Writing

Walter DeLeon

Born — Died

1884-05-03 — 1947-08-01

Place of birth

Oakland, California, USA

Known for

Writing

Credits

41 titles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Walter DeLeon (May 3, 1884 – August 1, 1947) was an American screenwriter. He wrote for 69 films that were released between 1921 and 1953, and acted in one film. He was born in Oakland, California, and died in Los Angeles, California.

Known for

The Ghost Breakers poster
6.5

After intrepid working girl Mary Carter becomes the new owner of a reputedly haunted mansion located off the Cuban coast, a stranger phones warning her to stay away from the castle. Undaunted, Mary sets sail for Cuba with a stowaway in her trunk—wise-cracking Larry Lawrence, a radio announcer who helps Mary get to the bottom of the voodoo magic, zombies and ghosts that supposedly curse the spooky estate.

The Ghost Breakers

1940

Waikiki Wedding poster
5.9

Tony Marvin is a laid back but incredibly successful promoter and fair-haired boy for J. P. Todhunter's pineapple company located in beautiful Hawaii. He gets the company to sponsor a contest in which the winner gets a Hawaiian vacation and is obligated to write articles on the islands which, when published, will constitute a publicity coup for the company. Unfortunately, Georgia Smith, the winner, feels lonely and isolated in the Islands and wants to return to the States. With help from buddy Shad Buggle Tony tries to romantically divert Georgia without letting her know his true motivation.

Waikiki Wedding

1937

Union Pacific poster
6.7

One of the last bills signed by President Lincoln authorizes pushing the Union Pacific Railroad across the wilderness to California. But financial opportunist Asa Barrows hopes to profit from obstructing it. Chief troubleshooter Jeff Butler has his hands full fighting Barrows' agent, gambler Sid Campeau; Campeau's partner Dick Allen is Jeff's war buddy and rival suitor for engineer's daughter Molly Monahan. Who will survive the effort to push the railroad through at any cost?

Union Pacific

1939

The Cat and the Canary poster
6.9

A group of potential heirs gather in a forbidding old house to learn which of them will inherit a fortune. Later, they learn that a flesh-rending maniac is loose.

The Cat and the Canary

1939

Scared Stiff poster
6.5

A nightclub singer and his partner escape mobsters by fleeing to Cuba with a beautiful heiress, who has inherited a haunted castle on an isolated island. The trio hunt for a hidden treasure and encounter a ghost, a zombie, and a mysterious killer...

Scared Stiff

1953

The Time of Their Lives poster
7.2

Two ghosts, who were mistakenly branded as traitors during the Revolutionary War, return to 20th century New England to retrieve a letter from George Washington which would prove their innocence.

The Time of Their Lives

1946

Film credits

Behind the camera

The Ghost Breakers poster
6.5

After intrepid working girl Mary Carter becomes the new owner of a reputedly haunted mansion located off the Cuban coast, a stranger phones warning her to stay away from the castle. Undaunted, Mary sets sail for Cuba with a stowaway in her trunk—wise-cracking Larry Lawrence, a radio announcer who helps Mary get to the bottom of the voodoo magic, zombies and ghosts that supposedly curse the spooky estate.

The Ghost Breakers

1940

Waikiki Wedding poster
5.9

Tony Marvin is a laid back but incredibly successful promoter and fair-haired boy for J. P. Todhunter's pineapple company located in beautiful Hawaii. He gets the company to sponsor a contest in which the winner gets a Hawaiian vacation and is obligated to write articles on the islands which, when published, will constitute a publicity coup for the company. Unfortunately, Georgia Smith, the winner, feels lonely and isolated in the Islands and wants to return to the States. With help from buddy Shad Buggle Tony tries to romantically divert Georgia without letting her know his true motivation.

