Selmer Jackson

Selmer Jackson
Total Credits at Criticker: 84 (Actor)
Titles you haven't rated - Actor (84)
The Ape
Dr. Bernard Adrian is a kindly mad scientist who seeks to cure a young woman's polio. He needs spinal fluid from a human to complete the formula for his experimental serum. (imdb)
Autumn Leaves
Milly, a lonely older woman, marries Burt Hanson, a much younger man. But after the wedding, Milly discovers that Burt has been mentally unhinged by the discovery, some time before, of his first wife Virginia in the arms of his father. The reappearance of his father and former wife in Burt's new life throws him into deep mental distress, and Milly must decide whether to have him committed to a mental institution. (imdb)
Ace Drummond
Ace is a 'G-Man of the sky' working out of Washington D.C. He is sent to Mongolia to find out why a mysterious villain known only as 'The Dragon' is trying to prevent the newly formed International Airways from setting up an airport there. Ace meets Peggy Trainor who is searching for her archaeologist father who has disappeared. Together they search for answers to the puzzles. (imdb)
Adventures of the Flying Cadets
A group of flying cadets have to clear themselves of a murder charge, while trying to stop a traitorous scientist from selling secrets to the Nazis. (imdb)
Blonde Ice
A society reporter keeps herself in the headlines by marrying a series of wealthy men, all of whom die under mysterious circumstances. (imdb)
City Story
City Story (1954) - Short Film
In order to get an idea of how he and his church can better serve their community, a pastor visits a young girl who is incarcerated in the local jail. (imdb)
Devil Goddess
Jungle Jim type Johnny Weissmuller helps Professor Blakely look for a missing colleague who is now playing "god" for a bunch of natives. (imdb)
Forgotten Women
A tale of three women who hang out in a bar and bend the ear of Harry the bartender. (imdb)
Key Witness
Milton Higby, an inventor of gadgets that don't sell finds himself accused of a crime he didn't commit - the killing of a girl he had just met - and takes to the open road with the police in close pursuit.
Undercover Agent
A railway postal clerk goes after a sweepstakes counterfeiting ring. (imdb)
Easy Money
Dan Adams resigns his position as prosecutor on the district attorney's staff and sets out to clean up a gang of fake-accident racketeers. He gets a job with an insurance company, and assures the company president he will get the goods on the gang or die in the attempt. At the company offices, he meets Carol Carter and she, believing he is a shyster (possibly redundant) lawyer in the employ of the racketeers gives him as little help as possible. (imdb)
The 13th Man
A tough district attorney has been cleaning up the town, and has already imprisoned twelve dangerous criminals. As he is about to name the target for his next investigation, he is murdered in the midst of a crowd. The police have many suspects and hardly any clues, so two reporters decide to investigate for themselves. (imdb)
Alaska Patrol
Spotted after he microfilms secret U.S. Navy documents, foreign agent Rattick is killed when he tries to make a getaway. Naval Intelligence officer Captain Wright and Operative Dale are assigned to investigate and determine who is behind the spy syndicate for which Rattick worked. They bring in the services of Agent Tom Norman, who bears a strong resemblance to Rattick. (imdb)
Arson Racket Squad
New York City fireman Bill O'Connell is assigned to the Arson Sqaud with the job of apprehending the for-profit gang of arsonists who are spreading terror and loss of property, including human life. When his friend and battalion chief, J.P. Riley, is killed fighting one of the set fires, Bill declines the offered promotion to Riley's post in order to keep working against the arson gang. Riley's young son Tommy is left in charge of Bill and his fireman pal Tom Jones. (imdb)
Babies for Sale
Telecast dozens of times on cable television back in the 1980s, Columbia's Babies for Sale was another stepping-stone on Glenn Ford's road to stardom. The story concerns a crooked adoption racket, operating out of a supposedly charitable maternity home. The establishment's staff uses methods of persuasion both subtle and overt to convince the unfortunate mothers-to-be to give up custody of their unborn children, which are then sold to adoptive parents who've had no luck within legal channels. (allmovie.com)
Behind the Headlines
