John Dilson

Acting

John Dilson

Born — Died

1891-02-18 — 1944-06-01

Place of birth

Brooklyn, New York, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

60 titles

John Dilson (February 18, 1891 – June 1, 1944) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 250 films between 1934 and 1944.

Known for

Citizen Kane poster
8.0

Newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane is taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist. As a result, every well-meaning, tyrannical or self-destructive move he makes for the rest of his life appears in some way to be a reaction to that deeply wounding event.

Citizen Kane

1941

The Grapes of Wrath poster
7.8

Tom Joad returns to his home after a jail sentence to find his family kicked out of their farm due to foreclosure. He catches up with them on his Uncle’s farm, and joins them the next day as they head for California and a new life... Hopefully.

The Grapes of Wrath

1940

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington poster
7.8

After the death of a United States Senator, the idealistic Jefferson Smith is appointed as his replacement in Washington. The naive and earnest new senator soon finds himself battling political corruption.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

1939

Sergeant York poster
7.2

Alvin York a hillbilly sharpshooter transforms himself from ruffian to religious pacifist. He is then called to serve his country and despite deep religious and moral objections to fighting becomes one of the most celebrated American heroes of WWI.

Sergeant York

1941

It's a Wonderful World poster
6.5

Detective Guy Johnson's client, Willie Heywood, is framed for murder. While Guy hides him so he can catch the real killer, both of them are nabbed by the police, tried, convicted and sentenced to jail: Guy for a year with Willie to be executed. On the way to jail, Guy comes across a clue and escapes from the police.

It's a Wonderful World

1939

In Name Only poster
7.0

A wealthy man falls for a widow but is locked into a loveless marriage with a woman who has contrived to convince his parents she is the ideal wife.

In Name Only

1939

Film credits

1940s · 41 titles

Citizen Kane poster
8.0

Newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane is taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist. As a result, every well-meaning, tyrannical or self-destructive move he makes for the rest of his life appears in some way to be a reaction to that deeply wounding event.

Citizen Kane

1941

The Grapes of Wrath poster
7.8

Tom Joad returns to his home after a jail sentence to find his family kicked out of their farm due to foreclosure. He catches up with them on his Uncle’s farm, and joins them the next day as they head for California and a new life... Hopefully.

The Grapes of Wrath

1940

Sergeant York poster
7.2

Alvin York a hillbilly sharpshooter transforms himself from ruffian to religious pacifist. He is then called to serve his country and despite deep religious and moral objections to fighting becomes one of the most celebrated American heroes of WWI.

Sergeant York

1941

This Land Is Mine poster
7.1

Somewhere in Europe, in a city occupied by the Nazis, a gentle school teacher finds himself torn between collaboration and resistance, cowardice and courage.

This Land Is Mine

1943

Dark Command poster
6.4

When transplanted Texan Bob Seton arrives in Lawrence, Kansas he finds much to like about the place, especially Mary McCloud, daughter of the local banker. Politics is in the air however. It's just prior to the civil war and there is already a sharp division in the Territory as to whether it will remain slave-free. When he gets the opportunity to run for marshal, Seton finds himself running against the respected local schoolteacher, William Cantrell. Not is what it seems however. While acting as the upstanding citizen in public, Cantrell is dangerously ambitious and is prepared to do anything to make his mark, and his fortune, on the Territory. When he loses the race for marshal, he forms a group of raiders who run guns into the territory and rob and terrorize settlers throughout the territory. Eventually donning Confederate uniforms, it is left to Seton and the good citizens of Lawrence to face Cantrell and his raiders in one final clash.

Dark Command

1940

I Love You Again poster
7.2

Boring businessman Larry Wilson recovers from amnesia and discovers he's really a con man...and loves his soon-to-be-ex wife.

I Love You Again

1940

Obliging Young Lady poster
6.0

A woman attempts to shelter a young girl from the publicity surrounding her socialite parents' divorce.

Obliging Young Lady

1942

The Monster and the Girl poster
5.7

After a young woman is coerced into prostitution and her brother framed for murder by an organized crime syndicate, retribution in the form of an ape visits the mobsters.

The Monster and the Girl

1941

Edison, the Man poster
6.8

In flashback, fifty years after inventing the light bulb, an 82-year-old Edison tells his story starting at age twenty-two with his arrival in New York. He's on his way with the invention of an early form of the stock market ticker.

