James Craven

James Craven

Born: October 1, 1892
Died: June 29, 1955
in Pennsylvania, USA
James Craven was an American actor. He played a wide variety of roles and film and television credits including the TV show The Adventures of Kit Carson, Johnny Belinda, The Green Archer and King of the Rocket Men.

Movies for James Craven...

D-Day on Mars
Title: D-Day on Mars
Character: Dr. Cygnus Layton
Released: January 1, 1966
Type: Movie
This is a shortened version of the 1945 Republic serial "The Purple Monster Strikes," which was released to television in 1966.
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Missile Monsters
Title: Missile Monsters
Character: Dr. Bryant
Released: January 1, 1958
Type: Movie
A warlord from Mars recruits an Earth industrialist with a Nazi past to manufacture weapons by means of which Mars can take over the Earth. Feature version of the 1951 movie serial "Flying Disc Man from Mars".
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East of Sumatra
Title: East of Sumatra
Character: Drake
Released: September 23, 1953
Type: Movie
Duke Mullane, manager of a Malayan tin mine, goes to a little-known island to open a new mine in the jungle. Initially, the natives there are friendly, especially dancer Minyora...who proves to be affianced to local ruler King Kiang. Alas, a series of unfortunate incidents changes Kiang's attitude to hostility, and Duke is stranded with his crew, Minyora, and his old flame Lory...who's now engaged to his boss!
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Project Moon Base
Title: Project Moon Base
Character: Commodore Carlson
Released: September 4, 1953
Type: Movie
In the future (1970) the US sends a mission to the moon to investigate the building of a moon base.
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Against All Flags
Title: Against All Flags
Character: Captain Hornsby
Released: December 24, 1952
Type: Movie
A British naval officer fights pirates in Madagascar.
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The Old West
Title: The Old West
Character: Daniels (uncredited)
Released: September 29, 1952
Type: Movie
Doc Lockwood and his gang are trying to take away Autry's contract for supplying horses to the stagecoach line. Parson Brooks joins Autry in an effort to clean up the town of Sadderlock.
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Title: Four Star Playhouse
Character: Man in Audience
Released: September 25, 1952
Type: TV
Four Star Playhouse is an American television anthology series that ran from 1952 to 1956, sponsored in its first bi-weekly season by The Singer Company; Bristol-Myers became an alternate sponsor when it became a weekly series in the fall of 1953. The original premise was that Charles Boyer, Ida Lupino, David Niven, and Dick Powell would take turns starring in episodes. However, several other performers took the lead from time to time, including Ronald Colman and Joan Fontaine. Blake Edwards was among the writers and directors who contributed to the series. Edwards created the recurring character of illegal gambling house operator Willie Dante for Dick Powell to play on this series. The character was later revamped and spun off in his own series starring Howard Duff, then-husband of Lupino. The pilot for Meet McGraw, starring Frank Lovejoy, aired here, as did another episode in which Lovejoy recreated his role of Chicago newspaper reporter Randy Stone, from the radio drama Nightbeat.
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Title: Adventures of Superman
Character: John Greer
Released: September 19, 1952
Type: TV
Announcer: "The Adventures of Superman. Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound!" Voices: "Look up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!" Announcer: "Yes, it's Superman, strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Superman, who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel in his bare hands; and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way."
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Les Miserables
Title: Les Miserables
Character: Vero (uncredited)
Released: August 14, 1952
Type: Movie
Jean Valjean, a Frenchman of good character, has nevertheless been convicted for the minor crime of stealing bread. A minor infraction leads to his pursuit by the relentless policeman Javert, a pursuit that consumes both men's lives for many years.
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Flying Leathernecks
Title: Flying Leathernecks
Released: August 28, 1951
Type: Movie
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 make the difficult decision that all commanders have to make - to put men in harm's way knowing that they may be killed.
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Lost Planet Airmen
Title: Lost Planet Airmen
Character: Prof. Millard
Released: July 25, 1951
Type: Movie
Feature version of the 1949 serial, KING OF THE ROCKETMEN: Young member of scientific group uses new rocket-powered flying suit to thwart shadowy saboteur known only as "Dr. Vulcan".
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Wells Fargo Gunmaster
Title: Wells Fargo Gunmaster
Character: Henry Mills
Released: May 15, 1951
Type: Movie
Rocky Lane, Special Investigator for Wells Fargo, shows up just in time to save the stage from being robbed. Unable to find the mastermind, or even the outlaws who rob the stage, Rocky goes undercover as an outlaw.
