James Donlan

James Donlan

Born: July 23, 1888
Died: June 7, 1938
in San Francisco, California, USA
James Donlan was an American stage and screen actor who appeared in over 100 films between 1929 and 1939.

Movies for James Donlan...

Babes in Arms
Title: Babes in Arms
Character: Fred (uncredited)
Released: October 10, 1939
Type: Movie
Mickey Moran, son of two vaudeville veterans, decides to put up his own vaudeville show with his girlfriend Patsy Barton. But child actress Rosalie wants to make a comeback and replace Patsy both professionally and as Mickey's girl.
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Professor Beware
Title: Professor Beware
Character: Man Reported at Museum
Released: July 29, 1938
Type: Movie
Egyptologist, Dean Lambert, accused of car-theft, skips bail and begins a cross-country trek to join a group in New York headed for Egypt. With the police close on his trail he gets in and out of scrapes along the way.
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Borrowing Trouble
Title: Borrowing Trouble
Character: Casey
Released: December 10, 1937
Type: Movie
The Jones family drugstore is robbed and it looks like the culprit is a boy the family has taken a liking to.
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Music for Madame
Title: Music for Madame
Character: Suspect with Cold (Uncredited)
Released: October 8, 1937
Type: Movie
An Italian immigrant singer, Nino, hoping to succeed in Hollywood, falls in with a gang of crooks who use his talent to distract everyone at a party while they steal the jewels.
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It Happened in Hollywood
Title: It Happened in Hollywood
Character: Shorty
Released: September 7, 1937
Type: Movie
A silent Western star has trouble adjusting to the coming of sound.
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This Is My Affair
Title: This Is My Affair
Character: Reporter
Released: May 28, 1937
Type: Movie
President McKinley asks Lt. Richard L. Perry to go underground to identify some obviously very well briefed Mid-Western bank robbers based in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
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The Plot Thickens
Title: The Plot Thickens
Character: Jim
Released: December 11, 1936
Type: Movie
A priceless Cellini silver cup is stolen from a local museum with both Hildegarde and Oscar on the case.
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Crash Donovan
Title: Crash Donovan
Character: Smokey
Released: August 1, 1936
Type: Movie
A California Highway Patrolman gets involved with a smuggling ring.
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The Ex-Mrs. Bradford
Title: The Ex-Mrs. Bradford
Character: Taxi Driver (uncredited)
Released: April 24, 1936
Type: Movie
A doctor is driven into an investigation of sinister goings-on at a horse race track by his mystery writer ex-wife.
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Boulder Dam
Title: Boulder Dam
Character: Nightclub Manager (uncredited)
Released: March 7, 1936
Type: Movie
Fate brings a job at Boulder Dam and romance with a saloon singer into the life of a young man on the run.
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Exclusive Story
Title: Exclusive Story
Character: Managing Editor (uncredited)
Released: January 17, 1936
Type: Movie
A reporter and his newspaper's attorney try to gather evidence that will put a notorious gangster behind bars.
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We're Only Human
Title: We're Only Human
Character: Casey
Released: December 27, 1935
Type: Movie
A cop, who plays by his own rules, brings down a notorious gangster.
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Dr. Socrates
Title: Dr. Socrates
Character: Salesman in Car
Released: October 19, 1935
Type: Movie
Dr. Socrates gave up his brilliant career as surgeon in a prominent hospital because his betrothed died under his knife. He is now a struggling doctor in a small town that has a gangster's hideout.
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Here Comes the Band
Title: Here Comes the Band
Character: Joe (uncredited)
Released: August 30, 1935
Type: Movie
In this musical, a songwriter goes to court to claim the rights to his song that was stolen by an unscrupulous music publisher. He brings his girlfriend with him. Also going to court are the Jubilee singers, hillbillies, and some cowboys and Indians who demonstrate that the composer wrote his song by rearranging four folk tunes. He wins his song back and $50,000 in damages. Songs include: "Heading Home," "Roll Along Prairie Moon," "Tender Is the Night," "You're My Thrill," "I'm Bound for Heaven," and "The Army Band."
