Writing

Chester Erskine

Born — Died

1905-11-29 — 1986-04-07

Place of birth

Hudson, New York, USA

Known for

Writing

Credits

21 titles

Chester Erskine (November 29, 1905 - April 7, 1986) was a Hollywood and Broadway director, writer, and producer. He was born in Hudson, New York and studied for a short time at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. His first directing job was Harlem an 1929 all-black revue. He also directed Spencer Tracy in the play The Last Mile in 1930. Erskine's likeness was drawn in caricature by Alex Gard for Sardi's, the New York City theater district restaurant. The picture is now part of the collection of the New York Public Library. In 1932 he began working in Hollywood where his best known work includes the direction of The Egg and I (1947) and the writing of All My Sons (1948). He died in Beve…

Known for

All My Sons poster
6.5

During WWII, industrialist Joe Keller commits a crime and frames his business partner Herbert Deever. Years later, his sin comes back to haunt him when his son plans to marry Deever's daughter.

All My Sons

1948

Witness to Murder poster
6.3

A woman fights to convince the police that she witnessed a murder while looking out her bedroom window.

Witness to Murder

1954

The Egg and I poster
7.0

World War II veteran Bob MacDonald surprises his new wife, Betty, by quitting his city job and moving them to a dilapidated farm in the country. While Betty gamely struggles with managing the crumbling house and holding off nosy neighbors and a recalcitrant pig, Bob makes plans for crops and livestock. The couple's bliss is shaken by a visit from a beautiful farm owner, who seems to want more from Bob than just managing her property.

The Egg and I

1947

The Wonderful Country poster
6.1

Having fled to Mexico from the U.S. many years ago for killing his father's murderer, Martin Brady travels to Texas to broker an arms deal for his Mexican boss, strongman Governor Cipriano Castro. Brady breaks a leg and while recuperating in Texas the gun shipment is stolen. Complicating matters further the wife of local army major Colton has designs on him, and the local Texas Ranger captain makes him a generous offer to come back to the states and join his outfit. After killing a man in self-defense, Brady slips back over the border and confronts Castro who is not only unhappy that Brady has lost his gun shipment but is about to join forces with Colton to battle the local raiding Apache Indians.

The Wonderful Country

1959

Androcles and the Lion poster
5.9

George Bernard Shaw’s breezy, delightful dramatization of this classic fable—about a Christian slave who pulls a thorn from a lion’s paw and is spared from death in the Colosseum as a result of his kind act—was written as a meditation on modern Christian values. Pascal’s final Shaw production is played broadly, with comic character actor Alan Young as the titular naïf. He’s ably supported by Jean Simmons, Victor Mature, Robert Newton, and Elsa Lanchester.

Androcles and the Lion

1952

Take One False Step poster
5.4

Catherine Sykes disappears after a midnight drive with Professor Andrew Gentling . When she's presumed murdered, his friend Martha convinces him that he's a prime suspect and should investigate before he's arrested.

Take One False Step

1949

Behind the camera

All My Sons poster
6.5

During WWII, industrialist Joe Keller commits a crime and frames his business partner Herbert Deever. Years later, his sin comes back to haunt him when his son plans to marry Deever's daughter.

All My Sons

1948

All My Sons poster
6.5

During WWII, industrialist Joe Keller commits a crime and frames his business partner Herbert Deever. Years later, his sin comes back to haunt him when his son plans to marry Deever's daughter.

All My Sons

1948

Witness to Murder poster
6.3

A woman fights to convince the police that she witnessed a murder while looking out her bedroom window.

Witness to Murder

1954

The Egg and I poster
7.0

World War II veteran Bob MacDonald surprises his new wife, Betty, by quitting his city job and moving them to a dilapidated farm in the country. While Betty gamely struggles with managing the crumbling house and holding off nosy neighbors and a recalcitrant pig, Bob makes plans for crops and livestock. The couple's bliss is shaken by a visit from a beautiful farm owner, who seems to want more from Bob than just managing her property.

The Egg and I

1947

The Egg and I poster
7.0

World War II veteran Bob MacDonald surprises his new wife, Betty, by quitting his city job and moving them to a dilapidated farm in the country. While Betty gamely struggles with managing the crumbling house and holding off nosy neighbors and a recalcitrant pig, Bob makes plans for crops and livestock. The couple's bliss is shaken by a visit from a beautiful farm owner, who seems to want more from Bob than just managing her property.

The Egg and I

1947

The Egg and I poster
7.0

World War II veteran Bob MacDonald surprises his new wife, Betty, by quitting his city job and moving them to a dilapidated farm in the country. While Betty gamely struggles with managing the crumbling house and holding off nosy neighbors and a recalcitrant pig, Bob makes plans for crops and livestock. The couple's bliss is shaken by a visit from a beautiful farm owner, who seems to want more from Bob than just managing her property.