Edison, the Man

1940

Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case poster
6.0

In this 13th entry to the Dr. Kildare series, the medical staff of Blair General hospital are challenged with further dilemmas, not the least of which includes a prison inmate who Dr. Gillespie believes belongs instead in an insane asylum.

Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case

1943

City for Conquest poster
6.9

The heartbreaking but hopeful tale of Danny Kenny and Peggy Nash, two sweethearts who meet and struggle through their impoverished lives in New York City. When Peggy, hoping for something better in life for both of them, breaks off her engagement to Danny, he sets out to be a championship boxer, while she becomes a dancer paired with a sleazy partner. Will tragedy reunite the former lovers?

City for Conquest

1940

Man-Made Monster poster
6.1

Mad scientist turns a man into an electrically-controlled monster to do his bidding.

Man-Made Monster

1941

She Has What It Takes poster
9.0

Fay Weston, a radio singer of no consequence, pretends to be the daughter of a recently deceased Broadway stage star in order to hoodwink Broadway play producer in starring her in a planned-show that is a tribute to her supposed mother.

She Has What It Takes

1943

Mission to Moscow poster
5.7

Ambassador Joseph Davies is sent by FDR to Russia to learn about the Soviet system and returns to the US as an advocate of socialism.

Mission to Moscow

1943

Doctors Don't Tell poster
5.2

Dr. Ralph Snyder and Dr. Frank Blake open an office together but soon split over a rivalry for nightclub singer Diana Wayne and a difference over ethics.

Doctors Don't Tell

1941

The Man with Nine Lives poster
6.3

Dr. Leon Kravaal develops a potential cure for cancer, which involves freezing the patient. But an experiment goes awry when authorities believe Kravaal has killed a patient. Kravaal freezes the officials, along with himself. Years later, they are discovered and revived in hopes that Kravaal can indeed complete his cure. But human greed and weakness compound to disrupt the project.

The Man with Nine Lives

1940

Jesse James at Bay poster
4.8

When Jesse learns that Krager is cheating settlers, he and his gang rob trains to obtain money for them to purchase their land. Krager, finding a Jesse look alike in Burns, hires him to wreck havoc on the ranchers. When Jesse kills Burns he switches clothes and goes after the culprits.

Jesse James at Bay

1941

The Wagons Roll at Night poster
6.5

An escaped circus lion provides the impetus for the meeting of carnival owner Nick Coster and Matt Varney, a small-town man who suddenly becomes a lion tamer when he manages to subdue the big cat. While acclimating to carnival life, Matt begins a romance with Nick's sister, Mary, causing tension between Matt and Nick. The latter must also juggle his stormy relationship with glamorous circus star Flo Lorraine.

The Wagons Roll at Night

1941

The Great Profile poster
6.8

An alcoholic film star attempts a comeback. Director Walter Lang's 1940 comedy stars John Barrymore, Mary Beth Hughes, Anne Baxter, John Payne, Lionel Atwill and Edward Brophy.

The Great Profile

1940

For Me and My Gal poster
6.5

Two vaudeville performers fall in love, but find their relationship tested by the arrival of WWI.

For Me and My Gal

1942

The Great Gildersleeve poster
6.2

A small-town blowhard runs for water commissioner while fighting to win custody of his niece and nephew.

The Great Gildersleeve

1942

The Leopard Man poster
6.5

When a leopard escapes during a publicity stunt, it triggers a series of murders.

The Leopard Man

1943

Music in My Heart poster
6.5

A young woman engaged to a millionaire falls for the understudy in a Broadway musical.

Music in My Heart

1940

King of the Cowboys poster
6.0

Roy Rogers, Smiley Burnette and the Sons of the Pioneers go undercover to help Texas Governor Russell Hicks stop World War II Axis sympathizers from blowing up U.S. warehouses.

King of the Cowboys

1943

A Night to Remember poster
6.7

A woman rents a gloomy basement apartment in Greenwich Village thinking it will provide the perfect atmosphere for her mystery writer husband to create his next book. They soon find themselves in the middle of a real-life mystery when a corpse turns up in their apartment.