Eddie Haines is a radio reporter with Station KBC. He is always getting the scoop, which infuriates those at the New York Star, which happens to employ his ex-girlfriend Mary Bradley. But when Mary is kidnapped while thinking she is getting a scoop on a big story, Eddie and Mary, (ie. the print media and the radio media), must work together to rescue her. (imdb)
Blind Date
The all-purpose title Blind Date was trotted out in 1934 for this romantic trifle. Poor Kitty Taylor (Ann Sothern) just can't choose between wealthy Bob Hartwell (Neil Hamilton) and unwealthy mechanic Bill (Paul Kelly). When Kitty gets a modelling job thanks to Bob, she feels beholden to him, even though she still carries a torch for Bill. (allmovie.com)
Bowery Boy
Dr. Tom O'Hara takes over a public clinic in New York's desperately poor Bowery section. Boy gangleader Sock Dolan resents Tom's interference in moving Sock's kid brother to a hospital, because Sock blames hospitals for his mother's death. Sock helps racketeer J.R. Mason sell food to the clinic, unaware that Mason sells cheap and often tainted food. When a number of patients, including Sock's brother, become ill from food poisoning, Sock is kidnapped by Mason to keep him silent. (imdb)
Calling All Marines
In this patriotic spy adventure, a young gangster joins an enemy espionage agency and agrees to enlist in the Marine Corps so he can pilfer the plans for a newly developed aerial torpedo. To get in, the crook steals an innocent young man's papers and forges them for himself. Later, he gets his chance and nabs the plans. Unfortunately, the man whom he pretends to be finds out and gets the crook tossed into jail. Later the enemy agents help him escape. (imdb)
Carnival
"Chick" Thompson is a puppet-master in a traveling carnival whose wife dies in childbirth and leaves him with an infant son he names "Poochy." His father-in-law and the baby's grandfather sues him for custody of the baby and Chick takes his son and hides out for a couple of years. He joins his former assistants, Daisy and "Fingers", in a circus act only to find that the persistent grandfather is still on his trail. (imdb)
The Chaser
A sleazy lawyer gains clients by showing up at terrible accidents. His boss is determined to stop him so he hires a pretty girl to cozy up and coerce the truth out of the ambulance-chaser. Unfortunately, the boss doesn't count on the romance factor and sure enough, love blossoms between the girl and the shyster. (allmovie.com)
Child of Divorce
An eight-year-old girl is an unwilling and disturbed witness of parental quarrels in her home, and when the parents finally secure a divorce, the judge decrees that the young girl live with her mother for eight months and her father the other four months. The divided life affects her both mentally and physically. (imdb)
The Cobra Strikes
Hard-boiled reporter Mike Kent investigates the murder of a prominent scientist and stumbles upon a sinister plot to steal a fortune in jewels. (imdb)
The Devil Pays Off
Chris Waring (William Wright) is a government investigator trying to gather the necessary evidence to convict a shipping magnate, DeBrock (J.Edward Bromberg), of selling his ships to the United States but is suspected of holding up and preventing their delivery because of bribes from foreign powers. DeBrock's conscience, nor his flirty wife, Valerie DeBrock (Osa Massen), give him any peace of mind. (imdb)
Dream Girl
Elmer Rice's clever stage comedy Dream Girl is Hollywoodized and "dumbed down" almost beyond recognition in this 1948 film version. In place of the original play's Betty Field, Betty Hutton stars Georgina Allerton, who periodically escapes her humdrum existence by retreating into elaborate daydreams. Georgina's fantasy excursions disturb her parents (Walter Abel and Peggy Wood) and her married sister (Virginia Field), who wish that she'd grow up already and stop all this nonsense. (allmovie.com)
Educating Father
Jones family romp with father trying to convince son to follow him as a druggist, rather than becoming a pilot, until the son's piloting skills come in handy. (imdb)
Federal Bullets
When the Bureau of Investigation (so-called because Monogram didn't have J. Edgar's stamp of approval) learns that wealthy philanthropist Mrs. Crippen bosses the city's underworld, Federal Agent Tommy Thompson is detailed to uncover evidence that will convict her. Masquerading as a crook, Tommy is saved from jail by the Crippen machine, which is headed by Harker, Mrs. Crippen's lawyer and partner. (imdb)
Flight to Fame
Once one of Hollywood's "top ten" screen attractions, Charles Farrell had slipped somewhat by the end of the 1930s, and obliging to accept roles in such B productions as Columbia's Flight to Fame. Farrell plays air force captain Lawrence, a Billy Mitchell type who finds himself constantly at odds with his old-fashioned superiors. (allmovie.com)
