John St. Polis

Acting

John St. Polis

Born — Died

1873-11-24 — 1946-10-08

Place of birth

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

60 titles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia John M. St. Polis (November 24, 1873 – October 8, 1946) was an American actor. St. Polis was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Before starting his film career, he made a name for himself on the Broadway stage, most notably in the role of Frederik in the original production of The Return of Peter Grimm (1911–12) and the play's revival in 1921, both performed at the Belasco Theatre. He appeared in 126 films between 1914 and 1943. In all of his early roles, the actor is billed as John Sainpolis. His best-known performances are as Etienne Laurier in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), and as Comte Phillipe de Chagny in The Phantom of the Opera (1925…

Known for

The Phantom of the Opera poster
7.1

The deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House causes murder and mayhem in an attempt to make the woman he loves a star.

The Phantom of the Opera

1925

A Night at the Opera poster
7.4

The Marx Brothers take on high society and the opera world to bring two lovers together. A sly business manager and two wacky friends of two opera singers help them achieve success while humiliating their stuffy and snobbish enemies.

A Night at the Opera

1935

The Unknown poster
7.5

On the lam, criminal Alonzo hides in the circus as The Armless Wonder—a performer who uses his feet to hurl knives. Alonzo keeps the arms he really has concealed to hide his identity. Meanwhile, ringmaster's daughter Nanon has a phobia of being touched by men, but is romantically pursued by not only Alonzo but the strongman Malabar. Alonzo's desperation to remain with Nanon will only end in tragedy.

The Unknown

1927

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse poster
6.6

Set in the years before and during World War I, this epic tale tells the story of a rich Argentine family, one of its two descending branches being half of French heritage, the other being half German. Following the death of the family patriarch, the man's two daughters and their families resettle to France and Germany, respectively. In time the Great War breaks out, putting members of the family on opposing sides.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

1921

If I Had a Million poster
6.5

An elderly business tycoon, believed to be dying, decides to give a million dollars each to eight strangers chosen at random from the phone directory.

If I Had a Million

1932

The Hero poster
7.0

Oswald Lane is welcomed by his hometown as a war hero and enjoys recounting his adventures to anyone who will listen. He accepts an invitation to stay in the home of his rather colorless brother, Andrew, and is soon not only making love to Martha, the Belgian maid, but is also finding Andrew's wife, Hester, receptive to his flirting. After stealing money entrusted to Andrew by his church, Oswald is on his way out of town when he passes a school fire, rescues several children, and is himself seriously burned. Andrew offers his own skin for grafting, and Oswald directs Hester to return the money.

The Hero

1923

Film credits

1940s · 4 titles

1930s · 32 titles

A Night at the Opera poster
7.4

The Marx Brothers take on high society and the opera world to bring two lovers together. A sly business manager and two wacky friends of two opera singers help them achieve success while humiliating their stuffy and snobbish enemies.

A Night at the Opera

1935

If I Had a Million poster
6.5

An elderly business tycoon, believed to be dying, decides to give a million dollars each to eight strangers chosen at random from the phone directory.

If I Had a Million

1932

They Shall Have Music poster
6.4

The future is bleak for a troubled boy from a broken home in the slums. He runs away when his step father breaks his violin, ending up sleeping in the basement of a music school for poor children.

They Shall Have Music

1939

The Lady in Scarlet poster
4.6

When a wealthy art dealer is murdered, the private investigator hired for the case discovers a web of blackmail, corruption and stolen bonds.

The Lady in Scarlet

1935

Boys' Reformatory poster
5.2

A tough street kid takes the rap for a burglary committed by the son of his foster family and is sent to a boys reformatory, where the inmates are under the thumb of corrupt guards and a brutal prison doctor.

Boys' Reformatory

1939

Borderland poster
7.5

Hoppy goes undercover as an outlaw (which permits him, for once, to drink and be mean to children) to track down a bunch of outlaws operating along the border. Loco, the head bad guy, deflects suspicion from himself by pretending to be a moron.

Borderland

1937

Party Girl poster
3.8

Jay Rountree, a young, rising businessman and a son of a wealthy manufacturer gets caught up in a web involving an escort service or 'party girls' and trapped into an unhappy marriage.

Party Girl

1930

Beau Ideal poster
4.5

An American joins the French Foreign Legion in order to rescue a boyhood friend.