Waikiki Wedding

1937

Union Pacific poster
6.7

One of the last bills signed by President Lincoln authorizes pushing the Union Pacific Railroad across the wilderness to California. But financial opportunist Asa Barrows hopes to profit from obstructing it. Chief troubleshooter Jeff Butler has his hands full fighting Barrows' agent, gambler Sid Campeau; Campeau's partner Dick Allen is Jeff's war buddy and rival suitor for engineer's daughter Molly Monahan. Who will survive the effort to push the railroad through at any cost?

Union Pacific

1939

The Cat and the Canary poster
6.9

A group of potential heirs gather in a forbidding old house to learn which of them will inherit a fortune. Later, they learn that a flesh-rending maniac is loose.

The Cat and the Canary

1939

Scared Stiff poster
6.5

A nightclub singer and his partner escape mobsters by fleeing to Cuba with a beautiful heiress, who has inherited a haunted castle on an isolated island. The trio hunt for a hidden treasure and encounter a ghost, a zombie, and a mysterious killer...

Scared Stiff

1953

The Time of Their Lives poster
7.2

Two ghosts, who were mistakenly branded as traitors during the Revolutionary War, return to 20th century New England to retrieve a letter from George Washington which would prove their innocence.

The Time of Their Lives

1946

The Princess Comes Across poster
6.2

A Swedish princess boards an ocean liner in Europe en route to an acting career in America and finds herself getting inconveniently attached to a bandleader returning home. To complicate matters, a blackmailer on board apparently knows she is not who she claims to be - and he has his sights set on other passengers with secrets of their own. In the meantime an escaped killer has stowed away under someone else's identity, and is killing again to cover his tracks; five international police detectives on board are heading the investigation to find him. When evidence points to the princess and bandleader, they must find the killer themselves - before he finds them.

The Princess Comes Across

1936

Ruggles of Red Gap poster
7.1

In this comedy of an Englishman stranded in a sea of barbaric Americans, Marmaduke Ruggles – a gentleman's gentleman and butler to an Earl – is lost in a poker game to an uncouth American cattle baron. Ruggles' life is turned upside down as he's taken to the USA, is gradually assimilated into American life, accidentally becomes a local celebrity, and falls in love along the way.

Ruggles of Red Gap

1935

Little Giant poster
5.3

Lou Costello plays a country bumpkin vacuum-cleaner salesman, working for the company run by the crooked Bud Abbott. To try to keep him under his thumb, Abbott convinces Costello that he's a crackerjack salesman. This comedy is somewhat like "The Time of Their Lives," in that Abbott and Costello don't have much screen time together and there are very few vaudeville bits woven into the plot.

Little Giant

1946

Her Bodyguard poster
6.7

The "sugar daddy" of a Broadway star hires a bodyguard to protect her from thieves out to steal the jewels he's given her and also from the attentions of other men, most notably the producer of the show in which she's starring. However, soon the bodyguard and the star begin to become attracted to each other.

Her Bodyguard

1933

Pot o' Gold poster
5.7

Jimmy, the owner of a failed music shop, goes to work with his uncle, the owner of a food factory. Before he gets there, he befriends an Irish family who happens to be his uncle's worst enemy because of their love for music and in-house band who constantly practices. Soon, Jimmy finds himself trying to help the band by getting them gigs and trying to reconcile the family with his uncle.

Pot o' Gold

1941

Make Me a Star poster
6.4

A grocery clerk, longing to become a cowboy actor, goes to Hollywood in search of fame and fortune. Unfortunately, his acting ability is non-existent.

Make Me a Star

1932

Birth of the Blues poster
6.2

Jeff grows up near Basin Street in New Orleans, playing his clarinet with the dock workers. He puts together a band, the Basin Street Hot-Shots, which includes a cornet player, Memphis. They struggle to get their jazz music accepted by the cafe society of the city. Betty Lou joins their band as a singer and gets Louie to show her how to do scat singing. Memphis and Jeff both fall in love with Betty Lou.

Birth of the Blues

1941

Hold That Blonde! poster
6.2

Ogden Spencer Trulow III is a wealthy kleptomaniac who turned to stealing when he was spurned by a girl. His psychoanalyst advises him to find another girl for a cure. He fastens his interest upon Sally Martin, who happens to be engaged in helping some crooks steal a valuable necklace.