Florian
Winfield Sheehan, former head of Fox studios, owned the only Austrian Lippizan horses in the U.S. In 1940, MGM bought the rights to the Felix Salten novel Florian, all about the Lippanzers. When the film was made, the producer was Winfield Sheehan. Coincidence? We don't think so. At any rate, the story, set in the 1880s, tells of how hero (Robert Young) and heroine (Helen Gilbert) are brought together through their love of horses. (allmovie.com)
Forever Yours
A young woman who has been stricken with infantile paralysis gives up hope and is trying to "will herself" to die. A doctor who has been conducting experiments with patients with paralyzed nerves is convinced he can cure her. (imdb)
The French Key
Private detective Johnny Fletcher and his sidekick Sam Cragg skip out on their rented room, but when they sneak back to retrieve their luggage, they discover a dead body on the bed, holding a gold coin in its hand. Fletcher is told by a coin collector that the piece is an old and valuable Spanish coin, but Fletcher soon begins to suspect that the man is himself involved in the murder. Fletcher's investigation leads to he and Sam getting caught up in a murder and gold smuggling scheme. (imdb)
Gangster\
A popular high school valedictorian and star athlete becomes a pariah when it's discovered that his father is a former bootlegger. (imdb)
Get Hep to Love
Orphan prodigy singer runs away from her oppressive aunt and tricks a rural couple into adopting her. (imdb)
Girl on the Spot
Eleven Gilbert & Sullivan numbers are melded within the murder-mystery plot of "Girl on the Spot", with a result that either G&S and/or the plot are always seemingly on stage-wait or in the wings awaiting a cue. Lois Collier is the girl-on-the-spot of the title because she was on the scene of a murder. The police conclude she didn't do it and they use her to set a trap for the real killer, a G&S addict, by financing a broadway production starring Collier. (imdb)
Girl Overboard
A beautiful girl on a passenger ship is suspected of murder. (imdb)
Glamour for Sale
The vice squad takes on escort services in this crime drama. Two services are depicted. One escort agency is legitimate, offering fine upstanding girls with no funny business. The other agency has a more tawdry reputation (though the none of the women there are prostitutes) and makes most of its money by blackmailing clients. The trouble begins when a basically good woman finds herself mixed up with the bad escort service. (allmovie.com)
Heading for Heaven
Stuart Erwin plays a small-town real estate agent who owns much property which, for several generations, has failed to sell even while the town has grown. It becomes know, except to Erwin, that the property is being considered for the new airport and the owner will make a small fortune. He is swarmed upon by an unscrupulous swami (Russ Vincent)and his equally-crooked business partner, and Erwin is soon convinced that he hasn't long to live. With his life a mess, he leaves home and family. (imdb)
Honeymoon Deferred
An inordinate number of Hollywood detective films--including virtually the entire Bulldog Drummond series--extracted humor from the notion of "coitus interruptus." Honeymoon Deferred is the self-explanatory title of a 1940 Universal programmer. Edmund Lowe plays a private detective, newly married to the toothsome Margaret Lindsay. Just as they've settled into their honeymoon hideaway, Lowe's boss is murdered. Thus he heads off to suspectville, while wifey fumes and plays solitaire. (allmovie.com)
Honeymoon Lodge
Honeymoon Lodge is a musical variation on the old Awful Truth plotline. Divorce-bound Bob and Carol Sterling (David Bruce, June Vincent) make a last-ditch attempt to avoid their legal breakup by restaging their mountain-resort honeymoon. Things get complicated when a rancher named Big Boy (Rod Cameron, in a Ralph Bellamy-style "sap" role) shows up at the resort in ardent pursuit of Carol, while Lorraine Logan (Harriet Hilliard) sets her cap for Bob. (imdb)
Hot Water
The Jones family is into politics with father running for mayor. His son prints a newspaper which causes controversy by quoting his dad regarding his crooked opponent. (imdb)
Meet the Boy Friend
A heartthrob singer, Tony Paige, also known as "America's Boyfriend" decides to wed a Swedish actress. His manager doesn't want this because he is afraid of Tony losing female fans so he takes up a 300 hundred thousand dollar insurance policy if Tony does in fact wed. Tony soon meets a girl name June Delaney on a bus who doesn't swoon over him like other girls. He falls for her but doesn't know her true identity. Hilarious film! (imdb)
