Cullen Landis

Acting

Cullen Landis

Born 1896-07-09 · Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Cullen Landis (July 9, 1896 – August 26, 1975) was an American motion picture actor and director whose career began in the early ears of the silent film era. James Cullen Landis was the middle of three siblings (two sons and a daughter) raised by Lulan and Margaret (née Cullen) Landis in Nashville, Tennessee, where his father supported his family as a stock broker. As a boy, James was a train enthusiast and dreamed to be an railroad engineer. Though the ambition eventually faded, his interest in railroads did not, and some years later he helped design for himself a model train set powered by steam. He began working in the fledgling film industry at age 18 around the time his older sister, Margaret Landis, appeared in her first film. In 1928 Cullen Landis starred in the first ‘all talking’ motion picture, Lights of New York. He once confided in a friend that talkies were perfect for musicals and that he was no "song and dance man". He left Hollywood for Detroit in 1930 to produce and direct industrial films for automobile companies. Landis began as a movie director, only turning to acting after his lead player broke a leg and it was discovered that the actor’s costumes fit him. He went on to become one of the more popular lead actors of the silent era, appearing in some one hundred films over 14 years. During World War II, he served as a captain with US Army Signal Corps producing training films in the South Pacific. By war’s end he was twice decorated and promoted to major. In the post war years he made documentaries for the US State Department that took him to the far corners of the world. James Cullen Landis died on August 28, 1975, aged 79, at a nursing home in Bloomfield, Michigan, three months after the death of his wife, Jane. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Acting credits

Dollar Devils poster
10.0

When oil is discovered just outside a small New England town, the residents go wild at the prospect of newfound wealth, and they invest their money with the head of the venture, a young man named Bruce Merlin.

Dollar Devils

1923

Pioneer Trails poster
6.7

Jack is orphaned as a young child when his wagon train is ambushed by Indians. Twenty years later, he rescues Rose from a runaway stagecoach. The two fall in love, much to the displeasure of Blaney. To put him out of the way, Blaney kills Jack's adoptive mother and frames Jack for the crime.

Pioneer Trails

1923

Snowblind poster
9.0

Hugh Garth hides from the law in the frozen Canadian northwest along with his young brother Pete and Pete's former nurse, Bella, who loves Hugh unrequitedly. When a lost and snowblind girl stumbles into their camp, Hugh falls in love with her and misleads her as to the age and relationship of Pete and Bella, in hopes of keeping the girl's attentions directed at himself. But when the girl's sight returns, she realizes the truth and discovers that Pete has fallen in love with her. But Hugh's cruel nature now threatens them both.

Snowblind

1921

Somebody's Widow poster
NR

A comedy in which the widow Mary makes a bet with her friends that she can win over a writer named Jack.

Somebody's Widow

1918

Going Some poster
9.0

Upon observing the adoration that track star Culver Covington receives, his friend, J. Wallingford Speed, decides to impress Helen Blake by also posing as a sprinter. Meanwhile, when Roberta Keap decides to retire to her Western ranch while awaiting her divorce, Speed, Helen and various friends accompany her while her husband Donald takes up residence at the neighboring Gallagher ranch.

Going Some

1920

Cheap Kisses poster
10.0

Refusing to join his family in their new social life when Henry Dillingham suddenly becomes wealthy, Donald Dillingham causes even greater disapproval by marrying chorus girl Ardell Kendall. Learning that famous sculptor Gustaf Borgstrom wishes to use Ardell as model, the Dillinghams suddenly welcome Donald and Ardell to their estate. Donald surrenders to both the jazzy pleasures and the attentions of Maybelle Wescott, but Ardell remains aloof and in order to pay off Maybelle threatens Mr. Dillingham with exposure of his infatuation with a chorus girl.

Cheap Kisses

1924

A Broadway Butterfly poster
8.0

Irene, a young girl from a small town, arrives in New York City determined to make it on the Broadway stage. She meets up with Cookie, a worldly chorus girl who takes Irene under her wing. When Irene falls for young Ronald, his rival Crane sets out to break up the pair so he can have Irene for his own--and he doesn't much care how he does it.

A Broadway Butterfly

1925

No artwork available
8.0

A baby girl is left at the door of Brady, an Irish-policeman in New York City. He and his friends bid for her, and she is won by Uncle Ben Shapiro, a pawnbroker, who raises her to young womanhood, and is known as Sweet Rosie O'Grady. One day she goes to the rescue of Victor MacQuade, a young man from the high society set, who has been attacked by some east-side gang kids. The next day Victor, dressed as the family chauffeur, calls for her to go on on a ride. He goes home to change clothes while she peeks through the door at a charity costume-bazaar, and is swept inside by some late-arriving guests. She wins first prize for best costume, although she is dressed in the best she has. She flees angry and mortified. Since he has a larger house, she moves to Brady's home, one of her other foster-parents. Victor, who has fallen in love with Rosie, goes to Uncle Ben's shop and asks his permission to marry Rosie.

Sweet Rosie O'Grady

1926

The Voice That Thrilled the World poster
6.0

This short traces the history of sound in the movies, beginning with French scientist Leon Scott's experiments in 1857. Featured are snippets from early sound pictures.