Hold That Blonde!

1945

The Big Gamble poster
6.1

A gambler, hopelessly in debt, agrees to pay off his debt by allowing his creditor to take out a life insurance policy on him and collecting once the one-year suicide clause has elapsed.

The Big Gamble

1931

You're Telling Me! poster
6.3

Sam Bisbee is an inventor whose works (e.g., a keyhole finder for drunks) have brought him only poverty. His daughter is in love with the son of the town snob. Events conspire to ruin his bullet-proof tire just as success seems near. Another of his inventions prohibits him from committing suicide, so Sam decides to go on living.

You're Telling Me!

1934

A Lady's Profession poster
7.0

A couple of down-and-out British aristocrats buy an American roadhouse.

A Lady's Profession

1933

Six of a Kind poster
5.9

The Whinneys share expenses for their trip to Hollywood with George and Gracie and their great Dane. A clerk in Whinney's bank has put fifty thousand dollars in a suitcase, hoping to rob Whinney on the road, but instead Whinney takes another road and is himself arrested in Nevada.

Six of a Kind

1934

The Fleet's In poster
6.0

Shy sailor Casey Kirby suddenly becomes known as a sea wolf when his picture is taken with a famous actress. Things get complicated when bets are placed on his prowess with the ladies.

The Fleet's In

1942

The Big Broadcast of 1936 poster
5.8

Two-bit radio station owner Spud Miller doubles as the station's sole announcer. On the verge of bankruptcy, Spud is receptive to the wacky notions of George and Gracie, who've just invented a television device that can pick up and transmit any signal, any time, anywhere.

The Big Broadcast of 1936

1935

The Big Broadcast of 1938 poster
6.2

The Bellows family causes comic confusion on an ocean liner, with time out for radio-style musical acts.

The Big Broadcast of 1938

1938

Collegiate poster
7.0

A Broadway playboy inherits an almost bankrupt girls' school and tries to save it by a big show.

Collegiate

1935

Out of This World poster
8.0

An all-girl band hits paydirt—and mud—when they sign a male crooner and then sell five 25% shares of his contract.

Out of This World

1945

Big Money poster
10.0

A go-getting bank messenger falls in with unsuccessful gambler.

Big Money

1930

The Phantom President poster
6.5

Too bad for the presidential hopes of banker T.K. Blair; his party feels he has too little flair for savoir faire. But at a medicine show, the party bosses find Blair's double: huckster Doc Varney. Of course, they scheme to make Varney T.K.'s public spokesman; at first, he even fools Blair's girlfriend Felicia, providing a romantic complication. But as election eve approaches, the conspirators face the problem of what to do with Varney...who has difficult decisions of his own to make.

The Phantom President

1932

Tugboat Annie Sails Again poster
6.0

Two rival tugboat captains compete for local business.

Tugboat Annie Sails Again

1940

The Man Who Talked Too Much poster
6.4

A young law graduate joins his older brother's legal practice, only to discover the firm's clients are mostly mobsters.

The Man Who Talked Too Much

1940

Strike Me Pink poster
6.6

Meek Eddie Pink becomes manager of an amusement park beset by mobsters.

Strike Me Pink

1936

Rhythm on the Range poster
5.5

Cowboy Jeff Larabee returns from the east and meets Doris Halloway, a young girl, that he regards as a vagabond, till he learns that she's the owner of the farm where he works. He tries to win her heart, but without success, until she is endangered by gangsters

Rhythm on the Range

1936

Hold 'Em Jail poster
6.8

Two yokels are framed and sent to prison, but wind up playing football on the warden's championship team.

Hold 'Em Jail

1932

A Fool's Advice poster
6.7

An elevator operator invents a machine that he believes can help to defeat a corrupt politician in the city's upcoming mayoral election.

A Fool's Advice

1932

College Swing poster
6.6

Gracie Alden tries to graduate from college to get an inheritance.

