Sam Nelson

Birth : 1896-05-11, Whttier, California, USA

Death : 1963-05-01

History

Sam Nelson was a director and assistant director who worked from the end of the silent era right up through the early 1960s. While most of his film work was in the assistant director role, he did direct over 20 films during the 1930s and 1940s, all of which were westerns. As an assistant director he worked on such notable films as Pennies from Heaven, And Then There Were None, All the King's Men, the original 3:10 to Yuma, Some Like It Hot, A Raisin in the Sun, and Spartacus. In addition he appeared in over a dozen films in small roles. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Movies

Experiment in Terror
Assistant Director
A man with an asthmatic voice telephones and assaults clerk Kelly Sherwood at home and coerces her into helping him steal a large sum from her bank.
By Love Possessed
Assistant Director
An unhappily married woman engages in an affair with her husband's law partner.
A Raisin in the Sun
Assistant Director
Walter Lee Younger is a young man struggling with his station in life. Sharing a tiny apartment with his wife, son, sister and mother, he seems like an imprisoned man. Until, that is, the family gets an unexpected financial windfall.
The Wackiest Ship in the Army
Assistant Director
Lieutenant Rip Crandall is hoodwinked into taking command of the "Wackiest Ship in the Navy" – a real garbage scow with a crew of misfits who don't know a jib from a jigger. What none of them knows, including Crandall, is that this ship has a very important top-secret mission to complete in waters patrolled by the Japanese fleet. Their mission will save hundreds of allied lives – if only they can get there in one piece.
Comanche Station
Assistant Director
A man saves a woman who had been kidnapped by Comanches, then struggles to get both of them home alive.
Some Like It Hot
Assistant Director
Two musicians witness a mob hit and struggle to find a way out of the city before they are found by the gangsters. Their only opportunity is to join an all-girl band as they leave on a tour. To make their getaway they must first disguise themselves as women, then keep their identities secret and deal with the problems this brings - such as an attractive bandmate and a very determined suitor.
Good Day for a Hanging
Assistant Director
As a youth, Eddie came into the town with his gang to rob the bank, but was caught and convicted. Marshal Ben helped him to become a honorable citizen. Now, many years later, the gang returns to again rob the bank. On their flight they shoot the Marshal. Eddie is the only one to identify the murderer - but is in doubt if he shall be loyal to his new or his old friends.
The Last Hurrah
Assistant Director
In a changing world where television has become the main source of information, Adam Caulfield, a young sports journalist, witnesses how his uncle, Frank Skeffington, a veteran and honest politician, mayor of a New England town, tries to be reelected while bankers and captains of industry conspire in the shadows to place a weak and manageable candidate in the city hall.
Cowboy
Assistant Director
Chicago hotel clerk Frank Harris dreams of life as a cowboy, and he gets his chance when, jilted by the father of the woman he loves, he joins Tom Reece and his cattle-driving outfit. Soon, though, the tenderfoot finds out life on the range is neither what he expected nor what he's been looking for...
Decision at Sundown
Assistant Director
Bart Allison arrives in Sundown after a three year search for Tate Kimbrough. Although it is Kimbrough's wedding day, Allison makes it clear he blames him for the death of his wife and is out to kill him. A shoot-out in the church puts the wedding on hold and Allison and his trail-buddy hole up in the livery stable. But the reasons for his actions become increasingly unclear, while the town starts to wonder about the grip Kimbrough has over them.
3:10 to Yuma
Assistant Director
Dan Evans, a small time farmer, is hired to escort Ben Wade, a dangerous outlaw, to Yuma. As Evans and Wade wait for the 3:10 train to Yuma, Wade's gang is racing to free him.
The Tall T
Assistant Director
Having lost his horse in a bet, Pat Brennan hitches a ride with a stagecoach carrying newlyweds, Willard and Doretta Mims. At the next station the coach and its passengers fall into the hands of a trio of outlaws headed by a man named Usher. When Usher learns that Doretta is the daughter of a rich copper-mine owner, he decides to hold her for ransom. Tension builds over the next 24 hours as Usher awaits a response to his demands and as a romantic attachment grows between Brennan and Doretta.
The Man Who Turned to Stone
Assistant Director
A new social worker at a girls' reformatory discovers that her charges are being used by a group of ancient alchemists, who have insinuated themselves as the prison's chief staffers, to keep themselves alive and free from an insidious petrification, which is already afflicting one of their number.