The Voice That Thrilled the World

1943

Gay and Devilish poster
7.0

Doris May plays Fanchon Browne, a poor girl about to enter into a marriage of convenience with wealthy old Peter Armitage (Otis Harlan). When she falls in love with Armitage's handsome nephew Peter (Cullen Landis), Fanchon is in quite a quandary.

Gay and Devilish

1922

Youth to Youth poster
7.0

A pretty young girl from the country arrives in New York, hoping to become a Broadway star. She achieves that goal, but when she hears untrue stories that she became a star because she's the mistress of her show's wealthy backer, she leaves the show and joins a traveling stock company. Page Brookins, a farmer who doesn't know who she really is, sees one of her shows, meets her, they fall in love and plan to be married. However, her wealthy backer in New York hears about it and sets out to break up the engagement and bring her back to New York.

Youth to Youth

1922

Lights of New York poster
5.4

Eddie is conned into fronting a speakeasy for a local gangster who intends to frame him for the murder of a cop.

Lights of New York

1928

No artwork available
10.0

A murder is committed at a country mansion. All the guests present at the estate fall under immediate suspicion as investigators attempt to solve the mystery before they strike again.

A Midnight Adventure

1928

No artwork available
8.0

Newspaper reporter John Templeton is suspected of being "The Snake," the murderer of a banker who is the father of the reporter's sweetheart, Joan Renshaw. The reporter escapes from the police and, with the girl, trails "The Snake" to Shanghai, where they lure him into confessing that he was hired by the banker's partner.

Out with the Tide

1928

Finnegan's Ball poster
9.0

The Finnegan family emigrate from Ireland to the United States, but get into a dispute with their neighbors the Flannigans.

Finnegan's Ball

1927

Forsaking All Others poster
7.0

Jealous of her son Oliver's interest in Penelope Mason, Mrs. Newell takes him to a resort where he is easy prey for designing Enid Morton. After some near-disastrous situations with Enid's suspicious husband, Penelope comes to Oliver's rescue at Mrs. Newell's request.

Forsaking All Others

1922

The Fighting Coward poster
5.5

Southerner Tom Rumford was sent up north to be raised by relatives who happen to be Quakers. As a result, he returns home a passive, peace-loving young man, completely out of place in an area where men kill over issues of honor.

The Fighting Coward

1924

Bunty Pulls the Strings poster
8.0

A woman named Bunty Bigger struggles to keep her family in line in a small Scottish village. For one, her brother Jeemy faces jail time for robbing a bank. Meanwhile, her father, Tammas, pays back the stolen money with funds given him by Susie Simpson, a woman who hopes to marry him. Susie gets angry, so Bunty borrows money to pay her back. Things turn out well when Bunty gets married in a double-wedding ceremony—during which her father not only gives her away but gets married himself. The movie is based on a play by Graham Moffat. The film is lost.

Bunty Pulls the Strings

1921

An Enemy of Men poster
8.0

Because of her sister's betrayal and subsequent death, Norma Bennett takes a vow to make all men pay. She becomes a night club favorite and is courted by John Hurd, who is the man who ruined her sister. Dr. Phil Ordway is in love with her, but she refuses his offer of marriage. When she discovers the identity of John as her sister's betrayer, she takes a gun and goes to the cabaret to shoot him, but he dies by another's hand. She then agrees and weds Dr. Ordway.

An Enemy of Men

1925

It's a Great Life poster
10.0

At a boys' boarding school, young Stoddard and his pal "The Wop" develop a scheme to get rich after "The Wop" finds a pearl in an oyster in a restaurant.

It's a Great Life

1920

Peacock Feathers poster
9.0

Jerry Chandler falls for the lovely Mimi Le Brun and she with him. He proposes marriage but Mimi wants money and security which he cannot provide so she becomes engaged to a wealthy man whom she does not love. When Jerry’s uncle dies leaving him a ranch and what is said to be a castle Mimi changes her tune and the pair elope. Disillusionment comes though when they see the shack that was called a castle, but Mimi accepts the situation until the rejected wealthy man appears on the scene. Conflicts arise until an accident befalls Jerry and Mimi realizes her true feelings.

Peacock Feathers

1925

Almost a Husband poster
NR

A New England schoolteacher arrives in a small Southern town. He becomes the savior of several local people in time of emergency, including a young who is oppressed by the unwelcome romantic intentions of a local ne'er-do-well. The teacher pretends to marry the girl to fool the unwanted suitor, but then finds that the marriage was inadvertently legal....

Almost a Husband

1919

Broadway After Midnight poster
7.0

To protect her brother, a nightclub entertainer Queenie Morgan marries a gangster. She bears a resemblance to a society girl who has gotten involved with the underworld and wound up shooting her gangster boyfriend, and the gang forces Queenie to impersonate the woman in order to extort money from her wealthy parents. Unfortunately the society girl is killed by the gang, and the police arrest Queenie for the murders of both the society girl and her boyfriend.

Broadway After Midnight

1927

The Devil's Skipper poster
10.0

The Devil's Skipper was based on Demetrios Contos, a seafaring yarn by Jack London. Effectively cast against type, Belle Bennett plays a wronged woman who becomes the most brutal and feared slave-ship captain on the Seven Seas.

The Devil's Skipper

1928

Behind the camera