A Night to Remember

1942

The Lady from Cheyenne poster
5.7

Fictionalized story of the 1869 adoption of women's suffrage in Wyoming Territory. In the new-founded railroad town of Laraville, Boss Jim Cork hopes to manipulate the sale of town lots to give him control, but Quaker schoolmarm Annie Morgan bags one of the key lots. Cork's lawyer Steve Lewis tries romancing Annie to get the lot back, finding her so overpoweringly liberated she leaves him dizzy. Still, Steve attains his nefarious object...almost...then has cause to deeply regret having aroused the sleeping giant of feminism!

The Lady from Cheyenne

1941

Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc. poster
6.8

Dick Tracy goes up against a villain known as The Ghost, who can turn himself invisible.

Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc.

1941

Happy Land poster
7.1

An Iowa drugstore owner becomes embittered when his son is killed in World War II. The druggist believes that the boy's life was cut short before he had an opportunity to truly appreciate his existence.

Happy Land

1943

You, the People poster
6.2

This MGM Crime Does Not Pay series short features a big city crime boss's attempt to use his crime "machine" to fraudulently win reelection for the current corrupt mayor. By using several illegal tactics, and aided by voter apathy, the crime boss nearly continues his control of the city.

You, the People

1940

Fly By Night poster
6.7

Young intern Jeff Burton, impulsively offers a lift to an odd-looking gentlemen. It soon turns out that Jeff's passenger is an inventor has just escaped from a shady sanitarium, where he has been held prisoner by Nazi spies.

Fly By Night

1942

Marked Men poster
5.6

A man accused of planning a prison break turns the tables on escaped cons by leading the group into the desert.

Marked Men

1940

The Great Mr. Nobody poster
6.0

A publicity man promotes his newspaper, but finds his boss always steals the credit.

The Great Mr. Nobody

1941

Idaho poster
6.2

A deputy sets out to prove that a respected judge, who had once been a criminal, is being framed for crimes committed by a crooked saloon owner.

Idaho

1943

Gallant Sons poster
7.4

When a teenager's father is accused of murder, the boy and his high-school classmates set out to find the real killer.

Gallant Sons

1940

Hold That Woman! poster
7.0

A skip tracer--someone who collects late payments from people who've purchased appliances, etc., or takes them back them when they don't pay--repossesses a small radio from a deadbeat who's skipped payments. What he doesn't know is that a gang that has stolen diamonds from a Hollywood movie star has stashed them inside the radio, and they start hunting for him.

Hold That Woman!

1940

Women Without Names poster
4.7

Joyce and Fred MacNeil's honeymoon comes to an abrupt and unsatisfying halt when Fred is accused of murder. Railroaded into prison through the efforts of politically ambitious assistant DA Marlin, Fred awaits his doom on Death Row, while Joyce works overtime on the outside to clear her husband's name

Women Without Names

1940

My Love Came Back poster
4.9

Amelia is a gifted violinist who is in danger of quitting the Brissac Academy of Music. Julius arranges to have a scholarship given to her through his employee Tony so that Julius can escort Amelia to every musical event in the city. The trouble begins when he cannot meet her one night and Tony goes in his place. Tony believes that Julius and Amelia are a couple and then son Paul thinks that Tony and Amelia are a couple as he is sending her the money. The worst part is that Amelia might leave classical music for swing music with classmates Dusty, Joy and the band.

My Love Came Back

1940

Whistling in the Dark poster
6.0

Radio crime show host 'The Fox' along with his fiancée and ex-girlfriend are kidnapped by a larcenous cult who demand that he help them plan a perfect murder.

Whistling in the Dark

1941

Johnny Eager poster
6.2

A charming racketeer seduces the DA's stepdaughter for revenge, then falls in love.

Johnny Eager

1941

So's Your Uncle poster
6.0

Circumstances arise that result in a man impersonating his uncle. As the "uncle", he finds himself pursued by his girlfriend's aunt, who does not approve of their relationship.

So's Your Uncle

1943

Public Deb No. 1 poster
4.9

When a waiter gives a society girl a public spanking for attending a Communist rally, her soup-tycoon uncle makes the waiter a vice-president of his company.

Public Deb No. 1

1940

1930s · 19 titles

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington poster
7.8

After the death of a United States Senator, the idealistic Jefferson Smith is appointed as his replacement in Washington. The naive and earnest new senator soon finds himself battling political corruption.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

1939

It's a Wonderful World poster
6.5

Detective Guy Johnson's client, Willie Heywood, is framed for murder. While Guy hides him so he can catch the real killer, both of them are nabbed by the police, tried, convicted and sentenced to jail: Guy for a year with Willie to be executed. On the way to jail, Guy comes across a clue and escapes from the police.