I\
This romance chronicles the relationship between a stuntman and his movie star wife. When a colleague of his is killed on a movie set, his wife becomes afraid for her husband. This creates marital tension and the two separate. Eventually his buddies conspire to reunite them. (allmovie.com)
The Wrong Road
A young married couple whose plans for their life together haven't turned out as expected decide to rob the bank where the husband works of $100,000, then hide the money in a safe place and return for it after they serve out their sentences. All goes according to plan until they get out of prison, when they find that they're being trailed by an insurance investigator and the husband's old cellmate, who has decided that he wants a cut of the money. (imdb)
Jealousy
Larry O'Roark is a boxer who's insanely posssesive and jealous of his fiancee, Jo. the sight of her and her employer, Mr. Lambert, at ringside during his big fight distracts Larry and he is knocked out. He then promises never to be jealous again and marries Jo. When she realizes that they're broke she asks Lambert for a job (she had quit on marrying Larry.) One thing leads to another and Larry, enraged with jealousy, end up killing Lambert. (imdb)
Johnny Comes Flying Home
Following World War II, three discharged U. S. Air Corps fighter-pilots decide to stay together and go into business for themselves. They form a company to operate a one-airplane freight line, and have many difficulties keeping their operation afloat...and in the air. (imdb)
Let\
A genial lampoon of the Greta Garbo craze, Let's Fall in Love stars Ann Sothern as Jean, a Brooklyn-born aspiring actress. It so happens that Ken (Edmund Lowe), an ambitious movie director, is searching for a Swedish actress to replace his temperamental star Forsell (Tala Birrell). In desperation, Ken decides to transform Jean into a Scandinavian film sensation, spending six weeks coaching her in the proper accent and "I vant to be alone" demeanor. (allmovie.com)
Little Miss Nobody
A girl gets into trouble at her orphanage and is sent away to reform school. She escapes en route but is found and brought to trial. Her father is the prosecutor. (imdb)
Madame Spy
A war correspondent's new wife is suspected by his colleagues of being a Nazi spy. (imdb)
The Magnificent Brute
The foreman of a blast furnace gets involved in a romantic triangle and stolen money. (imdb)
The Man in Blue
When Frankie Loomis' father, a petty thief, is killed in a shootout with Police Officer Martin Dunne, Frankie is adopted by Dunne and his wife, but is unaware that his foster-father was the one who had killed his father, albeit only in self-defense after being shot at from ambush. Frankie grows up to be a fine young man and has a job as a bank teller. (imdb)
Man of the People
One of the advantages of holding an MGM stock-company contract in the 1930s was the occasional opportunity to star in one of the studio's "B"-pictures. Maltese character actor Joseph Calleia, hitherto confined to supporting villainy, was permitted to play the hero in MGM's Man of the People. "Drawn from today's headlines," the story dealt with small-town political corruption. Unable to make a living as a lawyer, Italian-born Jack Mareno (Calleia) sells out to a high-pressure political machine. (allmovie.com)
The Man Who Cried Wolf
An actor continually confesses to murders he didn't commit, figuring that the police won't believe him when he confesses to a murder that he actually does intend to commit. (imdb)
The Man Who Lost Himself
John Evans encounters his lookalike, Malcolm Scott. When Scott is killed in an accident, Evans finds himself mistaken for Scott and decides to do some good in his new role. (imdb)
Men Against the Sky
Richard Dix is his usual strong, silent self in RKO Radio's Men Against the Sky. Dix plays a washed-up pilot who designs a revolutionary new plane. Realizing that he is persona non grata in the aviation industry due to his irresponsibility and alcoholism, Dix allows his sister Wendy Barrie to take credit for the "wonder" plane. (imdb)
Midnight Intruder
A former actor poses as the son of a wealthy man and gets involved in a murder in which the real son is a suspect. (imdb)
Millionaires in Prison
The title of Millionaires in Prison pertains to four individuals. Two of the incarcerated millionaires, Bruce Vander (Raymond Walburn) and Harold Kellogg (Thurston Hall) have become the fall guys in a corporate swindle; the other two are brokers James Brent (Morgan Conway) and Sidney Keats (Chester Clute), who scheme to arrange an illicit stock deal in the joint. (allmovie.com)
The Missing Guest