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Target Unknown
Title: Target Unknown
Character: Brigadier General (uncredited)
Released: February 8, 1951
Type: Movie
World War II drama about members of an American bomber squadron who are captured and held prisoners by the German army.
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Blades of the Musketeers
Title: Blades of the Musketeers
Character: M. De Treville
Released: November 24, 1950
Type: Movie
In 1625 France, D'Artagnan joins the king's musketeers, meets three new friends - Athos, Porthos and Aramis - among them and, together, the four quickly find themselves embroiled in court intrigue with Prime Minister Richelieu attempting to sabotage the congenial relationship existing between France and England. Originally produced as a 60-minute episode of THE MAGNAVOX THEATER on CBS as THE THREE MUSKETEERS. This has the distinction of being the first movie specifically made for TV. Later retitled and released theatrically.
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Flying Disc Man from Mars
Title: Flying Disc Man from Mars
Character: Dr. Bryant
Released: October 25, 1950
Type: Movie
Mota is a Martian representative, who has come to impose interplanetary law on the Earth (which has become too dangerous); opposing his authority is Kent Fowler, who resists the alien plot, without understanding its details.
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Bunco Squad
Title: Bunco Squad
Character: Swenson (uncredited)
Released: September 1, 1950
Type: Movie
Police sergeants Johnson and McManus take on Los Angeles confidence tricksters. Con man Tony Wells, lining up rich widow Jessica Royce as his latest mark, sets up a false paranormal society with other charlatans to convince the credulous Jessica that her late son is speaking to her through their sham seances. When the plan leads to murder, Johnson and McManus must bring the group down before they kill again.
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Trial Without Jury
Title: Trial Without Jury
Character: Stage Actor Playing Philip Mannings
Released: July 8, 1950
Type: Movie
A homicide detective suspects a playwright who bases his play on a murder.
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Beyond the Forest
Title: Beyond the Forest
Released: October 21, 1949
Type: Movie
Rosa, the self-serving wife of a small-town doctor, gets a better offer when a wealthy big-city man insists she get a divorce and marry him instead. Soon she demonstrates she is capable of rather deplorable acts -- including murder.
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Kimbar of the Jungle
Title: Kimbar of the Jungle
Character: Commishioner Litchfield
Released: July 19, 1949
Type: Movie
Failed TV pilot short which had an episode name of "Chapter One: The Lion Men of Tanganyika". The end of the short advertised another chapter, which did not materialize.
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King of the Rocket Men
Title: King of the Rocket Men
Character: Prof. Millard
Released: June 8, 1949
Type: Movie
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.
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The Clay Pigeon
Title: The Clay Pigeon
Character: John Wheeler
Released: March 3, 1949
Type: Movie
Jim Fletcher, waking up from a coma, finds he is to be given a court martial for treason and charged with informing on fellow inmates in a Japanese prison camp during WWII. Escaping from the hospital he tries to clear himself by enlisting the aid of Martha Gregory, widow of a service buddy he was accused of informing on. Helped also by Ted Niles, a surviving fellow prisoner, he gets closer to finding the answers he needs, and becomes ensnared in a grandiose scheme involving his Japanese ex-prison guard, $10,000,000 of US currency forged by the Japanese and a burgeoning crime network poised to wreak havoc throughout southern California.
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Federal Agents vs. Underworld, Inc.
Title: Federal Agents vs. Underworld, Inc.
Character: Prof. James Clayton [Chs. 1, 10-12]
Released: January 29, 1949
Type: Movie
The female leader of an international crime ring steals a valuable artifact that can give her the power to control men's minds. Federal agents are dispatched to get it back and stop her evil plans.
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Million Dollar Weekend
Title: Million Dollar Weekend
Character: Dr. George Strong
Released: October 29, 1948
Type: Movie
A stock broker embezzles a million bucks and plans to take off to Shanghai. A number of obstacles stands in his path, however.
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Strange Gamble
Title: Strange Gamble
Character: Mordigan
Released: October 8, 1948
Type: Movie
Hoppy and his pals arrive in a remote town to investigate the counterfeiting of both U.S. and Mexican money; his only clues are the name "Mordigan" and a drawing of a comet. He quickly finds out that Mordigan is the town "boss"; but what or who is "the comet", and why are Mordigan and his henchmen intent on persecuting a young woman, her drunken brother, and her deathly ill sister-in-law who've also just arrived in town?
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Desperadoes of Dodge City
Title: Desperadoes of Dodge City
Character: Cal Sutton
Released: September 15, 1948
Type: Movie
Rocky and the Land agent riders need to get an important message to the Army post. The message is stolen but Rocky knows one of the four men on the stagecoach has it. When Rocky and the four get trapped in a shack by the outlaw gang, he learns that one of the four is the gang leader. Rocky has to learn his identity and retrieve the message.
