James Donlan

Acting

James Donlan

Born 1888-07-23 · San Francisco, California, USA

James Donlan was an American stage and screen actor who appeared in over 100 films between 1929 and 1939.

Acting credits

Hi, Nellie! poster
6.7

Managing Editor Brad Bradshaw refuses to run a story linking the disappearance of Frank Canfield with embezzlement of the bank. He considers Frank a straight shooter and he goes easy on the story. Every other paper goes with the story that Frank took the money and Brad is demoted, by the publisher, to the Heartthrob column - writing advice to the lovelorn. After feeling sorry for himself for two months, he takes the column seriously and makes it the talk of the town. But Brad still wants his old job back so he will have to find Canfield and the missing money.

Hi, Nellie!

1934

20,000 Years in Sing Sing poster
6.4

Brash hoodlum Tom Connors enters Sing Sing cocksure of himself and disrespectful toward authority, but his tough but compassionate warden changes him.

20,000 Years in Sing Sing

1932

Mystery of the Wax Museum poster
6.5

A wax sculptor opens a new museum years after he is severely injured during a fire that destroyed his original collection. The disappearance of both people and corpses coincides with this grand reopening and leads a reporter to start investigating.

Mystery of the Wax Museum

1933

The Whole Town's Talking poster
6.9

Ordinary man-in-the-street Arthur Ferguson Jones leads a very straightforward life. He's never late for work and nothing interesting ever happens to him. One day everything changes: he oversleeps and is fired as an example, he's then mistaken for evil criminal killer Mannion and is arrested. The resemblance is so striking that the police give him a special pass to avoid a similar mistake. The real Mannion sees the opportunity to steal the pass and move around freely and chaos results.

The Whole Town's Talking

1935

Dance, Fools, Dance poster
6.5

When misfortune hits hard on the Jordan family of Chicago's upper class, Bonnie Jordan, a dazzling and witty girl, finds a job as an aspiring reporter; however, her naive younger brother Rodney takes a twisted path and gets involved with the wrong people.

Dance, Fools, Dance

1931

College Humor poster
5.6

A college professor and the school's star football player are both rivals for the same beautiful coed.

College Humor

1933

Daybreak poster
4.3

An Austrian soldier must choose between a wealthy fiancee and a new girl who takes his fancy.

Daybreak

1931

Babes in Arms poster
6.4

Mickey Moran, son of two vaudeville veterans, decides to put up his own vaudeville show with his girlfriend Patsy Barton. But child actress Rosalie wants to make a comeback and replace Patsy both professionally and as Mickey's girl.

Babes in Arms

1939

Hot Tip poster
7.0

An amateur handicapper must help his future son-in-law recoup the money he lost while playing the ponies.

Hot Tip

1935

Design for Living poster
7.1

Independent Gilda is resigned fo a life of married tedium when Tom and George, having gotten past their jealousy, come to America and whisk Gilda away to live an exciting polyamorous life in Paris.

Design for Living

1933

The Front Page poster
6.5

Hildy Johnson is an investigative reporter looking for a bigger paycheck. When an accused murderer escapes from custody, Hildy sees an opportunity for the story of a lifetime. But when he finds the criminal, he learns that the man may not be guilty. With the help of his editor, Hildy attempts to hide the convict, uncover the conspiracy and write the scoop of his career.

The Front Page

1931

Wise Girls poster
5.4

Early MGM talkie about a retired businessman, his headstrong daughter, and the comical complications that result when she marries in haste.

Wise Girls

1929

Five Star Final poster
6.6

Searching for headlines at any cost, an unscrupulous newspaper owner forces his editor to print a serial based on a past murder, tormenting a woman involved.

Five Star Final

1931

A Free Soul poster
6.2

An alcoholic lawyer who successfully defended a notorious gambler on a murder charge objects when his free-spirited daughter becomes romantically involved with him.

A Free Soul

1931

The Mayor of Hell poster
7.0

Members of a teenage gang are sent to the State Reformatory, presided over by the callous Thompson. Soon Patsy Gargan, a former gangster appointed Deputy Commissioner, arrives and takes over the administration to run the place on radical principles. Thompson needs a quick way to discredit him.

The Mayor of Hell

1933

The Painted Desert poster
5.2

Western pardners Jeff and Cash find a baby boy in an otherwise deserted emigrants' camp, and clash over which is to be "father." They are still bitterly feuding years later when they own adjacent ranches. Bill, the foundling whom Cash has raised to young manhood, wants to end the feud and extends an olive branch toward Jeff, who now has a lovely daughter. But during a mining venture, the bitterness escalates. Is Bill to be set against his own adoptive father?

The Painted Desert

1931

The Ex-Mrs. Bradford poster
6.2

A doctor is driven into an investigation of sinister goings-on at a horse race track by his mystery writer ex-wife.

The Ex-Mrs. Bradford

1936

Men of Chance poster
6.0

A gambler falls for a fake countess.

Men of Chance

1931

We're Only Human poster
6.5

A cop, who plays by his own rules, brings down a notorious gangster.

We're Only Human

1935

The Working Man poster
6.5

A successful shoe manufacturer named John Reeves goes on vacation and meets the grown children of his recently deceased and much-respected competitor; they're on the verge of losing the family legacy through their careless behavior. Reeves takes it upon himself to save his rival's company by teaching the heirs a lesson in business.

The Working Man

1933

The Penguin Pool Murder poster
5.9

New York schoolmarm Hildegarde Withers assists a detective when a body of unscrupulous stockbroker Gerald Parker suddenly appears in the penguin tank at the aquarium.

The Penguin Pool Murder

1932

Huddle poster
7.0

Tony, the son of Italian immigrants, works in a smoky steel mill in Gary, Indiana. He wins a company scholarship which will enable him to attend Yale college. Over the four years of his college career he learns about football, love, and class prejudice.

Huddle

1932

Back Street poster
6.4

A woman's love for and devotion to a married man results in her being relegated to the "back streets" of his life.

Back Street

1932

Thirteen Women poster
6.4

Thirteen women who were schoolmates ask a swami to cast their horoscopes. The news they receive is not good for any of them.

Thirteen Women

1932