One of the guests at an old mansion disappears from his room. The other guests search the house for him, but he appears to have vanished into thin air. (imdb)
Montana Territory
John Malvin (Lon McCallister), prospecting the Montana territory during the gold rush, sees bandits kill a miner and his son. He eludes the outlaws by hiding near a stagecoach relay station run by "Possum" Enoch (Eddy Waller) and his daughter Clair (Wanda Hendrix), with whom John Falls in love with. Sheriff Henry Plummer (Preston Foster), secret head of the outlaws, learns John witnessed the killings and sends him as his deputy on a dangerous mission with a planned ambush. (imdb)
Personal Secretary
Two rival newspaper columnists battle over whether or not a woman murdered her playboy husband. (imdb)
Prison Nurse
A state prison is threatened by approaching floods, an epidemic of typhoid fever breaks out among the inmates, the prison's only doctor falls sick, there are only three nurses to administer vaccines and take care of stricken patients--and a group of prisoners is planning to use the chaos as a cover for a mass escape. (imdb)
Black Market Babies
This George Morris story was based on an article that appeared in "Woman's Home Companion" and later reprinted in "Reader's Digest." Eddie Condon, a two-bit racketeer, teams up with an alcoholic doctor, Judson, to set up a maternity home with free facilities to expectant mothers, with the proviso that the women sign away all rights to their newborns. The babies are then offered for adaptation to couples willing to make a substantial "contribution" to the home. (imdb)
Sorority House
Anne Shirley plays Alice Fisher-the daughter of a small grocer who at the last minute gets to go to little Talbot College. She learns that joining a sorority is an essential thing at the school. Unfortunately her late admission means that none of the sororities know about Alice and initially she is not even rushed. Fortunately her roommates have their own sorority problems and she soon falls in love with the BMOC. (imdb)
Teddy the Rough Rider
This short follows the political career of Theodore Roosevelt, beginning in 1895, when he was appointed police commissioner of New York City. In 1897 he was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy. His charge up San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American War in 1898 is re-created. He becomes vice president in March 1901 and assumes the presidency when William McKinley is assassinated six months later. (imdb)
Two Thoroughbreds
Group of gangsters steal the valuable brood-mare "Larkspur" from the Conway Ranch in Arizona. The mare's three-month-old colt tries to follow its dam, but is outdistanced. The lost colt finds its way to the Carey farm, where David Carey, a 16-year-old orphan, lives with his miserly uncle Thad Carey and his aunt Hildy Carey. David adopts the colt and names it Sunset. When the colt isn't filling out as David thinks it should be, he goes to the Conway Ranch to consult the head groom, Jack Lenihan. (imdb)
Son of the Navy
Actually, the sailor wants nothing to do with the boy, who we eventually find out is an orphan who ran away from the orphanage, trying to find a new Mom and Dad. The sailor, not knowing anything about the boy, thinks he'll be more successful hitchhiking alone back to his ship. It's the boy who has the idea of pretending to be the sailor's kid, jumping into his arms, pretending to be a sick kid, prompting a well-meaning woman to pick them both up. (imdb)
Patrolling the Ether
1940. Sixteen year old Phillip is one of a number of amateur radio operators across the US, doing it purely as a fun hobby. He is informed by Bill Beck of the Radio and Intelligence Division (RID) of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that amateur international radio communication is now banned due to spying a result of the war in Europe. Beck, on behalf of the RID, asks Phillip, however, to continue to monitor the airwaves for suspicious activity. (imdb)
Road to Happiness
Jeff Carter, a singer down on his luck, turns to radio acting as a means of supporting his young son Danny. With the support of his son and his press agent Charley Grady, Jeff ultimately finds radio the means of realizing his professional ambition. (imdb)
The Secret Call
The Secret Call is adapted from The Woman, a play by William C. DeMille (brother of Cecil B.) Peggy Shannon plays Wanda Kelly, the daughter of a disgraced politician. Reduced to working as a switchboard operator, Wanda is privy to the many secrets and indiscretions of the clients of a big-city hotel. She also finds romance in the form of handsome Tom Blake (Richard Arlen).
