Writing

William B. Courtney

Known for

Writing

Credits

7 titles

Known for

Island Wives poster
8.0

Elsa, a young wife living on an isolated South Seas island, is restless, bored and wants to leave. The manager of the island trading post lusts after her, and when her husband leaves for a business trip but is caught in a typhoon, he makes his move on Elsa. While she manages to escape his advances, she winds up being "rescued" by a wealthy playboy who persuades her that her husband is dead. Complications ensue.

Island Wives

1922

The Garter Girl poster
10.0

Vaudeville dancer Rosalie Ray, disgusted by the advances of her admirers, quits the stage and retires to the anonymity of a small town. At her rooming house she meets young minister Arthur Lyle who proposes to her. Soon after, Rosalie learns of a mysterious woman in Lyle's past and decides to investigate. Learning that Lyle keeps a cherished memento of this femme fatale in his room, Rosalie determines to unearth it. Locating the box, she opens it, only to discover her own garter inside. Rosalie is so repulsed at the revelation that when her former manager, Brad Mortimer, appears to offer her his hand in marriage and a professional engagement, she accepts both and returns to the stage.

The Garter Girl

1920

Closed Doors poster
10.0

After Dan Syrles kills a man who threatens to break up his marriage, Jim Ranson, who believes in the sanctity of the home, helps him escape. Years later, Jim, rising to power and wealth in an eastern city, marries Dorothy, his best friend's daughter, but while he is increasingly involved with business she becomes lonely. While motoring, she meets Rex Gordon, a clever crook who woos her, but when rejected he plots to steal her jewels. Warned of the affair, Ranson sets a trap for Gordon but is prevented from murder by Syrles, posing as a detective. Ranson admits his mistake and is reconciled to his wife.

Closed Doors

1921

A Virgin's Sacrifice poster
6.0

Set in “the white-bound heart of Canada that lies within the Arctic Circle,” and concerns a rifle-toting woman who convinces a government researcher to pose as her husband and help combat a villainous poacher who threatens her reputation.

A Virgin's Sacrifice

1922

The Silent Avenger poster
10.0

15 chapter adventure serial: 1. The Escape 2. Fighting Back 3. Within the Noose 4. Tearing Through 5. Blotted Out 6. The Hidden Blow 7. Dynamite Doom 8. The Crusher 9. Into the Jaws 10. Blades of Horror 11. Shot Into Space 12. Facing Eternity 13. A Human Pendulum 14. The Lakes of Fire 15. The Final Trump

The Silent Avenger

1920

Hidden Dangers poster
8.0

15 chapter adventure serial: 1. The Evil Spell 2. The Murder Mood 3. Plucked from Peril 4. The Fatal Choice 5. Hands of Horror 6. Springing the Trap 7. Hindoo Hate 8. Hemmed In 9. An Inch from Doom 10. A Fanatic's Revenge 11. The Tank's Secret 12. Human Bait 13. A Woman's Grit 14. The Fatal Escape 15. The Lifting Fog.

Hidden Dangers

1920

Behind the camera

Island Wives poster
8.0

Elsa, a young wife living on an isolated South Seas island, is restless, bored and wants to leave. The manager of the island trading post lusts after her, and when her husband leaves for a business trip but is caught in a typhoon, he makes his move on Elsa. While she manages to escape his advances, she winds up being "rescued" by a wealthy playboy who persuades her that her husband is dead. Complications ensue.

Island Wives

1922

The Garter Girl poster
10.0

Vaudeville dancer Rosalie Ray, disgusted by the advances of her admirers, quits the stage and retires to the anonymity of a small town. At her rooming house she meets young minister Arthur Lyle who proposes to her. Soon after, Rosalie learns of a mysterious woman in Lyle's past and decides to investigate. Learning that Lyle keeps a cherished memento of this femme fatale in his room, Rosalie determines to unearth it. Locating the box, she opens it, only to discover her own garter inside. Rosalie is so repulsed at the revelation that when her former manager, Brad Mortimer, appears to offer her his hand in marriage and a professional engagement, she accepts both and returns to the stage.

The Garter Girl

1920

Closed Doors poster
10.0

After Dan Syrles kills a man who threatens to break up his marriage, Jim Ranson, who believes in the sanctity of the home, helps him escape. Years later, Jim, rising to power and wealth in an eastern city, marries Dorothy, his best friend's daughter, but while he is increasingly involved with business she becomes lonely. While motoring, she meets Rex Gordon, a clever crook who woos her, but when rejected he plots to steal her jewels. Warned of the affair, Ranson sets a trap for Gordon but is prevented from murder by Syrles, posing as a detective. Ranson admits his mistake and is reconciled to his wife.

Closed Doors

1921

A Virgin's Sacrifice poster
6.0

Set in “the white-bound heart of Canada that lies within the Arctic Circle,” and concerns a rifle-toting woman who convinces a government researcher to pose as her husband and help combat a villainous poacher who threatens her reputation.

A Virgin's Sacrifice

1922

The Silent Avenger poster
10.0

15 chapter adventure serial: 1. The Escape 2. Fighting Back 3. Within the Noose 4. Tearing Through 5. Blotted Out 6. The Hidden Blow 7. Dynamite Doom 8. The Crusher 9. Into the Jaws 10. Blades of Horror 11. Shot Into Space 12. Facing Eternity 13. A Human Pendulum 14. The Lakes of Fire 15. The Final Trump

The Silent Avenger

1920

Hidden Dangers poster
8.0

15 chapter adventure serial: 1. The Evil Spell 2. The Murder Mood 3. Plucked from Peril 4. The Fatal Choice 5. Hands of Horror 6. Springing the Trap 7. Hindoo Hate 8. Hemmed In 9. An Inch from Doom 10. A Fanatic's Revenge 11. The Tank's Secret 12. Human Bait 13. A Woman's Grit 14. The Fatal Escape 15. The Lifting Fog.

Hidden Dangers

1920

The Venturers poster
8.0

The one was a venturer - the other an adventurer - the one a man who wanted to see adventure, but who had never been beyond the city limits - the other a man who had seen adventure in all parts of the world, and who assured the venturer that things were just as monotonous every place in the world as in the city. So they met, each seeking for the unconventional, on a New York street, and dined together as men out of luck, with two cents between them - and still nothing happened. They both had credit at the hotel. Then into their lives came the feminine influence - a sweet girl who lived in a house which was irrevocably a household. The adventurer hesitated - he had yet to satisfy his longing for the incalculable. Suddenly love changed the venturer into an adventurer, and settled the adventurer into a venturer.

The Venturers

1917