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Hot Tip
Title: Hot Tip
Character: Bill - Racetrack Bettor
Released: August 20, 1935
Type: Movie
An amateur handicapper must help his future son-in-law recoup the money he lost while playing the ponies.
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The Daring Young Man
Title: The Daring Young Man
Character: Captain of the Prison Guard
Released: July 17, 1935
Type: Movie
The Daring Young Man is hotshot-reporter Don McLane, played by James Dunn. Always on the prowl for a good story, McLane is persistently outscooped by his rival, sob sister Martha Allen (Mae Clarke). After several reels of double-crossing one another, hero and heroine give in to the inevitable and fall in love. But as Martha waits at the altar in her wedding gown, McLane is off on another crusade, this time getting himself arrested to expose corruption within the prison system.
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The Case of the Curious Bride
Title: The Case of the Curious Bride
Character: Detective Fritz
Released: April 13, 1935
Type: Movie
After giving the District Attorney another stinging defeat, Perry plans to take a vacation in China. That is, he was, until Rhoda, his old flame, meets him at a restaurant. It seems that her husband Moxley, who had been allegedly dead for four years, is alive and demanding money as she has married into wealth. The case escalates when the police find the body of Moxley and charge her with the murder.
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Traveling Saleslady
Title: Traveling Saleslady
Character: Andy McNeill
Released: March 28, 1935
Type: Movie
A toothpaste magnate's mischievous daughter, tired of her father's traditional ways of conducting business, joins forces with her father's rival and a crazy inventor. Together they create "Cocktail Toothpaste". The new concoction tastes like whiskey in the morning, a martini at suppertime, and champagne at night.
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Life Begins at Forty
Title: Life Begins at Forty
Character: Farmer
Released: March 22, 1935
Type: Movie
A small-town newspaper publisher finds himself in opposition to the local banker on the return to town of a lad jailed possibly wrongly for a theft from the bank.
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The Whole Town's Talking
Title: The Whole Town's Talking
Character: Detective Sergeant Patrick J. Howe
Released: February 22, 1935
Type: Movie
Ordinary man-in-the-street Arthur Ferguson Jones leads a very straightforward life. He's never late for work and nothing interesting ever happens to him. One day everything changes: he oversleeps and is fired as an example, he's then mistaken for evil criminal killer Mannion and is arrested. The resemblance is so striking that the police give him a special pass to avoid a similar mistake. The real Mannion sees the opportunity to steal the pass and move around freely and chaos results.
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Under Pressure
Title: Under Pressure
Character: Corky
Released: February 2, 1935
Type: Movie
Two members of a crew of "sandhogs", men who work on an underwater tunnel project, battle each other over the same woman and a rival team of sandhogs to see who will finish their half of the tunnel first, with the winning team getting more money and guaranteed future work.
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Belle of the Nineties
Title: Belle of the Nineties
Character: Kirby (Tiger Kid's manager)
Released: September 21, 1934
Type: Movie
Cabaret entertainer Ruby Carter shifts her operations to New Orleans and becomes exceedingly popular with the local men.
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Paris Interlude
Title: Paris Interlude
Character: Jones - Times Reporter
Released: July 27, 1934
Type: Movie
Expatriates and foreign correspondents mix in a Paris bistro...
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Now I'll Tell
Title: Now I'll Tell
Character: Honey Smith
Released: June 7, 1934
Type: Movie
A two-bit gambler somehow claws his way to the top. His love for riches is only matched by his love for his wife, but he is sometimes confused by which he loves most.
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A Very Honorable Guy
Title: A Very Honorable Guy
Character: Mr. O'Toole
Released: April 18, 1934
Type: Movie
Well respected local good guy, "Feet" Samuels finds himself heavily in debt due to an uncharacteristic gambling binge. Feet decides the only way to settle the bill is by selling his body to an ambitious doctor who agrees to allow him one last month to live life to the fullest, then kill himself.
