Frank McDonald

Directing

Frank McDonald

Born — Died

1899-11-09 — 1980-03-08

Place of birth

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Known for

Directing

Credits

40 titles

A former railroad worker, Frank McDonald came to Hollywood after a career on the stage as an actor/producer/director. At first hired as a dialogue director, McDonald turned out some scripts and in the mid-'30s began directing. Working for almost every studio in Hollywood at one time or another, he did a lot of work for Republic, grinding out Gene Autry and Roy Rogers westerns, and at the Pine/Thomas "B" unit at Paramount, churning out westerns, action dramas and war pictures. Not entirely comfortable as a director -Evelyn Keyes once said, "I've never seen anyone as terrified of directing as Frank McDonald" - he nevertheless turned out more than 100 pictures in his career.

Known for

Ringside poster
5.0

Joe O'Hara finds out he has a damaged optic nerve just before a boxing match for the title. He needs the money badly, so he doesn't delay the fight. The opponent discovers Joe's weakness and pounds on his eyes, causing him to go blind.

Ringside

1949

Yukon Gold poster
5.0

In this Yukon adventure, a gold mining community is rocked by a murder. A Mountie investigates and encounters a female gambler. Action ensues, but justice prevails.

Yukon Gold

1952

Gunfight at Comanche Creek poster
5.9

Comanche Creek, Colorado, 1875: Prisoner Jack Mason is broken out of jail by a gang of strangers. They use him in a robbery, then when the dead-or-alive reward is high enough, they shoot him and collect. The National Detective Agency, now knowing the gang's methods, arranges to have agent Bob Gifford jailed in Comanche Creek for train robbery. The gang takes the bait (not before Gifford catches the eye of lovely saloon-keeper Abbie). But how will the bait get off the hook?

Gunfight at Comanche Creek

1963

Yellow Fin poster
5.3

WWII veteran Mike Donovan decides to sell his fishing boat after suffering a a series of accidents, the worst of which sends his father, Captain John Donovan, to the hospital suffering from amnesia. His decision is opposed by hie sweetheart, Nina Torres, and his loyal crew, but supported by his father's nurse, Jean Elliott, who also has romantic designs on Mike.

Yellow Fin

1951

Isle of Fury poster
5.4

An island pearl merchant and his new wife make room for a mysterious shipwrecked man.

Isle of Fury

1936

Thunder Pass poster
6.5

A cavalry unit escorts a group of civilians through dangerous territory inhabited by Indians on the warpath.

Thunder Pass

1954

Behind the camera

Ringside poster
5.0

Joe O'Hara finds out he has a damaged optic nerve just before a boxing match for the title. He needs the money badly, so he doesn't delay the fight. The opponent discovers Joe's weakness and pounds on his eyes, causing him to go blind.

Ringside

1949

Yukon Gold poster
5.0

In this Yukon adventure, a gold mining community is rocked by a murder. A Mountie investigates and encounters a female gambler. Action ensues, but justice prevails.

Yukon Gold

1952

Gunfight at Comanche Creek poster
5.9

Comanche Creek, Colorado, 1875: Prisoner Jack Mason is broken out of jail by a gang of strangers. They use him in a robbery, then when the dead-or-alive reward is high enough, they shoot him and collect. The National Detective Agency, now knowing the gang's methods, arranges to have agent Bob Gifford jailed in Comanche Creek for train robbery. The gang takes the bait (not before Gifford catches the eye of lovely saloon-keeper Abbie). But how will the bait get off the hook?

Gunfight at Comanche Creek

1963

Yellow Fin poster
5.3

WWII veteran Mike Donovan decides to sell his fishing boat after suffering a a series of accidents, the worst of which sends his father, Captain John Donovan, to the hospital suffering from amnesia. His decision is opposed by hie sweetheart, Nina Torres, and his loyal crew, but supported by his father's nurse, Jean Elliott, who also has romantic designs on Mike.

Yellow Fin

1951

Isle of Fury poster
5.4

An island pearl merchant and his new wife make room for a mysterious shipwrecked man.

Isle of Fury

1936

Thunder Pass poster
6.5

A cavalry unit escorts a group of civilians through dangerous territory inhabited by Indians on the warpath.

Thunder Pass

1954

Wyatt Earp: Return to Tombstone poster
6.5

Combining colorized footage from the television series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955) with new scenes shot in Tombstone, Arizona, this film shows the return of the legendary former Marshal Wyatt Earp to his old stomping grounds. He visits old friends, teaches bad guys some manners and reveals secrets about his early life.

Wyatt Earp: Return to Tombstone

1994

Scared Stiff poster
4.7

A meek reporter happens upon a murder, an escaped gangster and a stolen jade chess set.