College Swing

1938

Riding High poster
5.6

No relation to the 1950 Frank Capra film of the same name, the 1943 Technicolor musical Riding High is a by-the-numbers vehicle for Dorothy Lamour and Dick Powell. Lamour stars as Ann Castle, a former burlesque queen who heads westward to claim her father's silver mine. Powell plays mining engineer Steve Baird, who like Ann has a vested interest in the worked-out mine. With the help of genial counterfeiter Mortimer J. Slocum (Victor Moore), Steve and Ann are able to peddle mining stock, thus saving her from bankruptcy. The stockholders are in a lynching mood when it appears that they've been flim-flammed, but a last minute "miracle" saves the day. Featured in the cast are Paramount stalwarts Cass Daley and Gil Lamb, the former doing her quasi-Martha Raye act and the latter swallowing his harmonica for the millionth time. Production values are excellent and the songs are exuberantly performed; it's only in its hackneyed plot that Riding High slows to a clip-clop.

Riding High

1943

Rainbow Island poster
7.5

Three merchant seamen fleeing the Japanese take refuge on a Pacific island, where they come across a doctor and his daughter who take care of the natives, a hostile tribe that wants to kill the sailors for trespassing on their sacred ground.

Rainbow Island

1944

Happy Go Lucky poster
5.5

A gold-digger hopes to land a rich husband in Trinidad, but gets mixed up with a beach boy and voodoo.

Happy Go Lucky

1943

Red Hot Rhythm poster
9.0

Walter, a songwriter who is in love with Mary, a nightclub singer, prefers to make a living by fleecing crackpot songwriters and promoting their creations. When Walter writes "At Last I'm in Love" for Mary, she promises to plug the song at the Frivolity Club, but he leaves in a huff when she flirts with Sam, a legitimate song publisher. On the street, he gives refuge to Claire, a girl accused of a theft, and hires her as his secretary. Mrs. Fioretta gives Walter a large sum to publish her song, "The Night Elmer Died," but Sam induces Mary to get Walter to stop the deal. When Walter discovers that Claire is having an affair with Sam, he returns to Mary at the club. A lost film.

Red Hot Rhythm

1929

Artists & Models poster
6.3

An ad man gets his model girlfriend to pose as a debutante for a new campaign.

Artists & Models

1937

You Belong to Me poster
7.0

When vaudeville performer Florette Faxon is left penniless with her six-year-old son Jimmy, she relies on the friendship of fellow performer Bud Hannigan to help her get a job. Bud is reluctant to become her partner, as he has proven to himself to be unreliable in relationships, but he tells her to call him whenever she needs help. While working in a beer garden, Florette meets Hap Stanley, an avaricious performer who marries her to get the rights to perform her show routine. Hap dislikes Jimmy and eventually convinces Florette to send him away to school. Both Jimmy and Florette are broken-up over being apart, but Jimmy pretends it is what he wants so Florette can be happy with Hap.

You Belong to Me

1934

International House poster
5.7

Foreign investors converge on a luxury hotel in China to bid on a new kind of radioscope. But, this is a hotel where Burns and Allen are the in-house medical staff, a measles risk sends the whole building into quarantine, and a madcap millionaire crashes dinner in his autogyro. Hotel and radioscope become a stage for an all-star cast of comedians and musicians, from vaudeville to the new generation.

International House

1933

Union Depot poster
6.1

Among the travelers of varied backgrounds that meet and interact on one night at Union Depot, a metropolitan train station, are Chick and his friend Scrap Iron, both newly released from prison after serving time for vagrancy. Hungry and desperate for a break, Chick fortuitously comes across across a valise abandoned by a drunken traveler. In it he finds a shaving kit and a suit of clothes with a bankroll, which help transform the affable tramp into a dashing gent. After buying himself a meal, Chick seeks some female companionship among the many hustlers who walk the station. He propositions Ruth Collins, a stranded, out-of-work showgirl and takes her to the station's hotel.

Union Depot

1932