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Dark Hazard
Title: Dark Hazard
Character: Man Advising Jim at Dog Track
Released: January 31, 1934
Type: Movie
Jim is a compulsive gambler. He meets Marge at a boarding house and they get married. His gambling causes problems. When he runs into old flame Valerie Marge leaves him. After a few years he returns, but she is now in love with old flame Pres. Jim buys racing dog Dark Hazard and makes a fortune which he loses on roulette.
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Hi, Nellie!
Title: Hi, Nellie!
Character: Evans (uncredited)
Released: January 20, 1934
Type: Movie
Managing Editor Brad Bradshaw refuses to run a story linking the disappearance of Frank Canfield with embezzlement of the bank. He considers Frank a straight shooter and he goes easy on the story. Every other paper goes with the story that Frank took the money and Brad is demoted, by the publisher, to the Heartthrob column - writing advice to the lovelorn. After feeling sorry for himself for two months, he takes the column seriously and makes it the talk of the town. But Brad still wants his old job back so he will have to find Canfield and the missing money.
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Design for Living
Title: Design for Living
Character: Fat Man with Ring (uncredited)
Released: December 29, 1933
Type: Movie
An independent woman can't choose between the two men she loves.
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I Loved a Woman
Title: I Loved a Woman
Character: Voting Returns Announcer (uncredited)
Released: September 23, 1933
Type: Movie
The son of a ruthless meatpacking king goes through a number of changes in ideals and motivations as he reluctantly inherits the mantle and falls in love.
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Doctor Bull
Title: Doctor Bull
Character: Harry Weems
Released: September 22, 1933
Type: Movie
In this engaging adaptation of James Gould Cozzen's novel The Last Adam, film icon Will Rogers portrays Dr. George Bull, a compassionate, highly regarded small-town physician who often prescribes a healthy dose of common sense! But when Bull begins dating a widow (Vera Allen), the local gossips misconstrue the story. To make matters worse, Bull's plainspoken manner earns him an enemy in the wealthy owner of a nearby construction camp. But once it's learned that the camp has caused illness by polluting the local water supply, the good doctor steps in to try to restore the town's health - and his reputation!
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The Avenger
Title: The Avenger
Character: Durant
Released: August 10, 1933
Type: Movie
A disgraced former District Attorney plots his revenge on the members of a criminal gang who had him framed and sent to prison.
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College Humor
Title: College Humor
Character: Marcus Lafflin
Released: July 5, 1933
Type: Movie
A college professor and the school's star football player are both rivals for the same beautiful coed.
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The Mayor of Hell
Title: The Mayor of Hell
Character: Sam (uncredited)
Released: June 24, 1933
Type: Movie
Members of a teenage gang are sent to the State Reformatory, presided over by the callous Thompson. Soon Patsy Gargan, a former gangster appointed Deputy Commissioner, arrives and takes over the administration to run the place on radical principles. Thompson needs a quick way to discredit him.
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The Nuisance
Title: The Nuisance
Character: Photographer (uncredited)
Released: June 3, 1933
Type: Movie
Fast-talker extraordinaire Tracy gives one of his quintessential wiseguy performances as a conniving ambulance chaser who falls in love with Evans, unaware she's a special investigator for a streetcar company he's repeatedly victimized.
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The Working Man
Title: The Working Man
Character: Hartland Company Salesman (uncredited)
Released: April 20, 1933
Type: Movie
A successful shoe manufacturer named John Reeves goes on vacation and meets the grown children of his recently deceased and much-respected competitor; they're on the verge of losing the family legacy through their careless behavior. Reeves takes it upon himself to save his rival's company by teaching the heirs a lesson in business.