Parachute Battalion
In this pre-Pearl Harbor recruiting poster, colonel's estranged son Bill Burke, football hero Donald Morse, and hillbilly Jeff Hollis enlist in the paratroopers. Their training at Fort Benning, Georgia is followed in semi-documentary style, with time out for personal dramas and the romantic rivalry of Bill and Don over the sergeant's daughter. (imdb)
Thru Different Eyes
Harvey Manning is placed on trial for the murder of Jack Winfield, his closest friend, whose body was found in the Manning home. During the trial, the prosecuting and the defense attorneys put forward sharply different versions of the character of Manning and his wife, Viola, and of the events leading up to the murder. The jury returns a verdict of guilty, but a young girl then comes forward and confesses that she killed Winfield for having wronged her.
The Power of God
As the elderly man visiting his wife's grave remembers how a renewed faith in Christianity help a shady businessman, a juvenile delinquent a young couple and a shiftless man find the way to righteousness.
You Can\
Playboy Johnny Gray is framed and sent to prison after his stolen car is found at a holdup committed by Rico, and while the latter is not suspected, his henchman Harry, Creeper and Red are convicted with Johnny. Stung by the injustice, when even his fiancée believes him guilty, Johnny becomes an unruly prisoner and is put in a cell with Cain, head of the prison gang planning a break.
Tight Shoes
A crook with big feet buys shoes that are too tight from a salesman, then decides to use the store as a front for illegal gambling.
Reconnaissance Pilot
Documentary/training film depicting the duties of a pilot in the Pacific Theatre of the Second World War as he flies reconnaissance missions over enemy-held islands.
Film Tactics
Film Tactics (1945) - Short Film
US Navy film with Hollywood actors that demonstrates to training officers how to use motion pictures for instruction.
Sheriff of Las Vegas
When the Sheriff of Las Vegas is killed in a bank holdup, Red Ryder is made the new Sheriff. His first problem arises when the Judge is shot and the Judge's son framed for the murder. Red knows the son is innocent from the type of bullet used and after hiding him from the lynch mob, sets a trap for the man he thinks is behind both the robbery and the murder.
Stage Struck
The police find the body of hostess Helen Howard (Wanda McKay), disposed of by petty racketeer Nick Mantee (Kane Richmond) after she was shot in his Bluejay night club by Benny Nordick (John Gallaudet) because she knew too much about Mantee's rackets. Police Lieutenant Williams (Conrad Nagel) and police Sergeant Tom Ramey (Ralph Byrd) inform the dead girl's parents and sister Nancy (Audrey Long) of the run-away's death.
Two Wise Maids
On the day schoolteacher Agatha Stanton, who is called "Old Lady Ironsides" by her pupils, expects to be selected as the new principal of her school, she and her roommate, fellow teacher Prudence Matthews, must retrieve Geraldine Karns, one of Agatha's favorite students, from jail after she has stolen a pair of roller skates. Agatha and Prudence, with Jerry in tow, arrive at the school, and shortly after, Agatha is crushed to find out that Bruce Arnold, a newcomer, has been given the job.
Outside These Walls
Dan Sparling (;Michael Whalen (I)')is a brilliant, crusading journalist, but also a man with a prison record, earned after he had embezzled to meet the needs of an extravagant wife. He plunges into the fury of a political campaign, with the opposing newspaper being owned by Margaret Bronson (Dolores Costello').
Gambling Ship
A gambler uses his winnings to help support an orphanage.
Purple Heart Diary
A trio of singers is entertaining wounded soldiers of WWII. They encourage a mutilated soldier in his love to a nurse.
Land of Opportunity: The Mardi Gras
Highlights of the Mardi Gras festivities, held every year in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Bonanza - Season 3
Sky Commando
During the Korean War, two junior officers discuss their colonel's dour reputation dating back to his WW2 service in the bomber and reconnaissance command.