Acting

D.J. Williams

Born — Died

1868-03-25 — 1949-07-26

Place of birth

Ruthin, Denbighshire, Wales, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

46 titles

British actor and director. Born on March 25, 1868 in Ruthin, Denbighshire, Wales as David John Williams.

Known for

Elephant Boy poster
6.6

In India, Toomai, a young mahout, helps lead the British on a large expedition to round up wild elephants.

Elephant Boy

1937

The Citadel poster
6.4

Young, idealistic, newly qualified Scottish doctor Andrew Manson arrives in Wales and takes his first job in a mining town, and begins to wonder at the persistent cough many of the miners have. When his attempts to prove its cause are thwarted, he moves to London. His new practice does poorly, but when a friend shows him how to make a lucrative practice from rich hypochondriacs, it will take a great shock to show him what the truth of being a doctor really is.

The Citadel

1938

The Man Who Changed His Mind poster
6.1

Dr. Laurence, a once-respectable scientist, begins to research the origin of the mind and the soul. The science community rejects him, and he risks losing everything for which he has worked. He begins to use his discoveries to save his research and further his own causes, thereby becoming ... a mad scientist, almost unstoppable.

The Man Who Changed His Mind

1936

The Stars Look Down poster
6.5

Davey Fenwick leaves his mining village on a university scholarship intent on returning to better support the miners against the owners. But he falls in love with Jenny who gets him to marry her and return home as local schoolteacher before finishing his degree.

The Stars Look Down

1940

The Challenge poster
6.3

During an early, unsuccessful attempt at climbing the Matterhorn, Edward Whymper finds himself rescued by an italian guide, Jean Antoine Carrel. The two men quickly build a friendship and agree to reach the peak together. However, local villagers ploto to divide the alliance of Whymper and Carrel and both men join rival teams as they set out in a race to conquer the mountain. A mountaineering drama based on the novel by Carl Haensel and inspired in the dramatic true story of Edward Whymper, who led the first successful ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865. There is another version of the film titled Der Berg Ruft, shot the same year in German.

The Challenge

1938

Pastor Hall poster
8.0

The village of Altdorf has to come to terms with Chancellor Hitler and the arrival of a platoon of Stormtroopers. The Stormtroopers go about teaching and enforcing "The New Order", but Pastor Hall, a kind and gentle man, won't be cowed. Some villagers join the Nazi party avidly, and some just go along with things, hoping for a quiet life, but Pastor Hall takes his convictions to the pulpit.

Pastor Hall

1940

Film credits

1940s · 12 titles

The Stars Look Down poster
6.5

Davey Fenwick leaves his mining village on a university scholarship intent on returning to better support the miners against the owners. But he falls in love with Jenny who gets him to marry her and return home as local schoolteacher before finishing his degree.

The Stars Look Down

1940

Pastor Hall poster
8.0

The village of Altdorf has to come to terms with Chancellor Hitler and the arrival of a platoon of Stormtroopers. The Stormtroopers go about teaching and enforcing "The New Order", but Pastor Hall, a kind and gentle man, won't be cowed. Some villagers join the Nazi party avidly, and some just go along with things, hoping for a quiet life, but Pastor Hall takes his convictions to the pulpit.

Pastor Hall

1940

Unpublished Story poster
6.5

Morale-boosting story released in the middle of World War II. A journalist uncovers a peace organisation at the centre of disreputable dealings.

Unpublished Story

1942

The Young Mr. Pitt poster
6.2

In 1783 England, King George III appoints William Pitt only 24 years old, as PM. When members of Parliament refuse to take Pitt seriously, he calls for a general election and wins. Pitt works to reform England, focusing on rebuilding the navy while across the sea in France, Napoleon Bonaparte begins his conquest of Europe.

The Young Mr. Pitt

1942

No artwork available
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

Those Kids from Town

1942

The Ghost Train poster
6.1

Mismatched travellers are stranded overnight at a lonely rural railway station. They soon learn of local superstition about a phantom train which is said to travel these parts at dead of night, carrying ghosts from a long-ago train wreck in the area.

The Ghost Train

1941

Back-Room Boy poster
6.6

Jilted by his fiancee, Arthur Pilbeam gets a job as far away from women as possible. Alone in a lighthouse, he soon finds that 12 other people end up living on the tiny island. Thirteen is an unlucky number; and one-by-one they disappear ...