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Mystery of the Wax Museum
Title: Mystery of the Wax Museum
Character: Morgue Attendant (Uncredited)
Released: February 18, 1933
Type: Movie
The disappearance of people and corpses leads a reporter to a wax museum and a sinister sculptor.
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What! No Beer?
Title: What! No Beer?
Character: Al (uncredited)
Released: February 10, 1933
Type: Movie
When Prohibition ends, a barber tries to get in the liquor business only to come up against mobsters.
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20,000 Years in Sing Sing
Title: 20,000 Years in Sing Sing
Character: First Reporter (uncredited)
Released: December 24, 1932
Type: Movie
Brash hoodlum Tom Connors enters Sing Sing cocksure of himself and disrespectful toward authority, but his tough but compassionate warden changes him.
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Penguin Pool Murder
Title: Penguin Pool Murder
Character: Security Guard Fink
Released: December 9, 1932
Type: Movie
New York schoolmarm Hildegarde Withers assists a detective when a body of unscrupulous stockbroker Gerald Parker suddenly appears in the penguin tank at the aquarium.
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The Death Kiss
Title: The Death Kiss
Character: Max Hill
Released: December 5, 1932
Type: Movie
When a movie actor is shot and killed during production, the true feelings about the actor begin to surface. As the studio heads worry about negative publicity, one of the writers tags along as the killing is investigated and clues begin to surface.
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Thirteen Women
Title: Thirteen Women
Character: Mike, Detective (uncredited)
Released: September 16, 1932
Type: Movie
Thirteen women who were schoolmates ask a swami to cast their horoscopes. The news they receive is not good for any of them.
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Back Street
Title: Back Street
Character: Profhero
Released: August 4, 1932
Type: Movie
A woman's love for and devotion to a married man results in her being relegated to the "back streets" of his life.
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Huddle
Title: Huddle
Character: Heckler at Game (uncredited)
Released: May 14, 1932
Type: Movie
Tony, the son of Italian immigrants, works in a smoky steel mill in Gary, Indiana. He wins a company scholarship which will enable him to attend Yale college. Over the four years of his college career he learns about football, love, and class prejudice.
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Just a Pain in the Parlor
Title: Just a Pain in the Parlor
Character: Mr. Smith
Released: April 25, 1932
Type: Movie
Harry Sweet stars as a hick Olympic hero who is housed in a high society mansion and causes havoc to the high brow party in progress.
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The Final Edition
Title: The Final Edition
Character: Freddie
Released: February 12, 1932
Type: Movie
A reporter gets the best story of her life when she goes under cover to take down the head of a crime syndicate.
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Big Dame Hunting
Title: Big Dame Hunting
Released: January 15, 1932
Type: Movie
A drunken husband tries to sneak in but his wife catches him... and that means trouble!
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Men of Chance
Title: Men of Chance
Character: Clark
Released: December 26, 1931
Type: Movie
A gambler falls for a fake countess.
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Five Star Final
Title: Five Star Final
Released: September 26, 1931
Type: Movie
Searching for headlines at any cost, an unscrupulous newspaper owner forces his editor to print a serial based on a past murder, tormenting a woman involved.
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Sporting Blood
Title: Sporting Blood
Character: Jim, a Trainer (uncredited)
Released: August 8, 1931
Type: Movie
A horse with great potential is reluctantly sold by the breeder and by chance passes through multiple hands who do not treat him well.
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A Free Soul
Title: A Free Soul
Character: Reporter (uncredited)
Released: June 2, 1931
Type: Movie
An alcoholic lawyer who successfully defended a notorious gambler on a murder charge objects when his free-spirited daughter becomes romantically involved with him.
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The Good Bad Girl
Title: The Good Bad Girl
Character: Police Sgt. Donovan
Released: May 20, 1931
Type: Movie
A woman's former association with a gangster threatens to destroy her marriage to an upstanding young man.
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Daybreak
Title: Daybreak
Character: Drunk Inviting Laura to Dance
Released: May 2, 1931
Type: Movie
An Austrian soldier must choose between a wealthy fiancee and a new girl who takes his fancy.