Don't Knock The Rock
Assistant Director
Rock-and-roller Arnie Haynes returns to his hometown as a hero to the teenagers. However, the mayor and other concerned adults have banned him from performing in his hometown because they consider him and his music a negative influence on the youth. But with the help of disc jockey/publicist Alan Freed and fellow artists (including Bill Haley and the Comets and Little Richard), they hope to convince everyone that rock and roll is not as dangerous as the adults think.
Reprisal!
Assistant Director
New ranch owner Frank Madden, half Indian but posing as white, arrives just as an all white jury finds the three white Shipley brothers who lynched three Indians innocent. There is soon trouble between Frank and the Shipleys who are using Frank's land to graze their cattle. When the brother of one of the Indian victims kills a Shipley, Frank is accused and put in jail. The Shipleys then organize a lynch mob and head for the jail.
The White Squaw
Assistant Director
A Swedish settler (David Brian) starts a war when he tries to drive Dakotas off their Wyoming reservation.
The Violent Men
Assistant Director
A former Union Army officer plans to sell out to Anchor Ranch and move east with his fiancée, but the low price offered by Anchor's crippled owner and the outfit's bullying tactics make him reconsider. When one of his hands is murdered he decides to stay and fight, utilizing his war experience. Not all is well at Anchor with the owner's wife carrying on with his brother who also has a Mexican woman in town.
Affair in Trinidad
Assistant Director
A nightclub singer enlists her brother-in-law to track down her husband's killer.
Santa Fe
Assistant Director
After their service in the Civil War, four brothers go their separate ways, but later find themselves on opposite sides of a final showdown.
No Sad Songs for Me
Assistant Director
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. But when she learns that Brad does indeed love her and not Chris, and that Chris is leaving town, she realizes what she must do to ensure the future happiness of Brad and Polly. She persuades Chris to stay, makes a genuine friend of her and watches Polly grow towards Chris.
Tell It to the Judge
Assistant Director
Marsha Meredith, an attorney-at-law, is nominated for a federal judgeship, but her nomination is opposed by a 'Good-Government' group that thinks her divorce makes her unfit for the job. This evolves into situations, happening in Florida, New England, Washington D.C., and the Adirondacks, such as the misunderstood husband trying to win back his wife, and the misunderstood wife trying to make her husband jealous, and one case of mistaken identity after another, after another.
All the King's Men
Assistant Director
All The King's Men is the story of the rise of politician Willie Stark from a rural county seat to the governor's mansion.
The Doolins of Oklahoma
Assistant Director
When the Daltons are killed at Coffeyville, gang member Bill Doolin, arriving late, escapes but kills a man. Now wanted for murder, he becomes the leader of the Doolin gang. He eventually leaves the gang and tries to start a new life under a new name, but the old gang members appear and his true identity becomes known. Once again he becomes an outlaw trying to escape from the law.
The Walking Hills
Assistant Director
A study in greed in which treasure hunters seek a shipment of gold buried in Death Valley.
The Lady from Shanghai
Captain of Yacht Circe (uncredited)
A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife.
The Lady from Shanghai
Assistant Director
A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife.
It Had to Be You
Assistant Director
A chronic runaway bride is haunted by her conscience, who becomes reality.
A Walk in the Sun
Assistant Director
In the 1943 invasion of Italy, one American platoon lands, digs in, then makes its way inland to attempt to take a fortified farmhouse, as tension and casualties mount.
And Then There Were None
Assistant Director
Ten strangers are summoned to a remote island and while they are waiting for the mysterious host to appear, a recording levels serious accusations at each of the guests. Soon they start being murdered, one by one. As the survivors try to keep their wits, they reach a disturbing conclusion: one of them must be the killer.
Guest in the House
Assistant Director
Evelyn, an emotionally vulnerable and unstable woman, stays at the home of her doctor Dan Proctor. There she meets and falls in love with his brother, Douglas, who is happily married to Ann. Evelyn then sets forth to break up the happy marriage and win the love of Douglas.
Jack London
Assistant Director
The adventurous and remarkable life of the US writer Jack London (1876-1916).
The Avenging Rider
Director
Wrongfully arrested, Tim must escape and find the men who murdered his partner and stole the gold.
Sagebrush Law
Director
Tom Weston arriving in town just as the Doctor announces his father's death a suicide, sees the gun is in the wrong hand. When the Bank Examiner announces the bank has no money and Tom's identity becomes known, the townsmen attempt to hang him. Escaping he finds the phony examiner and gets a a confession. Then he plans a trap for the murderer. -IMDB
The Outlaw
Assistant Director
Newly appointed sheriff Pat Garrett is pleased when his old friend Doc Holliday arrives in Lincoln, New Mexico on the stage. Doc is trailing his stolen horse, and it is discovered in the possession of Billy the Kid. In a surprising turnaround, Billy and Doc become friends. This causes the friendship between Doc and Pat to cool. The odd relationship between Doc and Billy grows stranger when Doc hides Billy at his girl Rio's place after Billy is shot.