The Egg and I

1947

The Wonderful Country poster
6.1

Having fled to Mexico from the U.S. many years ago for killing his father's murderer, Martin Brady travels to Texas to broker an arms deal for his Mexican boss, strongman Governor Cipriano Castro. Brady breaks a leg and while recuperating in Texas the gun shipment is stolen. Complicating matters further the wife of local army major Colton has designs on him, and the local Texas Ranger captain makes him a generous offer to come back to the states and join his outfit. After killing a man in self-defense, Brady slips back over the border and confronts Castro who is not only unhappy that Brady has lost his gun shipment but is about to join forces with Colton to battle the local raiding Apache Indians.

The Wonderful Country

1959

Androcles and the Lion poster
5.9

George Bernard Shaw’s breezy, delightful dramatization of this classic fable—about a Christian slave who pulls a thorn from a lion’s paw and is spared from death in the Colosseum as a result of his kind act—was written as a meditation on modern Christian values. Pascal’s final Shaw production is played broadly, with comic character actor Alan Young as the titular naïf. He’s ably supported by Jean Simmons, Victor Mature, Robert Newton, and Elsa Lanchester.

Androcles and the Lion

1952

Take One False Step poster
5.4

Catherine Sykes disappears after a midnight drive with Professor Andrew Gentling . When she's presumed murdered, his friend Martha convinces him that he's a prime suspect and should investigate before he's arrested.

Take One False Step

1949

Take One False Step poster
5.4

Catherine Sykes disappears after a midnight drive with Professor Andrew Gentling . When she's presumed murdered, his friend Martha convinces him that he's a prime suspect and should investigate before he's arrested.

Take One False Step

1949

Take One False Step poster
5.4

Catherine Sykes disappears after a midnight drive with Professor Andrew Gentling . When she's presumed murdered, his friend Martha convinces him that he's a prime suspect and should investigate before he's arrested.

Take One False Step

1949

Midnight poster
4.9

Jury foreman Edward Weldon's questioning leads to the death sentence for Ethel Saxon. His daughter Stella claims to have killed her lover, the gangster Garboni, just as Saxon was to sit in the electric chair.

Midnight

1934

Midnight poster
4.9

Jury foreman Edward Weldon's questioning leads to the death sentence for Ethel Saxon. His daughter Stella claims to have killed her lover, the gangster Garboni, just as Saxon was to sit in the electric chair.

Midnight

1934

Midnight poster
4.9

Jury foreman Edward Weldon's questioning leads to the death sentence for Ethel Saxon. His daughter Stella claims to have killed her lover, the gangster Garboni, just as Saxon was to sit in the electric chair.

Midnight

1934

A Girl in Every Port poster
4.8

After two sailors are conned into buying a lame race-horse, they go ashore to sort out the problem, but when they realize that the horse is one of a pair of identical twins, their plan for revenge becomes more complicated.

A Girl in Every Port

1952

A Girl in Every Port poster
4.8

After two sailors are conned into buying a lame race-horse, they go ashore to sort out the problem, but when they realize that the horse is one of a pair of identical twins, their plan for revenge becomes more complicated.

A Girl in Every Port

1952

The Irish Whiskey Rebellion poster
5.5

An Irish radical turns East Coast bootlegger during Prohibition.

The Irish Whiskey Rebellion

1972

The Sailor Takes a Wife poster
8.0

While waiting in New York City to ship out to Europe, a sailor stops by a serviceman's canteen and meets a USO hostess. They immediately fall for each other and get married that night. However, when the sailor is notified that he has been reclassified as 4-F (unfit for service) by the Navy and then discharged, he and his new wife realize that, having to set up house before they expected to, they actually know very little about each other. Complications ensue.

The Sailor Takes a Wife

1945

The Invincible Six poster
3.2

Based on the story "The Heroes of Yucca," The Invincible Six features a ragtag group of jewel thieves who become the unofficial guardians of a small Iranian village. When bandits attack the village, looking for the body of their former leader and his treasure map, the Invincible Six are there to save the day, wooing the local females and frustrating the new leader of the bandits.

The Invincible Six

1970

Frankie and Johnnie poster
6.5

The story of a woman, Frankie, and the man who has done her wrong, Johnnie.

Frankie and Johnnie

1936

No artwork available
NR

A hired gunman inadvertently targets an undertaker as his next victim, who talks the killer into leaving the undertaker's business card whenever he does his next job.

My Mistake

1930