Back-Room Boy

1942

Tomorrow We Live poster
6.6

British World War II film set in occupied France, portraying the activities of members of the French Resistance and the Nazi tactic of taking and shooting innocent hostages in reprisal for acts of sabotage. The opening credits acknowledge "the official co-operation of General de Gaulle and the French National Committee". It was released as "At Dawn We Die" in the US.

Tomorrow We Live

1943

Penn of Pennsylvania poster
6.5

Penn of Pennsylvania is a 1941 British historical drama film directed by Lance Comfort and starring Deborah Kerr, Clifford Evans, Dennis Arundell, Henry Oscar, Herbet Lomas and Edward Rigby. The film depicts the life of the Quaker founder of Pennsylvania, William Penn. It portrays his struggle to be granted a colonial charter in London and attracting settlers to his new colony as well as his adoption a radical new approach with regard to the treatment of the Native Americans. It is also known by the alternative title Courageous Mr. Penn.

Penn of Pennsylvania

1942

The Great Mr Handel poster
6.6

This classic film reveals how the great composer Georg Friedrich Handel rose above the personal anguish and difficulties in his life to create the sublime musical composition, The Messiah.

The Great Mr Handel

1942

Much Too Shy poster
6.5

A simple handyman, who also is an amateur artist, gets into trouble when the head and shoulders portraits of some prominent local females are sold without his knowledge to an advertising agency and are published with nude bodies added to them.

Much Too Shy

1942

No artwork available
8.0

A steelworker rises through the ranks to become manager of three steel mills, but ruthless ambition overwhelms him.

Hard Steel

1942

1930s · 32 titles

Elephant Boy poster
6.6

In India, Toomai, a young mahout, helps lead the British on a large expedition to round up wild elephants.

Elephant Boy

1937

The Citadel poster
6.4

Young, idealistic, newly qualified Scottish doctor Andrew Manson arrives in Wales and takes his first job in a mining town, and begins to wonder at the persistent cough many of the miners have. When his attempts to prove its cause are thwarted, he moves to London. His new practice does poorly, but when a friend shows him how to make a lucrative practice from rich hypochondriacs, it will take a great shock to show him what the truth of being a doctor really is.

The Citadel

1938

The Man Who Changed His Mind poster
6.1

Dr. Laurence, a once-respectable scientist, begins to research the origin of the mind and the soul. The science community rejects him, and he risks losing everything for which he has worked. He begins to use his discoveries to save his research and further his own causes, thereby becoming ... a mad scientist, almost unstoppable.

The Man Who Changed His Mind

1936

The Challenge poster
6.3

During an early, unsuccessful attempt at climbing the Matterhorn, Edward Whymper finds himself rescued by an italian guide, Jean Antoine Carrel. The two men quickly build a friendship and agree to reach the peak together. However, local villagers ploto to divide the alliance of Whymper and Carrel and both men join rival teams as they set out in a race to conquer the mountain. A mountaineering drama based on the novel by Carl Haensel and inspired in the dramatic true story of Edward Whymper, who led the first successful ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865. There is another version of the film titled Der Berg Ruft, shot the same year in German.

The Challenge

1938

Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street poster
5.7

It is England in the 1830s. London's dockside is teeming with ships and sailors who have made their fortune in foreign lands. Sweeney Todd, a Fleet Street barber, awaits the arrival of men whose first port of call is for a good, close shave. For most it will be the last time they are seen alive. Using a specially designed barber's chair, Sweeney Todd despatches his victims to the cellar below, where he robs them of their new found fortunes and chops their remains into small pieces. Meanwhile, Mrs Lovett is enjoying a roaring trade for her popular penny meat pies.

Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street

1936

The Clairvoyant poster
6.0

A fake psychic suddenly turns into the real thing when he meets a young beauty. (TCM)

The Clairvoyant

1935

Scrooge poster
6.1

Ebenezer Scrooge, the ultimate Victorian miser, hasn't a good word for Christmas, though his impoverished clerk Cratchit and nephew Fred are full of holiday spirit. In the night, Scrooge is visited by spirits of the past, present, and future.

Scrooge

1935

It's Never Too Late to Mend poster
6.1

An evil prison administrator cruelly abuses the inmates at his prison, until one day the tables are turned.

It's Never Too Late to Mend

1937

The Crimes of Stephen Hawke poster
5.7

The film begins in a BBC studio with the 100th edition of "In Town Tonight". Flotsam and Jetsom open with a "topical number". Then there is an interview with a distinguished actor, which dissolves into a performance of one of his famous melodramas about a wicked moneylender etc.