Bandit Ranger
Second Unit
Rancher Clay Travers finds and brings in the body of ranger Frank Mattison, murdered on the road to Trail City, where he had been sent to deal with an outbreak of cattle rustling. Businessman Art Kenyon, who has hired gunman Ed Martin to impersonate Mattison to further his rustling schemes, quickly changes Martin's story and has Travers framed for the ranger's murder. Managing to escape, Travers must come up with proof to clear his name and bring the true killers to justice.
The Corsican Brothers
Assistant Director
Cultured Mario and outlaw Lucien, twins separated at birth, join forces to avenge their parents' death at the hands of evil Colonna. Because each feels all the same sensations experienced by the other, swordplay is difficult for them. Worse yet, raised very differently, they struggle to find common ground between their conflicting personalities. But to defeat their enemy, the two will have to overcome the obstacles and work as a team.
Outlaws of the Panhandle
Director
Outlaws of the Pandhandle was the last of Charles Starrett's "formula" westerns for Columbia: hereafter, Starrett would be seen only in the guise of frontier medico Steven Monroe or masked do-gooder The Durango Kid. For the moment, however, the star is cast as Jim Endicott, bound and determined to put an end to the underhanded activities of gin-mill operator Faro Jack Vaughn (Norman Willis). The villain's strategy is to get the local cowpunchers tanked up on rotgut that they'll prove to be easy pickings for a gang of rustlers-and will be unable to complete work on a railroad spur which will bypass the outlaws' hideaway.
Prairie Schooners
Director
Wild Bill Hickok (Bill Elliott) leads a wagon train of settlers from Kansas to Colorado. Along the way, they cross a group of Indians who don't want any more settlers on their land.
Bullets for Rustlers
Director
Steve Beaumont, an operative for the Cattleman's Protective Association, is assigned the difficult task of breaking up a murderous gang of rustlers led by Ed Brock and Strang. He takes Sheriff Webb, Judge Baxter, and rancher Ann Houston into his confidence, and works his way into the rustler stronghold and confidence by "turning rustler" himself.
Pioneers of the Frontier
Director
The second of Columbia Pictures' four "Wild Bill Saunders" westerns, Pioneers of the Frontier features William Elliott as the title character who discovers that his uncle Mort (Lafe McKee) has been murdered by an unscrupulous ranch foreman, Matt Brawley (Dick Curtis). But before he can right Brawley's wrongs, Wild Bill is arrested for a murder he didn't commit. Sidekick Cannonball Sims (Dub Taylor) and disgruntled girl rancher Joan Darcy (Dorothy Comingore) plot to break Wild Bill out of jail but Brawley is wise to their plan.
Mandrake the Magician
Director
Feature version of the American serial film, produced for export only, never exhibited in the USA, and believed to be a lost film.
The Stranger from Texas
Director
Things get under way when US marshal Tom (Starrett) finds himself in the midst of a range war. The villains are a band of rustlers who play both sides of the confrontation against one another, the better to move in and claim all the livestock.
Parents on Trial
Director
According to Hollywood, the parents were generally at fault when good kids went bad. This theory is elucidated in Columbia's Parents on Trial, wherein strict disciplinarian James Westley (Henry Kolker) fails to understand or appreciate the real needs and feelings of his teenaged daughter Susan (Jean Parker).
Konga, the Wild Stallion
Director
A long-standing feud between a rancher and a neighboring wheat farmer only intensifies after the rancher's wild stallion causes damage to the farmer's property. Western drama.
Overland with Kit Carson
Director
When Pegleg and his Black Raiders threaten the westward expansion of the United States, the government sends Kit Carson and David Brent to straighten things out.
The Man from Sundown
Director
The hero, Texas Ranger Larry Whalen (Charles Starrett), is on the trail of a mysterious outlaw leader.
Western Caravans
Director
A caravan of settlers is arriving and the ranchers intend to keep them out. It looks like a range war but Sheriff Jim gets the ranchers to accept the settlers. Kohler re-ignites the feud by making settler Winters appear to be a rustler and then by killing Winter's son. Once more the two sides appear headed for a war and Jim is caught in the middle.
Mandrake the Magician
Director
Mandrake and his team attempt to prevent "The Wasp" from stealing and using a new Radium invention.