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The Painted Desert
Title: The Painted Desert
Character: Steve - Ore Wagon #2 Shotgun Rider
Released: January 18, 1931
Type: Movie
Western pardners Jeff and Cash find a baby boy in an otherwise deserted emigrants' camp, and clash over which is to be "father." They are still bitterly feuding years later when they own adjacent ranches. Bill, the foundling whom Cash has raised to young manhood, wants to end the feud and extends an olive branch toward Jeff, who now has a lovely daughter. But during a mining venture, the bitterness escalates. Is Bill to be set against his own adoptive father?
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Mothers Cry
Title: Mothers Cry
Character: City Editor
Released: December 4, 1930
Type: Movie
Having raised four children alone, widow Mary Williams still manages to love her eldest son, vicious and sadistic Danny Williams, who has led a life of crime and now returns to inflict his insane behavior on the family household.
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Remote Control
Title: Remote Control
Character: Blodgett
Released: November 15, 1930
Type: Movie
A radio announcer gets caught up with a fake clairvoyant and his gang of thieves.
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Danger Lights
Title: Danger Lights
Character: Picnic Barker (uncredited)
Released: November 15, 1930
Type: Movie
Head railroad man Dan is as ugly as he is honorable. When he spots a drifter who'd hopped a freight held up by a landslide, Dan offers the man a job; then he finds the man was a railroader, too, and takes him under his wing. Engaged to Mary, Dan doesn't notice the growing attraction between his protégé and his intended but focuses instead on running the railroad.
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The Sins of the Children
Title: The Sins of the Children
Character: Bide Taylor
Released: June 27, 1930
Type: Movie
A barber turns down a promising business venture in order to take his sick son to a drier climate out west.
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The Fall Guy
Title: The Fall Guy
Character: The Bill Collector
Released: June 15, 1930
Type: Movie
Johnny Quinlan is so desperate for a job that he takes a gig as a "bag man" for the mob. Meanwhile, his beleaguered wife has to deal with her bizarre, unemployed, wise-cracking brother and various neighbors while keeping house in their Brooklyn tenement.
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Beau Bandit
Title: Beau Bandit
Character: Buck
Released: March 2, 1930
Type: Movie
Mexican-bandit Montero and his deaf-mute sidekick Coloso are being pursued through the sand-dunes of southern Arizona by lawman Bob-Cat Manners and his posse. Montero has intentions of robbing the bank owned by skinflint Lucius Perkins, but is sidetracked by the attractions of singing-teacher Helen Wardell. He learns that Perkins has marital designs on Helen and holds the mortgage on her ranch. But Helen is in love with Bill Howard. Perkins offers Montero money to kill his rival.
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The Bishop Murder Case
Title: The Bishop Murder Case
Character: Ernest Heath
Released: December 31, 1929
Type: Movie
The murders start with the body of Robin. He is found with a arrow through the heart, but Vance deduces that the body was placed and not found where he was killed. The note found dealing with the murder was part of a nursery rhyme and signed by 'Bishop'. The only witness may have been Mrs. Drukker and Adolph, but they are not talking. As the murders progress, each one is accompanied by a nursery rhyme. It is up to Philo Vance to unravel the clues and unmask the identity of the murderer 'Bishop'.
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Copy
Title: Copy
Character: Adams
Released: October 11, 1929
Type: Movie
On a slow news day, the wisecracking staff of a newspaper write articles about the serious safety issues of a local excursion steamboat line.
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Wise Girls
Title: Wise Girls
Character: Ben Wade
Released: September 21, 1929
Type: Movie
Early MGM talkie about a retired businessman, his headstrong daughter, and the comical complications that result when she marries in haste.
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Big News
Title: Big News
Character: Deke
Released: September 6, 1929
Type: Movie
A reporter's marriage is jeopardized by his drinking and he finds himself accused of a murder he didn't commit.