Beau Ideal

1931

Call of the Prairie poster
5.8

Hoppy returns to find Johnny in trouble. Buck Peters has been shot by Porter who made it look like Johnny did it. When Johnny flees he runs into Linda. He takes a liking to her only to learn her father Shanghai is one of Porter's gang. Going after Shanghai, he gets captured by the gang and Porter now plans to kill him. But Hoppy is near by and Johnny will get unexpected help from Shanghai.

Call of the Prairie

1936

Mr. Wong, Detective poster
5.6

A chemical manufacturer is killed just after asking detective James Wong to help him. So detective Wong decides to investigate this as well as two subsequent murders.

Mr. Wong, Detective

1938

Call Her Savage poster
5.7

A high-spirited and short-tempered Texan woman storms her way through life until her luck runs out, forcing her to learn the error of her ways.

Call Her Savage

1932

The World Gone Mad poster
4.8

A district attorney and a reporter try to find the killer of a D.A. who uncovered a massive stock fraud.

The World Gone Mad

1933

Saleslady poster
8.0

A young heiress moves away from home, takes a job in a Chicago department store and weds a co-worker who's unaware of his bride's wealthy background.

Saleslady

1938

Alias the Doctor poster
6.0

Karl is the workaholic adopted son while Stephan is the lazy one. They both go to Munich to study medicine and Karl is at the top of the class while Stephan is barely passing. When Stephan's actions causes the death of Anna, Karl is the one who takes the wrap and three years in prison. When he gets out, he finds Stephan is dead and a sick child needs an operation and he does brilliant surgery. This gets him noticed and his mother tells them that he is Stephan Brenner, not Karl Brenner. She tells Karl that he must cure sickness in the world. But, being that he is Stephan, he can no longer marry Lottie, as she is now his sister.

Alias the Doctor

1932

The Shadow Strikes poster
4.7

Lamont Cranston assumes his secret identity as "The Shadow", to break up an attempted robbery at an attorney's office. When the police search the scene, Cranston must assume the identity of the attorney. Before he can leave, a phone call summons the attorney to the home of Delthern, a wealthy client, who wants a new will drawn up. As Cranston meets with him, Delthern is suddenly shot, and Cranston is quickly caught up in a new mystery.

The Shadow Strikes

1937

Death from a Distance poster
5.2

While a distinguished astronomer is giving a lecture in a planetarium, a shot rings out and one of the audience members is found dead. A tough detective and a brassy female reporter lock horns as they both try to break the case.

Death from a Distance

1935

The Yellow Ticket poster
5.1

A young Russian girl is forced into a life of prostitution in Czarist Russia, and she and a British journalist find their lives endangered when she reveals to him information regarding the social crimes rampant in her country.

The Yellow Ticket

1931

A Devil with Women poster
5.8

Soldier of fortune Maxton is stranded in a Central American country. He and Tom, the nephew of the country's richest man, try to end Morloff's banditry but just barely escape a firing squad. They become rivals for Rosita.

A Devil with Women

1930

Symphony of Six Million poster
5.7

A young doctor escapes the slums of New York City to make his fortune as a Park Avenue doctor. When a fatal mistake results in tragedy his resolve to continue working is severely tested. Based on a novel by Fannie Hurst.

Symphony of Six Million

1932

Cocktail Hour poster
5.3

Cynthia Warren, independently wealthy through her ability as an illustrator and poster artist, rebels against the premise that every woman is destined for matrimony and motherhood and decides she has as much right as a man to play around.

Cocktail Hour

1933

King of the Arena poster
8.5

Mysterious deaths have been occurring in the same towns as Miller's Circus and the Governor has sent Ken Kenton to investigate. Ken joins the show but when he realizes that Bargoff is involved, Bargoff has fled and taken Mary Hiller as a hostage. The trail leads to Baron Petroff who concocted the deadly chemical and Ken quickly finds himself the Baron's prisoner.

King of the Arena

1933

The Criminal Code poster
6.1

After young Robert Graham commits a murder while drunk and defending his girlfriend, he is prosecuted by ambitious Mark Brady and sentenced to 10 years. Six years later, Brady becomes the prison warden and offers the beleaguered Robert a job as his chauffeur. Robert cleans up his act, but, on the eve of his pardon, his cellmate drags him back into the world of violence, and he faces a difficult choice that could return him to prison.