North of the Yukon
Director
In this North western, a brave Canadian Mountie pursuing a gang of fur thieves finds himself drummed out of the RCMP and forced to run a gauntlet of Mountie whips. When the gang learns of this, they convince him to join them.
Texas Stampede
Director
Sheep raisers, resentful of old injuries from the cattlemen, bar the way to water when dry ranges force the cattle ranchers to drive their herds into the lowlands.
Rio Grande
Director
No relation to the 1950 John Ford classic of the same name, Rio Grande is yet another rubber-stamp Charles Starrett western from the Columbia assembly line.
West of the Santa Fe
Director
US marshal Lawlor (Starrett) takes on a gang of cattle rustlers headed by Taylor (Dick Curtis). His reasons are partly personal: Conway (Edward LeSaint), the cattle-baron father of Lawlor's sweetheart Madge (Meredith), has been murdered by Taylor's minions.
Colorado Trail
Director
In this western a traveling gun ends up in a small town and rescues an important rancher. Out of gratitude the rancher hires him to protect his land and cattle from his violent rival. It is revealed that the gunman is the son of the ruthless rival; he therefore, loses his job and finds himself entangled in the midst of a range war. He must eventually face his father when the bad guy takes over the only trail to the market.
The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
Director
A group of "Phantom Raiders" interfere with a cattle drive from Texas to Abilene; fortunately, U.S. Marshal Wild Bill Hickok is appointed to ensure the success of the mission.
Outlaws of the Prairie
Director
Charles Starrett plays two-fisted frontiersman Dart Collins in this slick Columbia "B" western. Collins wants to find out who's behind a series of gold-shipment robberies. So does heroine Judy Garfield (Iris Meredith), whose stage transport business faces foreclosure if the holdups continue. It comes as no surprise that the crimes are being orchestrated by the very people who want to force Judy out of business.
Pennies from Heaven
Assistant Director
Larry Poole, in prison on a false charge, promises an inmate that when he gets out he will look up and help out a family. The family turns out to be a young girl, Patsy Smith, and her elderly grandfather who need lots of help. This delays Larry from following his dream and going to Venice and becoming a gondolier. Instead, he becomes a street singer and, while singing in the street, meets a pretty welfare worker, Susan Sprague. She takes a dim view of Patsy's welfare under the guardianship of Larry and her grandfather and starts proceedings to have Patsy placed in an orphanage.
Ann Carver's Profession
Assistant Director
Newlyweds experience marital problems when the wife's highly successful job as an attorney overshadows her husband's stagnant career.
No More Orchids
Assistant Director
Despite loving another man, a young woman is talked into marrying a wealthy and boorish prince in order to help her financially-strapped father.
Washington Merry-Go-Round
Assistant Director
Button Gwinett Brown is a freshman congressman on a mission to rid Washington of corruption. He quickly runs afoul of the powerful Senator Norton...
The Menace
Producer
A man framed for murder escapes from prison in order to prove his innocence.
Way Back Home
Assistant Director
A rural Maine farmer fights for custody of the boy who he's raised as his own.
The Miracle Woman
Assistant Director
After an unappreciated minister dies, his daughter loses her faith in God, prompting her to open a phony temple with a con man. Can the love of a blind aviator restore her faith and happiness?
Rain or Shine
Assistant Director
Young Mary Rainey takes the reins of her deceased father's failing circus. With the help of the Inimitable Smiley Johnson, she hopes to bring fortune back to her ragtag band of ragged shoeleather performers.
Soldiers and Women
Pvt. Delehanty
Captain Clive Branch, United States Marine Corps, is stationed at a Marine base in Haiti, and is having affairs with two women, Brenda Ritchie and Helen Arnold, each of whom is married to a Marine Captain. One of the husbands is murdered, and Branch, Helen and Brenda each find themselves high on the list of suspects.
Mexicali Rose
Assistant Director
The owner of a border town gambling saloon falls in love with a promiscuous young girl. When she has an affair with another, he tosses her out of town. She gets revenge by marrying his younger brother.
The Little Savage
Norton
Once again, diminutive hero Red tries to help the adult characters in their fight against the villains.
The Vagabond Cub
Bob McDonald
Red saves his prospector sidekick Hank Robbins from the hangman.
The Circus Kid
Tad
In 'The Circus Kid', Buddy, an orphan who runs away from a a harsh orphanage, joins Cadwallader's Circus.
Breed of Courage
Alan Haliday
During a feud between remote families, a dog saves the day.
The Midnight Flyer
Assistant Director
The speed of lightning; the roar of thunder; the thrills of an earthquake; it's "The midnight flyer".