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Johnny Belinda
Title: Johnny Belinda
Character: Interpreter (uncredited)
Released: September 14, 1948
Type: Movie
A small-town doctor helps a deaf-mute farm girl learn to communicate.
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Berlin Express
Title: Berlin Express
Character: British Major
Released: May 1, 1948
Type: Movie
In post-war Europe, a diverse group of passengers aboard a U.S. Army train to bombed-out Frankfurt becomes involved in a Nazi assassination plot.
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The Exile
Title: The Exile
Character: Cavalier (uncredited)
Released: October 17, 1947
Type: Movie
In 17th-century England, Charles II, the rightful heir to the kingdom, is driven from his country by militants working for rogue leader Oliver Cromwell. Charles ends up in the Netherlands, where he falls for local beauty Katie and spends his days happily in the quiet countryside. Unfortunately, Cromwell's associate Col. Ingram and his men track Charles down, and the would-be monarch must resort to swashbuckling his way to freedom.
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Monsieur Verdoux
Title: Monsieur Verdoux
Character: Bismo - Annabella's Friend (uncredited)
Released: September 26, 1947
Type: Movie
The film is about an unemployed banker, Henri Verdoux, and his sociopathic methods of attaining income. While being both loyal and competent in his work, Verdoux has been laid-off. To make money for his wife and child, he marries wealthy widows and then murders them. His crime spree eventually works against him when two particular widows break his normal routine.
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Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman
Title: Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman
Character: Winsley (uncredited)
Released: March 1, 1947
Type: Movie
A nightclub singer uses alcohol in excess to sooth her painful life.
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Murder in the Music Hall
Title: Murder in the Music Hall
Character: Mr. Winters
Released: April 10, 1946
Type: Movie
An orchestra leader turns sleuth to clear his ice-skating girlfriend for murder.
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Sheriff of Redwood Valley
Title: Sheriff of Redwood Valley
Character: Bidwell
Released: March 29, 1946
Type: Movie
Redwood Valley residents raise $50,000 for blasting a mountain tunnel to bring a new railroad there. Town leader Bidwell engineers a plot to steal the money and to blame it on the Reno Kid (Bob Steele) who has recently broken out of prison in order to clear himself of false charges that sent him there and caused him to lose his ranch. The badly-wounded sheriff turns his badge over to Red Ryder. Reno visits his wife, Molly and their ailing son Johnny, and Red, also wounded, is brought there by Little Beaver. There, Red begins to believe Reno's story about being innocent. Written by Les Adams
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Days of Buffalo Bill
Title: Days of Buffalo Bill
Character: Ace Diamond
Released: February 2, 1946
Type: Movie
In this western, a cowpoke gets in an argument; a scuffle ensues leaving the cowboy to believe that he killed his opponent. He is so wracked with guilt that he travels to the ranch of the dead man's sister, gives himself a new name and begins helping her. Rustlers come; he stops them. Trouble ensues after she learns his true identity. A scuffle ensues. She wings him with a gun; he disarms her. Later she hears the real murderer bragging about his crime during a fight with the hero.
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The Purple Monster Strikes
Title: The Purple Monster Strikes
Character: Dr. Cyrus Layton
Released: October 6, 1945
Type: Movie
A Martian invader crashes his spaceship conveniently close to the workshop of a scientist who is developing an interplanetary craft. If the extraterrestrial Purple Monster can complete the rocket ship and return to Mars, he will be able to start a full-scale invasion of Earth. Good thing Craig Foster sets out to thwart the Monster's mission!
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Bombardier
Title: Bombardier
Character: Major Morris
Released: May 14, 1943
Type: Movie
A documentary/drama about the training of bombardiers during WWII. Major Chick Davis proves to the U.S. Army the superiority of high altitude precision bombing, and establishes a school for bombardiers. Training is followed in semi-documentary style, with personal dramas in subplots. The climax is a spectacular, if somewhat jingoistic, battle sequence.
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The Adventures of Smilin' Jack
Title: The Adventures of Smilin' Jack
Character: Commissioner Robert George Hardy [Chs. 5-7]
Released: January 5, 1943
Type: Movie
A movie serial in 12 chapters: The famous comic strip character is on a mission to protect a secret tunnel passage between China and India.
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Reunion in France
Title: Reunion in France
Character: Officer (uncredited)
Released: December 25, 1942
Type: Movie
Frenchwoman Michele de la Becque, an opponent of the Nazis in German-occupied Paris, hides a downed American flyer, Pat Talbot, and attempts to get him safely out of the country.
