad news about a man she has fallen for. But she doesn't count on meeting a soldier who is determined to change her mind.
Blood on the Sun
Charley Sprague
Nick Condon, an American journalist in 1945 Tokyo, publishes the Japanese master plan for world domination. Reaction from the understandably upset Japanese provides the action, but this is overshadowed by the propaganda of the time.
Thunderhead - Son of Flicka
Gus
A young boy tries to train Thunderhead, a beautiful white colt and the son of his beloved Flicka, to be a champion race horse.
Gangway for Tomorrow
Tom Burke
Five defense workers on their way to the munitions factory tell their stories: a refugee from the French Resistance, a frustrated race car driver, a prison warden, a former Miss America, and an intellectual who dropped out of society and saw the country as a bum.
So Proudly We Hail
Col. White
During the start of the Pacific campaign in World War II, Lieutenant Janet Davidson is the head of a group of U.S. military nurses who are trapped behind enemy lines in the Philippines. Davidson tries to keep up the spirits of her staff, which includes Lieutenants Joan O'Doul and Olivia D'Arcy. They all seek to maintain a sense of normal life, including dating, while under constant danger as they tend to wounded soldiers.
My Friend Flicka
Gus
Ken McLaughlin (Roddy McDowall) is a precocious 10-year-old who lives with his family on a remote Wyoming ranch. When Ken returns home from school with failing grades, his father, Rob (Preston Foster), blames the boy's lack of personal responsibility. At the suggestion of his wife, Nell (Rita Johnson), Rob allows Ken to choose a single colt from the herd to raise as his own. Much to his father's dismay, Ken chooses a fiery mustang filly -- but the two soon become fast friends.
The Leopard Man
Dr. Galbraith
When a leopard escapes during a publicity stunt, it triggers a series of murders.
I Walked with a Zombie
Dr. Maxwell
A nurse in the Caribbean turns to voodoo in hopes of curing her patient, a mindless woman whose husband she's fallen in love with.
Holiday Inn
Dunbar
Lovely Linda Mason has crooner Jim Hardy head over heels, but suave stepper Ted Hanover wants her for his new dance partner after femme fatale Lila Dixon gives him the brush. Jim's supper club—Holiday Inn—is the setting for the chase by Hanover and manager Danny Reed. The music's the thing.
Student Tour
Indian Fakir
A philosophy professor accompanies his school's rowing team on a worldwide tour.
White Woman
Hambly
A nightclub singer marries the rich owner of a rubber plantation. When she returns with him to his estate in Malaysia, she finds out that he is cruel, vicious and insanely jealous. She and the plantation's overseer develop a mutual attraction, but are terrified at what will happen if her husband finds out.
Day of Reckoning
Slim Williams
In this brutal prison drama a hen-pecked husband is sentenced to prison after getting caught with his hand in the company till. He is sent to a high-rise facility in LA. It seems the fellow was only following the instructions of his domineering, constantly nagging wife who, as soon as he is put away, takes up with a more successful businessman. This causes her new lover's ex-lover to get insanely jealous and kill the conniving wife.
Storm at Daybreak
Peter (uncredited)
Sarajevo June 28, 1914. Dushan, the Serbian mayor of a Hungarian town, has come to see the parade of Archduke Ferdinand. While there he runs into Geza, an old friend in the Hungarian Army and invites him to come to his house and visit him and his new wife.
Private Detective 62
Whitey
A former government agent in France, who has failed at an assignment and been disavowed, is deported back to the USA, where he can only find work at a low-rent detective agency. He soon gets involved with a woman with ties to a crooked gambling club owner, who is a client of his agency.
Infernal Machine
Spencer
This pre-Code comedy-thriller centers on Robert Holden, a broke and discouraged veteran, who meets fellow American Elinor Green at a cafe in Paris. After their first encounter, Holden's attempt to return Green's thought-to-be stolen purse ends up rendering him a stowaway on board a ship bound for America. Also aboard is a collection of characters, including Green's banker fiancé, a famed scientist, and an opera singer. Romance begins to blossom between Holden and Green, just as a radiogram claims that an “infernal machine,” or bomb, is aboard the ship. Quickly each passenger accuses the others of planting the bomb until eventually Holden, jealous of Green's attention to her undeserving fiancé, falsely admits to being the culprit. In his role as assumed perpetrator, Holden tests the group further.
The King's Vacation
Anderson
The king of an unnamed European country abdicates and tries to recapture the happiness with the wife he had to give up for the throne.
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
Red (uncredited)
A World War I veteran’s dreams of becoming a master architect evaporate in the cold light of economic realities. Things get even worse when he’s falsely convicted of a crime and sent to work on a chain gang.
Icetime
Buddy
Minor league baseball is one thing. Icetime tells the story of what goes on behind the scenes in hockey. The pressures on kids, the rise to the top.