W.S. Van Dyke

Directing

W.S. Van Dyke

Born — Died

1889-03-21 — 1943-02-05

Place of birth

San Diego, California, USA

Known for

Directing

Credits

45 titles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Woodbridge Strong "W. S." Van Dyke II (Woody) (March 21, 1889 – February 5, 1943) was an American film director and writer who made several successful early sound films, including Tarzan the Ape Man in 1932, The Thin Man in 1934, San Francisco in 1936, and six popular musicals with Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. He received two Academy Award nominations for Best Director for The Thin Man and San Francisco, and directed four actors to Oscar nominations: William Powell, Spencer Tracy, Norma Shearer, and Robert Morley. Known as a reliable craftsman who made his films on schedule and under budget, he earned the name "One Take Woody" for his quick and e…

Known for

The Thin Man poster
7.5

Former detective Nick Charles has retired from police work, preferring a life of cocktails, parties, and relaxation with his wealthy wife, Nora. Their holiday is interrupted when the daughter of Nick’s former client asks for help finding her missing father, eccentric inventor Clyde Wynant. When Wynant’s body is discovered, Nick is drawn back into the investigation, with Nora eagerly joining him. As the couple questions Wynant’s family, friends, and business associates, a tangled web of greed, deception, and murder begins to unravel.

The Thin Man

1934

Tarzan the Ape Man poster
6.6

James Parker and Harry Holt are on an expedition in Africa in search of the elephant burial grounds that will provide enough ivory to make them rich. Parker's beautiful daughter Jane arrives unexpectedly to join them. Jane is terrified when Tarzan and his ape friends abduct her, but when she returns to her father's expedition she has second thoughts about leaving Tarzan.

Tarzan the Ape Man

1932

San Francisco poster
6.6

A beautiful singer and a battling priest try to reform a Barbary Coast saloon owner in the days before the great earthquake and subsequent fires in 1906.

San Francisco

1936

Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages poster
7.1

The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.

Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages

1916

After the Thin Man poster
7.3

After returning to San Francisco, Nick and Nora Charles are drawn into the disappearance of Nora’s cousin’s husband. When he is found murdered, suspicion falls on the troubled family, and Nick reluctantly resumes his detective work. With Nora eagerly at his side, the pair follows a trail of jealousy, blackmail, secret relationships, and long-buried family scandals.

After the Thin Man

1936

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

Film credits

Behind the camera

The Thin Man poster
7.5

Former detective Nick Charles has retired from police work, preferring a life of cocktails, parties, and relaxation with his wealthy wife, Nora. Their holiday is interrupted when the daughter of Nick’s former client asks for help finding her missing father, eccentric inventor Clyde Wynant. When Wynant’s body is discovered, Nick is drawn back into the investigation, with Nora eagerly joining him. As the couple questions Wynant’s family, friends, and business associates, a tangled web of greed, deception, and murder begins to unravel.

The Thin Man

1934

Tarzan the Ape Man poster
6.6

James Parker and Harry Holt are on an expedition in Africa in search of the elephant burial grounds that will provide enough ivory to make them rich. Parker's beautiful daughter Jane arrives unexpectedly to join them. Jane is terrified when Tarzan and his ape friends abduct her, but when she returns to her father's expedition she has second thoughts about leaving Tarzan.

Tarzan the Ape Man

1932

San Francisco poster
6.6

A beautiful singer and a battling priest try to reform a Barbary Coast saloon owner in the days before the great earthquake and subsequent fires in 1906.

San Francisco

1936

San Francisco poster
6.6

A beautiful singer and a battling priest try to reform a Barbary Coast saloon owner in the days before the great earthquake and subsequent fires in 1906.

San Francisco

1936

After the Thin Man poster
7.3

After returning to San Francisco, Nick and Nora Charles are drawn into the disappearance of Nora’s cousin’s husband. When he is found murdered, suspicion falls on the troubled family, and Nick reluctantly resumes his detective work. With Nora eagerly at his side, the pair follows a trail of jealousy, blackmail, secret relationships, and long-buried family scandals.

After the Thin Man

1936

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

Marie Antoinette poster
6.6

The young Austrian princess Marie Antoinette is arranged to marry Louis XVI, future king of France, in a politically advantageous marriage for the rival countries. The opulent Marie indulges in various whims and flirtations. When Louis XV passes and Louis XVI ascends the French throne, his queen's extravagant lifestyle earns the hatred of the French people, who despise her Austrian heritage.

Marie Antoinette

1938

Manhattan Melodrama poster
7.0

The friendship between two orphans endures even though they grow up on opposite sides of the law and fall in love with the same woman.

Manhattan Melodrama

1934

Shadow of the Thin Man poster
7.0

While attending a major horse race with their young son, Nick Jr., Nick and Nora Charles witnesse a shocking murder from the crowded grandstand. What first appears to be an isolated killing soon leads to a maze of corruption, blackmail, gambling scandals, and criminal intrigue. As Nick investigates, he encounters suspicious bookmakers, dishonest officials, rival gangsters, and a mysterious killer determined to stay ahead of the law. Nora, as always, is never far from the action, bringing her quick wit and fearless curiosity to the case.

Shadow of the Thin Man

1941

Forsaking All Others poster
6.0

A socialite only realises that her friend is in love with her when she falls for the wrong man.

Forsaking All Others

1934

Another Thin Man poster
7.1

Nick and Nora Charles are back - and this time, they have a baby, a wealthy new client, and another murder to solve! Retired detective Nick is enjoying family life with Nora and their young son, Nick Jr., when eccentric industrialist Colonel MacFay asks for protection after receiving threatening messages. When MacFay is found dead at his isolated estate, Nick and Nora spring into action, questioning a houseful of suspicious guests and uncovering greed, blackmail, family secrets, and a dangerous inheritance plot. With their trademark wit and sophistication, the glamorous couple balances parenthood, parties, and peril as they race to expose the killer.