Scared Stiff

1945

Treasure of Ruby Hills poster
5.0

Ranchers battle one another over water rights. Western.

Treasure of Ruby Hills

1955

Son of Belle Starr poster
7.0

The son of the notorious female bandit Belle Starr wants to live an honest life, but finds himself getting drawn into his mother's old profession.

Son of Belle Starr

1953

Shepherd of the Ozarks poster
6.0

Aluminum magnate James J. Maloney, Sr. meets with government officials to discuss the war effort and the need to end price-fixing. After the meeting, Maloney receives word that his son Jimmy, a playboy turned Army flight instructor, is lost with his navigator, Scully, somewhere in the Ozarks. While Maloney rushes to find his son, Jimmy and Scully crash land in the small town of Weaverville, where the mayor and his wife, Abner and Elviry Weaver, are trying to impress upon the citizens that they are better off in the mountains than in the big city

Shepherd of the Ozarks

1942

The Ghost of Crossbone Canyon poster
9.0

Two episodes of the TV series "Wild Bill Hickok" edited together and released as a feature.

The Ghost of Crossbone Canyon

1952

Fly Away Baby poster
6.3

Torchy Blane solves a murder and smuggling case during a round-the-world flight.

Fly Away Baby

1937

Grand Ole Opry poster
7.5

Aided by musicians at the Grand Ole Opry, a small-town mayor in the Ozarks takes on a group of crooked politicians.

Grand Ole Opry

1940

Snow Dog poster
7.5

The third installment in low-budget producer Lindsley Parson's "Chinook" series, Snow Dog was ostensibly based on pulp writer James Oliver Curwood's 1915 short-story "The Tentacles of the North," which was also the working title. Kirby Grant again played Rod McDonald of the Canadian Royal Mounted, and once again the vehicle was stolen by his canine sidekick, the white malamute Chinook. This time, Rod and Chinook are tracking a mysterious white wolf, thought to have killed several of the local traders.

Snow Dog

1950

One Body Too Many poster
5.2

An insurance salesman, Albert Tuttle, is hired as a body guard for a millionaire.

One Body Too Many

1944

Tuxedo Junction poster
10.0

The Weaver Brothers and Elviry have migrated from their usual hard-scrabble digs in the Ozarks and have taken up truck-farming.

Tuxedo Junction

1941

Smart Blonde poster
6.4

Ambitious reporter Torchy Blane guides her policeman boyfriend to correctly pinpoint who shot the man she was interviewing.

Smart Blonde

1937

The Big Tip Off poster
7.0

A newspaper man uses a mobster's tips to get the scoop on gangster activities.

The Big Tip Off

1955

Apache Chief poster
4.8

When his tribesmen begin killing off white settlers, Young Eagle is opposed to the carnage. In order to assure a lasting peace, however, the chief must deal with renegade Apache Black Wolf.

Apache Chief

1949

O, My Darling Clementine poster
8.0

"Dapper Dan" Franklin and his small troupe of actors become stranded in the small town of Harmony, Tennessee. The town is shackled by Blue Laws imposed upon it by a City Council under the influence of their domineering wives. Harry Cheshire is under the thumb of his sister Abigail Uppington. One look at "Pappy's" daughter Clementine, and Dan decides to stay in Harmony...Blue Laws or no.

O, My Darling Clementine

1943

Border City Rustlers poster
7.0

Two episodes of "Wild Bill Hickok" edited together and released as a feature.

Border City Rustlers

1953

Treachery Rides the Range poster
4.0

The Indians need the Buffalo to survive and the Government has promised to keep the herds free from hunters. But Carter, of Carter and Barton, just signed a big contract for furs and Buffalo meat so they want the herds. The only way they can get them is to rile the Indians up enough to go on the warpath and break the treaty. After the trouble starts, the Indians get the Colonel's daughter and hold her prisoner. Written by Tony Fontana

Treachery Rides the Range

1936

Along the Navajo Trail poster
7.5

U.S. Deputy Marshal Roy investigates the disappearance of a government agent who has come to Dale's father's Ladder A Ranch. The bad guys want the land the ranch sits on because they know an oil pipeline is planned through this location.

Along the Navajo Trail

1945

Call of the Klondike poster
7.3

A brother and sister are running a phony gold mine scam in the Klondike, which leads to murder. A Canadian Mountie sets out to bring them to justice.

Call of the Klondike

1950

The Murder of Dr. Harrigan poster
5.8

A young doctor is determined to expose the killer when a surgeon is found stabbed to death in a hospital elevator.

The Murder of Dr. Harrigan

1936

Boulder Dam poster
5.7

Fate brings a job at Boulder Dam and romance with a saloon singer into the life of a young man on the run.