The Criminal Code

1931

Men of the Sky poster
10.0

In the years before World War I, a love affair takes place between an American pilot named Jack Ames and a French spy named Madeleine Aubert. Madeleine leaves her American fiancé to join her father, another French spy, at an estate in Germany. Her father instructs her to accept the invitation of a Prussian officer, Eric von Coburg, to live at his estate for a month.

Men of the Sky

1931

Jungle Menace poster
7.0

Mystery and adventure, surrounding a stolen rubber harvest.

Jungle Menace

1937

The Dark Hour poster
5.9

A pair of detectives investigates the murder of an elderly millionaire who was the target of blackmail and death threats and find that there is no shortage of suspects, many of them in the victim's own family.

The Dark Hour

1936

Kismet poster
4.0

Hajj, a rascally beggar on the periphery of the court of Baghdad, schemes to marry his daughter to royalty and to win the heart of the queen of the castle himself. This film is believed lost.

Kismet

1930

Captain Thunder poster
4.4

A notorious Mexican bandit goes all soft and mushy when he falls for a beautiful senorita. Warner Bros.' Captain Thunder contains some of the darndest Mexican accents you've ever heard in your life. The star is Hungarian-born Victor Varconi, portraying a legendary south of the border outlaw who tries to force Canadian senorita Fay Wray to marry a rival rustler whom she despises. She pleads with the bandito so pathetically that he is moved to grant her a single wish. Without hesitation she chooses her poor but true love. The bandit king, being a somewhat honorable fellow grants the wish and without a twitch, guns down the wicked cattle thief. Fortunately the film was played for comedy, a wise decision since it probably would have garnered laughs as a straight drama anyway.

Captain Thunder

1930

Doctors' Wives poster
6.0

The trials of being a doctor's wife are presented in this drama. The story centers upon the problematic marriage of one couple. Their troubles begin when the doctor makes a housecall to a seductive woman with designs upon him. His suspicious wife follows him and spies on him. She thinks they are getting romantic when he is actually trying to extricate himself from his predatory patient. She decides to get revenge with his best friend, but nothing happens.

Doctors' Wives

1931

Three on the Trail poster
6.0

An evil gang is involved in both cattle rustling and the robbing of stagecoaches. Hoppy must stop them without help from the sheriff who turns out be a major outlaw himself.

Three on the Trail

1936

The Match King poster
6.7

Unscrupulous Chicago janitor Paul Kroll uses deceit to fund a return trip to his homeland of Sweden. There, via ongoing continuing deceit and manipulation, he gradually attains a monopoly on the matchstick market in several countries and becomes an influential international figure. Based on the true story of Ivar Kreuger.

The Match King

1932

The President Vanishes poster
6.0

The President Vanishes, released in the United Kingdom as Strange Conspiracy, is a 1934 American political drama film directed by William A. Wellman and produced by Walter Wanger. Starring Edward Arnold and Arthur Byron, the film is an adaptation of Rex Stout's political novel of the same name.

The President Vanishes

1934

The Bad One poster
7.0

In this melodrama, a dancer works in a sleazy Marseilles portside dive that is really the front for a bordello. While dancing one night she meets a sailor and agrees to be his bride. Unfortunately, one of her former suitors suddenly shows up and a terrible fight ensues.

The Bad One

1930

1920s · 20 titles

The Phantom of the Opera poster
7.1

The deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House causes murder and mayhem in an attempt to make the woman he loves a star.

The Phantom of the Opera

1925

The Unknown poster
7.5

On the lam, criminal Alonzo hides in the circus as The Armless Wonder—a performer who uses his feet to hurl knives. Alonzo keeps the arms he really has concealed to hide his identity. Meanwhile, ringmaster's daughter Nanon has a phobia of being touched by men, but is romantically pursued by not only Alonzo but the strongman Malabar. Alonzo's desperation to remain with Nanon will only end in tragedy.

The Unknown

1927

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse poster
6.6

Set in the years before and during World War I, this epic tale tells the story of a rich Argentine family, one of its two descending branches being half of French heritage, the other being half German. Following the death of the family patriarch, the man's two daughters and their families resettle to France and Germany, respectively. In time the Great War breaks out, putting members of the family on opposing sides.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

1921

The Hero poster
7.0

Oswald Lane is welcomed by his hometown as a war hero and enjoys recounting his adventures to anyone who will listen. He accepts an invitation to stay in the home of his rather colorless brother, Andrew, and is soon not only making love to Martha, the Belgian maid, but is also finding Andrew's wife, Hester, receptive to his flirting. After stealing money entrusted to Andrew by his church, Oswald is on his way out of town when he passes a school fire, rescues several children, and is himself seriously burned. Andrew offers his own skin for grafting, and Oswald directs Hester to return the money.