The Crimes of Stephen Hawke

1936

Wings of the Morning poster
6.2

A beautiful Gypsy girl falls in love with a horse trainer.

Wings of the Morning

1937

My Song for You poster
4.8

In this opera-oriented musical, Riccardo Gatti, an Italian young tenor in Venice, meets a young woman who sneaks into the opera house to try and get her fiancé hired as the orchestra's pianist.

My Song for You

1934

Keep Fit poster
6.3

A weak, cowardly barber gets fit to win over a beautiful woman. However, she prefers his muscle-bound rival until George challenges him to a boxing match.

Keep Fit

1937

The Beloved Vagabond poster
6.0

Flying from one charming lady---eluding another---and almost losing both!

The Beloved Vagabond

1936

Cotton Queen poster
6.2

The niece of a mill-owner goes undercover in the mill of a rival, where she gets mixed up in romantic antics.

Cotton Queen

1937

Maria Marten, or The Murder in the Red Barn poster
5.6

In 1820s rural England, a young girl is tricked by tales of marriage from a villainous Squire. When she becomes pregnant and disappears, a gipsy lad is blamed.

Maria Marten, or The Murder in the Red Barn

1935

John Halifax poster
9.0

Adapted from the novel by Elizabeth Craik it tells the story of John Halifax who, despite humble beginnings, becomes a highly respected local businessman. As partner in a mill he weathers the turbulent economic times of the early 1800s.

John Halifax

1938

The Admiral's Secret poster
10.0

A retired Admiral steals jewels and is pursued by Spanish bandits.

The Admiral's Secret

1934

Wanted! poster
9.0

A married couple are mistaken for jewel thieves and forced to go to a party. The husband turns on the burglar alarm by mistake and the real thieves are captured.

Wanted!

1937

Look Up and Laugh poster
5.3

Gutsy lass Gracie rallies fellow stall-holders at Birkenhead Market to prevent its takeover and demolition by a department store chain. She invokes the Market's foundation by Royal Charter just before an inadvertent gas leak provides an explosive climax.

Look Up and Laugh

1935

No artwork available
5.0

A rare film put out by Twickenham Film Studios which includes many original music hall acts.

Music Hall

1934

No artwork available
6.3

Road House is a 1934 British comedy crime film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Violet Loraine, Gordon Harker and Aileen Marson.

Road House

1934

No artwork available
7.0

British crime film directed by George A. Cooper.

Anything Might Happen

1934

The Pointing Finger poster
5.4

A man plots to murder his half-brother so he claim his earldom and an inheritance.

The Pointing Finger

1933

Boys Will Be Girls poster
7.3

Matronly great aunt Emily went off to Africa and left behind her wanna be snobbish family. Ten years later, upon her death, the greedy family members awaits the reading of the will. Ready to celebrate their fortunes the family gathers the evening before with a big party. A great assortment of characters, comic ones, are all expecting to get their share of the inheritance.

Boys Will Be Girls

1938

Mr. Reeder in Room 13 poster
6.7

Capt. Johnnie Gray is enlisted by Mr. J.G. Reeder to infiltrate a gang of forgers in Dartmoor jail on behalf of the Bank of England.

Mr. Reeder in Room 13

1938

No artwork available
9.0

“Ex-convict saves his estranged daughter from a blackmailer.” - BFI.

A Glimpse of Paradise

1935

Doctor's Orders poster
6.5

Leslie Fuller stars as a quack whose son qualifies as a doctor in total ignorance of his father's occupation!

Doctor's Orders

1934

No artwork available
6.0

In this British comedy, set during the Boer War, a foot soldier saves his major's life. The officer is most grateful and puts the soldier in line for a Victoria Cross (a medal for valor). Unfortunately the well-meaning major's actions cause the soldier to be extradited back to England where he must stand trial for a series of crimes he committed before he joined the military. Later the major scours the British jails in search of the heroic lad. He finally finds him recruiting soldiers for WW I.

For Valour

1937

The Roof poster
6.0

Inspector Darrow investigates the death of a wealthy man.

The Roof

1933

No artwork available
7.0

One of John Mills' earliest roles as a wastrel playboy.

The Lash

1934

No artwork available
6.0

Set in Ireland, a poor knight's rival frames him for murder in this musical based on 'Colleen Bawn'.

Lily of Killarney

1934

No artwork available
8.0

A barge operator helps a schoolteacher tackle a gang of criminals.

Captain Bill

1935

Behind the camera