Boulder Dam

1936

Love Begins at Twenty poster
6.3

A henpecked husband tries to help his daughter marry the man she loves and his wife loathes.

Love Begins at Twenty

1936

Rainbow Over Texas poster
7.3

Roy visits his home town while on a personal appearance tour. While there he enters a pony express race. To keep him from winning, bad guys try to sabatoge Roy's entry. They fail, or course. Songs include the title song and "Smile for me, Senorita."

Rainbow Over Texas

1946

My Pal Trigger poster
5.5

Gabby doesn't want to breed his horse the Golden Sovereign with Roy's. When Sovereign and Roy's horse escape, the Sovereign gets shot accidentally by Skoville but Roy is blamed and jailed. A year later Roy returns with Trigger, the son of the Sovereign. When Skoville reveals he was present when the horse was shot, Roy sees an opportunity to clear his name.

My Pal Trigger

1946

Wildcat poster
5.7

Wildcatter Johnny Maverick and his pal go to a town in oil country offering $25,000 to the person who brings in the first well. They find oil on the outskirts but have to sell a share to a promoter who hires Johnny's old enemy.

Wildcat

1942

Song of Arizona poster
4.6

Roy Rogers rides to the rescue when a bank robber's orphaned son (Tommy Cook), who is living at a ranch for homeless boys run by Gabby Whittaker (George "Gabby" Hayes), attracts the attention his father's rowdy gang, who want to claim the boy's inheritance for themselves

Song of Arizona

1946

Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back poster
6.4

Captain Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond investigates the murder of the C.I.D. man who had been tracing validity of rival claims to a large estate.

Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back

1947

High Explosive poster
6.3

Mike Douglas (Barry Sullivan), owner of a nitroglycerin concern hires his old friend "Buzz" Mitchell (Chester Morris), a race-driver of midget-auto cars who has been banned from racing, to go to work hauling nitro. "Buzz" makes a play for Connie Baker (Jean Parker), Mike's secretary and girlfriend, and also for Doris Lynch (Barbara Lynn), fiancée of Connie's younger brother, Jimmy ('Rand Brooks'), and gets Jimmy to replace him on a dangerous nitro haul and Jimmy, of course, has an accident and gets killed. But "Buzz" finds a way to redeem himself. The hard way.

High Explosive

1943

The Adventurous Blonde poster
5.3

The third of nine Torchy Blane movies. Angry that police detective Steve McBride (Barton MacLane) is giving preferential treatment to his reporter-fiancée, Torchy Blane (Glenda Farrell), reporters from a rival newspaper plan a fake murder with the idea that Torchy's paper will print the story and look foolish. The tables are turned when the fake murder turns out to be the genuine article.

The Adventurous Blonde

1937

Lights of Old Santa Fe poster
5.6

Sandwiched in between the numerous musical numbers, the Gabby Whittaker and Madden rodeo's are competing for bookings. When Gabby gets a date in Albuquerque, Madden has his man destroy his equipment. Roy finds a broken rawhide rope at the scene and uses it to bring Madden to justice.

Lights of Old Santa Fe

1944

No artwork available
9.0

During World War II three brothers go to enlist in the Air Force, but since they're farmers they're told they're needed at home more than in the service. Determined to join up, they enlist the aid of a pretty young girl whose father is head of the local draft board.

Hoosier Holiday

1943

Alaska Highway poster
6.3

Pop Ormsby wins the contract from the Army Engineer Corps for the construction of the Alaska Highway connecting Alaska to Canada. The elder of his two sons, Woody Ormsby, decides he had rather fight with bullets than bulldozers but is assigned by the Army to work on the project. Woody and his younger brother Steve are both rivals for the affection of Ann Coswell, the daughter of road engineer Blair Caswell.

Alaska Highway

1943

Mara of the Wilderness poster
5.0

An altruistic park ranger stumbles upon a beautiful but feral young girl who spent most of her life being raised by a pack of white wolves. But his plans to tame her wild ways are cut short when an enterprising trapper hears about her story and sets out to sell her as a freak to a traveling side show.

Mara of the Wilderness

1965

Marshals in Disguise poster
8.0

Another of the series of "movies" created by stitching two episodes of the "Wild Bill Hickok" TV series together, U. S. Marshal Wild Bill Hickok and his deputy Jingles P. Jones are working to solve the mystery of a number of gold robberies from a stage line and expose the plot of a bank manager to buy the bank with funds stolen from it. Wrapping that one up tightly in less than thirty minutes, they move on up the road to round up another gang that has been holding up Wells Fargo offices, with Jingles posing as a medicine show magician.

Marshals in Disguise

1954