It's a Wonderful World

1939

In Name Only poster
7.0

A wealthy man falls for a widow but is locked into a loveless marriage with a woman who has contrived to convince his parents she is the ideal wife.

In Name Only

1939

Special Agent poster
6.1

A federal tax agent goes undercover as a reporter and, working with a mobster's pretty bookkeeper, infiltrates a crime ring to catch the racketeer. When she agrees to testify, an informant exposes them and she's kidnapped.

Special Agent

1935

Easy Living poster
7.2

J.B. Ball, a rich financier, gets fed up with his free-spending family. He takes his wife's just-bought (very expensive) sable coat and throws it out the window, it lands on poor hard-working girl Mary Smith. But it isn't so easy to just give away something so valuable, as he soon learns.

Easy Living

1937

Tarnished Angel poster
5.3

A showgirl with a dubious reputation flees the cops and transforms herself into a phony evangelist offering "cures" to the sick and disabled.

Tarnished Angel

1938

Each Dawn I Die poster
6.9

A corrupt D.A. with governatorial ambitions is annoyed by an investigative reporter's criticism of his criminal activities and decides to frame the reporter for manslaughter in order to silence him.

Each Dawn I Die

1939

They Made Me a Criminal poster
6.3

A boxer flees, believing he has committed a murder while he was drunk.

They Made Me a Criminal

1939

The Country Doctor poster
6.5

A doctor has a rough time obtaining the money for his services in a lumber town until he delivers quintuplets.

The Country Doctor

1936

Stand Up and Fight poster
6.0

A southern aristocrat clashes with a driver transporting stolen slaves to freedom.

Stand Up and Fight

1939

The Man They Could Not Hang poster
6.6

Dr. Henryk Savaard is a scientist working on experiments to restore life to the dead. When he is unjustly hanged for murder, he is brought back to life by his trusted assistant. Re-animated he turns decidedly nasty and sets about murdering the jury that convicted him.

The Man They Could Not Hang

1939

Love Is News poster
6.3

When a crafty reporter uses false pretenses to get a story out of heiress Tony Gateson, she turns the tables on him, telling the press that they are engaged. Suddenly he's front page news, every salesman is at his doorstep, and he loses his job. A series of misadventures ensues with him alternately back on his job and fired and her ex-fiancé showing up.

Love Is News

1937

Too Hot to Handle poster
6.1

While in Shanghai reporting on the Sino-Japanese war, Chris Hunter, a shrewd news reporter, meets pilot Alma Harding. She does not trust him, but he manages to hire her as his assistant. During an adventurous expedition through the jungles of South America, her opinion of him begins to change.

Too Hot to Handle

1938

Who Killed Gail Preston? poster
6.5

A temperamental singer's murder leaves a nightclub full of suspects.

Who Killed Gail Preston?

1938

Dick Tracy poster
5.2

Dick Tracy's foe for this serial is the crime boss and Masked Mystery Villain The Spider/The Lame One and his Spider Ring. In the process of various crimes, including using his Flying wing and sound weapon to destroy the Bay Bridge in San Francisco and stealing an experimental "Speed Plane", the Spider captures Dick Tracy's brother, Gordon. The Spider's minion, Dr. Moloch, performs a brain operation on Gordon Tracy to turn him evil, making him secretly part of the Spider Ring and so turning brother against brother.

Dick Tracy

1937

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

I'll Tell the World poster
7.0

Lee Tracy once again plays a Winchellesque newspaper reporter in Universal's I'll Tell the World. More interested in his sex life than his career, news hawk Brown nonetheless agrees to cover the activities of a European archduke on behalf of his wire service.

I'll Tell the World

1934

A Woman is the Judge poster
7.0

Twenty years earlier, Mary Cabot had lost contact with her infant daughter Justine. Now a grown woman, Justine accidentally shoots a man who'd impugned the reputation of her mother, whom she's never met. As luck would have it, the presiding judge at Justine's trial is none other than Mary Cabot.

A Woman is the Judge

1939

Racket Busters poster
5.6

A trucker with a pregnant wife fights a New York mobster's protection racket.

Racket Busters

1938