
Directing
Byron Haskin
Born 1899-04-22 · Portland, Oregon, USA
Byron Conrad Haskin was an American film and television director. He was born in Portland, Oregon. He is remembered today for directing 1953's The War of the Worlds, one of many films where he teamed with producer George Pal. In his early career, he was a special effects artist, with a number of credits on Warner Bros. films, an asset when directing the killer ants film The Naked Jungle and the science fiction film Robinson Crusoe on Mars. Haskin also worked as a cinematographer and producer. His career in television included directing six episodes of the original The Outer Limits, including two highly regarded episodes, "The Architects of Fear" and "Demon with a Glass Hand". He also co-produced the original Star Trek pilot episode, "The Cage". Haskin appeared as an interviewee on-screen in the 1980 documentary Hollywood series by Kevin Brownlow. Haskin died in Montecito, California six days before his 85th birthday.
Acting credits
Behind the camera
6.8The residents of a small town are excited when a flaming meteor lands in the hills, until they discover it is the first of many transport devices from Mars bringing an army of invaders invincible to any man-made weapon, even the atomic bomb.
The War of the Worlds
1953
6.6Enchanted by the idea of locating treasure buried by Captain Flint, Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey and Jim Hawkins charter a sailing voyage to a Caribbean island. Unfortunately, a large number of Flint's old pirate crew are aboard the ship, including Long John Silver.
Treasure Island
1950
6.4Men steal for it. Nations go to war for it. The it is oil - and it grows on trees. Coconut oil is the precious lifeblood of 1870s South Seas traders. And lots of real blood will be spilled to get it! Screen royalty Burt Lancaster is His Majesty O'Keefe in this last of three adventures that (along with The Flame and the Arrow and The Crimson Pirate) blew a revitalizing wind into the sails of the swashbuckler genre. Action, cunning and derring-do are watchwords of the title seafarer as he befriends, defends and ultimately rules the islanders of exotic Yap. Lensed on gorgeus Fiji locations, grandly scored by Robert Farnon and rousingly directed by Byron Haskin, His Majesty O'Keefe delivers heroics of regal proportions.
His Majesty O'Keefe
1954
6.6The Leiningen South American cocoa plantation is threatened by a 2-mile-wide, 20-mile-long column of army ants.
The Naked Jungle
1954
6.3One by one members of a special project team are being killed by telekinesis - the ability to move things with the power of the mind alone. The race is on to determine which of the remaining team members is the murderer and to stop them.
The Power
1968
6.6Bootleggers on the lam Frankie and Noll split up to evade capture by the police. Frankie is caught and jailed, but Noll manages to escape and open a posh New York City nightclub. 14 years later, Frankie is released from the clink and visits Noll with the intention of collecting his half of the nightclub's profits. But Noll, who has no intention of being so equitable, uses his ex-girlfriend Kay to divert Frankie from his intended goal.
I Walk Alone
1947
6.3Stranded on Mars with only a monkey as a companion, an astronaut must figure out how to find oxygen, water, and food and companionship on the lifeless planet.
Robinson Crusoe on Mars
1964
5.6A team of American astronauts leave their space station on the first mission to Mars, but the captain's religious beliefs may get in the way.
Conquest of Space
1955
6.8Through a fluke circumstance, a ruthless woman stumbles across a suitcase filled with $60,000, and is determined to hold onto it even if it means murder.
Too Late for Tears
1949
4.9After completing his voyages Sindbad the Sailor and his hearty crew have come home to find a palace coup d'etat has occurred and his home city is being run by a brutal dictator played by Pedro Armendariz. He's got designs on the beautiful young princess, Heidi Bruhl both lustful and political.
Captain Sindbad
1963
5.5Escaped convicts are selling weapons to a warlike native tribe.
Tarzan's Peril
1951
6.6Having masterminded the hold up of his company office, a mining engineer is barred from the industry. He then sets up shop as an assayer, scheming to acquire a rich silver mine lease from its operators.
Silver City
1951
5.9In this sequel to Treasure Island, Long John hopes to rescue his friend Jim from a rival pirate and return for more treasure.
Long John Silver
1954
6.7After arriving in Texas to escape a scandal back east, lawyer Sam Houston just wants to hang out his shingle, keep a low profile, and stay out of any political intrigue. However, when President Jackson personally orders him to lead the fight for Texan independence, he overcomes his reluctance to become involved and leads his compatriots to a string of victories over the Mexican army.
The First Texan
1956
5.5An American Army tank unit is trapped in a small French town in the Ardennes unaware that a spy amongst them is providing the German counterattack with vital battle information.
Armored Command
1961
5.6Jim Vesser and his team of railroading men try to build a rail line through a mountain pass, while a group of less scrupulous construction workers sabotages the entire operation in the hopes that they can get their tracks laid first and get the money from the railroad.
Denver and Rio Grande
1952
5.3Set just after the American civil war, businessman and inventor Victor Barbicane invents a new source of power called Power X. He plans to use it to power rockets, and to show its potential he plans to send a projectile to the moon. Joining him for the trip are his assistant Ben Sharpe, Barbicane's arch-rival Stuyvesant Nicholl, and Nicholl's daughter Virginia. Nicholl believes that Power X goes against the will of God and sabotages the projectile so that they cannot return to earth, setting up a suspenseful finale as they battle to repair the projectile.
From the Earth to the Moon
1958
6.0John Vickers has spent eight years hunting for the three men who murdered the woman he loved. He finds one, Woodson, and kills him in a gunfight, but not before learning that the other two men have joined the U.S. Cavalry.
Warpath
1951
5.6American fashion model Anne Traymore, swimming off the isle of Majorca, loses a bracelet, which the handsome Manuel del Rio Montoya returns to her. She believes he owns a beautiful yacht called The Swan, but he merely works on it for the wealthy Rene LeClerc.
September Storm
1960
5.6A doctor hunts a vicious, man-eating tiger that terrorizes a native jungle village. In time the doctor experiences a personal change when he accepts their native customs and beliefs.
Man-Eater of Kumaon
1948
NROn a rubber plantation in Sumatra, a woman of mixed Dutch and Indonesian parentage must choose between her people and the doctor she loves.
Affair in Sumatra
1956
5.9A crusading politician falls prey to the temptations of power.
The Boss
1956
10.0Johnny Ginsberg (George Jessel) is a tailor's assistant whose ambition is to become a successful conjurer/magician. He joins a carnival and fails but not before apprehending a gang of jewel thieves and gaining the love of Mary (Audrey Ferris), the girl he adores.
Ginsberg the Great
1927
6.0Director Byron Haskin's 1960 airplane-in jeopardy drama stars Guy Madison, Virginia Mayo, George Raft, Ilona Massey, Margaret Lindsay, George Macready, Brett Halsey, Anna Lee and Mary Anderson.
Jet Over The Atlantic
1959