The Hero

1923

My Lady's Lips poster
10.0

A newspaper publisher finds out that his wild daughter has fallen in with a ring of gamblers. A reporter who has infiltrated the gang to get a story falls in love with the gang's female leader, and when the two are caught in a police raid, they find themselves in equal amounts of trouble.

My Lady's Lips

1925

Coquette poster
5.9

A Southern belle's flirtation with a working man leads to tragedy.

Coquette

1929

Three Wise Fools poster
10.0

Sydney Fairchild, the daughter of a woman who was once loved by three bachelors, surprises the men with a visit. Findley, Trumbull, and Gaunt honor their former sweetheart's last request by becoming Sydney's guardians.

Three Wise Fools

1923

Fast Life poster
9.0

A man is tried and convicted for the murder of a man who flirted with his wife., and sentenced to death However, it turns out that he is innocent of the murder and that the real killer has close ties to a powerful politician.

Fast Life

1929

Souls for Sale poster
6.3

A young woman hits Hollywood, determined to become a star.

Souls for Sale

1923

The Lily poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

The Lily

1926

Shadows poster
6.2

Yen Sin, a humble Chinese, is washed ashore after a storm and finds himself an outsider in the deeply Christian fishing community of Urkey. Yen Sin elects to stay, despite his status as a despised 'heathen', only to reveal hypocrisy amid the self-righteous township.

Shadows

1922

The Rose of Paris poster
9.0

A French orphan who grew up in a convent sets out to see Paris. It turns out that she is the heir to a fortune but doesn't know it, and has been lured to Paris by one of the heirs who does know who she is; he plans to swindle her out of her inheritance so he can have everything.

The Rose of Paris

1924

The Greater Glory poster
8.0

Fanny von Berg's engagement to Count Maxim von Hurtig is suddenly broken off and she is denounced by her family for a suspected indiscretion. When they are reduced to starvation by the war, the family members accept her earnings without acknowledging the source. As the hostess of a Viennese night club, Fanny becomes the mistress of a rich war profiteer. The Count, loving her still, prevents her from making further sacrifices for her or his people, and they find ultimate happiness in the prospect of a new life together. A lost film.

The Greater Glory

1926

In Every Woman's Life poster
9.0

Sara Langford, an American girl in Paris, is courted by Count Desanges, who loves her but is considerably older; Thomas Carlton, who is married but is out for conquest; and Julian Greer, her true love. In rescuing Greer from the sea, the count is permanently paralyzed but manages to shoot Carlton when he attacks Sara. Ultimately, the true lovers are reunited.

In Every Woman's Life

1924

The Untameable poster
7.5

The Most Shocking Film of 1923! Directed by Herbert Blache, The Untameable dramatizes the then-sensational subject of dual personality, with Gladys Walton in the dual role of Joy and her whip-toting, brutal, sadistic alter-ego Edna, and Etta Lee as her faithful Asian lesbian maid.

The Untameable

1923

A Prince of a King poster
7.0

In a kingdom in fifteenth century Italy, Duke Roberto overthrows the king and abandons his heir Gigi in the wilderness to die. However, he is discovered by a troupe of Gypsy acrobats and emerges as their star performer.

A Prince of a King

1923

Why Be Good? poster
6.8

A flapper unwittingly falls for the boss' son.

Why Be Good?

1929

The Far Cry poster
7.0

Possibly lost film starring Blanche Sweet

The Far Cry

1926

Old Dad poster
7.0

Mr. Bretton's wife decides she would rather pursue an opera career, so they separate, leaving him to raise their young daughter Daphne (Mildred Harris). She is expelled from boarding school after Richard Wiltoner is found in her room under innocent circumstances. Her father sends her to the Adirondacks, where she meets a rogue and soon elopes with him. When her father discovers that he is a bigamist, he has their marriage annulled. Happily, Mrs. Bretton returns to her husband and Daphne and Richard fall in love and marry.

Old Dad

1920

Woman-Proof poster
8.0

At sight of a woman, he got a ticket for speeding.

Woman-Proof

1923

1910s · 4 titles