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Silver Queen
Title: Silver Queen
Character: Thomas (uncredited)
Released: November 14, 1942
Type: Movie
A beautiful heiress is an excellent poker player. Her comfortable life changes when her father and his fortune die during market crash of the 1800's.
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Little Joe, the Wrangler
Title: Little Joe, the Wrangler
Character: Lloyd Chapin
Released: November 13, 1942
Type: Movie
Mining executive Neal Wallace arrives to investigate the losses at a gold mine and is immediately framed for murder. The murderers then incite a lynch mob but the Sheriff lets him go. Wallace eventually convinces the Sheriff of his innocence and the two then work together to get the gang that is looting the gold ore.
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Invisible Agent
Title: Invisible Agent
Character: Ship's Radio Man (uncredited)
Released: August 7, 1942
Type: Movie
The Invisible Man's grandson uses his secret formula to spy on Nazi Germany in this comedy-thriller.
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Eagle Squadron
Title: Eagle Squadron
Character: Fire Warden
Released: June 16, 1942
Type: Movie
An American joins the British Royal Air Force just before Pearl Harbor is attacked, and falls in love with a beautiful English girl.
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Captain Midnight
Title: Captain Midnight
Character: Ivan Shark
Released: February 15, 1942
Type: Movie
Secret Service Major Steel is one of the few men in America aware of the fact that Captain Albright is also Captain Midnight, daring masked aviator dedicated to fighting gangsters and enemies of America.
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Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake
Title: Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake
Character: Guard (uncredited)
Released: January 29, 1942
Type: Movie
Sir Arthur Blake has inherited title and lands from his brother. He also has his orphaned nephew Benjamin working for him as a bonded servant. While he believes the lad was born out of wedlock and so cannot claim the inheritance, he is taking no chances. Benjamin eventually rebels against his uncle and sets sail to try and make his fortune. This may enable him to return to prove his claim to being the rightful heir to the estate.
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Today I Hang
Title: Today I Hang
Character: Joseph Rand
Released: January 9, 1942
Type: Movie
Henry Courtney, a wealthy importer is found murdered and the famous DeNormand necklace has been stolen. The false testimony of two witnesses, Rand and Hobbs, puts Jim O'Brien in the shadow of the hangman's noose. Martha Courtney, widow of the murdered man and Jim's former sweetheart is convinced he isn't guilty, and promises crooked lawyer Roger Lanning the necklace - which Jim doesn't have - if he can arrange for Jim's escape. Rand and Lanning killed Courtney, but Lanning doesn't know that Rand has the necklace.
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The Corsican Brothers
Title: The Corsican Brothers
Character: Giovanni (Uncredited)
Released: November 28, 1941
Type: Movie
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.
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A Yank in the R.A.F.
Title: A Yank in the R.A.F.
Character: Instructor
Released: September 26, 1941
Type: Movie
An American pilot impulsively joins His Majesty's Royal Air Force in Britain in an attempt to impress his ex-girlfriend.
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They Met in Bombay
Title: They Met in Bombay
Character: Captain in Car (uncredited)
Released: June 27, 1941
Type: Movie
A jewel thief and a con artist are rivals in the theft of a valuable diamond and gem necklace in Bombay and as the Japanese Army invades China.
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Tumbledown Ranch In Arizona
Title: Tumbledown Ranch In Arizona
Character: Dan Slocum
Released: April 19, 1941
Type: Movie
Rodeo contestants Johnny King and Corrigan meet, their fathers having been members of the Range Busters. When Johnny is knocked unconscious, time reverts to their father's era and the Range Busters are soon involved in the scheme to get Railroad right-of-way across Mother Slocum's ranch. When she is tricked into signing a release, the Range Busters find their job more difficult as the Sheriff is in with the crooks.
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White Eagle
Title: White Eagle
Character: 'Dandy' Darnell
Released: January 31, 1941
Type: Movie
Serials usually spawned feature film versions, but with this film, it was the other way around. A 1932 Buck Jones Western, White Eagle was made into a serial nine years later, again starring Jones in the title role, a (supposedly) Native American Pony Express Rider defending his people against a gang of evil Whites.
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The Green Archer
Title: The Green Archer
Character: Abel Bellamy
Released: October 25, 1940
Type: Movie
The struggle over the Bellamy estate ends with Michael Bellamy accused of murder and killed on the way to prison, while his brother Abel Bellamy takes control of the estate for his own nefarious plans.