Another Thin Man

1939

The Devil Is a Sissy poster
7.0

A well-bred young English lad living in lower Manhattan tries to gain acceptance from his not-so-well-bred peers at school.

The Devil Is a Sissy

1936

Naughty Marietta poster
5.5

In order to avoid a prearranged marriage, a rebellious French princess sheds her identity and escapes to colonial New Orleans, where she finds an unlikely true love.

Naughty Marietta

1935

Naughty Marietta poster
5.5

In order to avoid a prearranged marriage, a rebellious French princess sheds her identity and escapes to colonial New Orleans, where she finds an unlikely true love.

Naughty Marietta

1935

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 Prizefighter and the Lady poster
5.5

An ex-sailor turned boxer finds romance and gets a shot at the heavyweight title.

The Prizefighter and the Lady

1933

The Prizefighter and the Lady poster
5.5

An ex-sailor turned boxer finds romance and gets a shot at the heavyweight title.

The Prizefighter and the Lady

1933

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

Hide-Out poster
7.2

Wounded criminal Lucky Wilson takes refuge in a small Connecticut farm. He falls in love with the farmer's daughter who at first is unaware of his criminal record. Lucky is fully prepared to shoot his way out when the cops come calling, but he is softened by the daughter's affections.

Hide-Out

1934

Hide-Out poster
7.2

Wounded criminal Lucky Wilson takes refuge in a small Connecticut farm. He falls in love with the farmer's daughter who at first is unaware of his criminal record. Lucky is fully prepared to shoot his way out when the cops come calling, but he is softened by the daughter's affections.

Hide-Out

1934

Sweethearts poster
5.8

The team behind a successful Broadway production tries to stop the married stars from transitioning to Hollywood.

Sweethearts

1938

I Live My Life poster
6.6

A society girl tries to make a go of her marriage to an archaeologist.

I Live My Life

1935

They Gave Him a Gun poster
6.7

With no other prospects, a World War I veteran puts the skills they taught him in the War to use.

They Gave Him a Gun

1937

Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever poster
5.7

Young Andy develops a crush on his drama teacher. When his play is chosen as the school's annual production, Andy seizes the opportunity to spend as much time as possible with his pretty teacher. Meanwhile, Judge Hardy has his own problems when he gets conned into forming a phony aluminum corporation.

Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever

1939

I Take This Woman poster
5.8

On return from Europe Dr. Decker foils glamour girl Georgi from jumping overboard. At Decker's suggestion to keep busy, she assists at his clinic in the slums.

I Take This Woman

1940

Rage in Heaven poster
6.4

A jealous man frames his wife's suspected lover for murder.

Rage in Heaven

1941

Penthouse poster
6.9

Gertie Waxted knows how notorious gangster Jim Crelliman runs his rackets, because she's long been under the hoodlum's thumb. She's secretly helping lawyer Jackson Durant in a snoop job aimed at pinning a murder on the thug. Her life will be in peril when that secret gets out.

Penthouse

1933

White Shadows in the South Seas poster
6.7

An alcoholic doctor on a Polynesian island, disgusted by white exploitation of the natives, finds himself marooned on a pristinely beautiful island.

White Shadows in the South Seas

1928

Under the Black Eagle poster
5.0

A German Shepherd Dog and the people he loves are entangled in World War One.

Under the Black Eagle

1928

His Brother's Wife poster
5.8

Epidemiologist Cliff Claybourne falls in love with Rita Wilson in a gambling house. They want to marry but Cliff's brother is convinced Rita is no good and forces Cliff to fulfill his agreement to do research in Africa in exchange for paying gambling debt. Rita, Cliff and brother are furious with each other, but Rita and Cliff are still in love.

His Brother's Wife

1936

The Cuban Love Song poster
4.8

A guilt-ridden U.S. Marine returns to Cuba to try to find the woman he promised to marry.

The Cuban Love Song

1931

I Married an Angel poster
6.0

A count who ignores an infatuated secretary thinks he has met his match when an angel from Heaven shows up.

I Married an Angel

1942

Eskimo poster
6.6

The happy life of an Eskimo is disastrously changed when he mingles with an unscrupulous white trader.

Eskimo

1933

Eskimo poster
6.6

The happy life of an Eskimo is disastrously changed when he mingles with an unscrupulous white trader.

Eskimo

1933

Journey for Margaret poster
6.7

An American newspaperman and his wife, end up in London after several retreats in the opening days of WWII. After a shrapnel wound and loss of her baby she returns to America. War weary, he is forced to do a story about war orphans, where he meets Margaret.

Journey for Margaret

1942

Rose Marie poster
6.1

An incognito opera singer falls for a policeman who has been assigned to track down her fugitive brother.

Rose Marie

1936

Love on the Run poster
6.5

A runaway bride and an undercover reporter get caught up in political intrigue as they lead a merry chase across Europe and uncover a spy plot.

Love on the Run

1936

The Pagan poster
6.7

Henry, the pagan son of a white father and native mother, has inherited land and a store, but he prefers the simple life. When he falls in love with a native girl, her guardian, who is trying to bring her up as a 'proper' Christian, but who also lusts after her himself, plots to keep them apart.

The Pagan

1929

Rosalie poster
6.0

West Point cadet Dick Thorpe falls in love with a girl, who turns out to be a princess from an European kingdom.

Rosalie

1937

Personal Property poster
6.9

Raymond Dabney returns to his family after trouble with the law. He convinces the sheriff to give him a job watching the house and furniture of widow Crystal Wetherby without knowing she is engaged to his brother.

Personal Property

1937