William K. Howard

Directing

William K. Howard

Born — Died

1899-06-16 — 1954-02-21

Place of birth

St. Marys, Ohio, USA

Known for

Directing

Credits

41 titles

William K. Howard (June 16, 1899 in St. Marys, Ohio - February 21, 1954 in Los Angeles, California) was a film director, writer and producer. Howard began his work in Hollywood as an assistant director on the 1920 release The Adorable Savage. The following year, he received his first directing credits, for Get Your Man, Play Square and What Love Will Do. He wrote The One-Man Trail that same year. Some of his better known works as a director are The Thundering Herd, Surrender, Transatlantic, Sherlock Holmes, This Side of Heaven, Fire Over England, When the Lights Go on Again and A Guy Could Change. His film The Power and the Glory, directed by Howard from a screenplay by Preston Sturges, w…

Known for

Evelyn Prentice poster
6.5

A criminal lawyer's wife is blackmailed when she is falsely accused of infidelity.

Evelyn Prentice

1934

Money and the Woman poster
4.4

An embezzler's wife begs his boss for forgiveness, only to fall in love with him.

Money and the Woman

1940

Captain Fly-by-Night poster
6.8

First one stranger, then another, arrive at the presidio, each with a government pass and each claiming to have been robbed by the notorious Captain Fly-by-Night and his highwaymen. The soldiers and Señorita Anita believe the first to be Fly-by-Night and the second to be Señor Rocha, Anita's fiancée and emissary of the governor. But the first stranger, to whom Anita is drawn, proves to be on a government mission and exposes the second stranger as Captain Fly-by-Night.

Captain Fly-by-Night

1922

The Princess Comes Across poster
6.2

A Swedish princess boards an ocean liner in Europe en route to an acting career in America and finds herself getting inconveniently attached to a bandleader returning home. To complicate matters, a blackmailer on board apparently knows she is not who she claims to be - and he has his sights set on other passengers with secrets of their own. In the meantime an escaped killer has stowed away under someone else's identity, and is killing again to cover his tracks; five international police detectives on board are heading the investigation to find him. When evidence points to the princess and bandleader, they must find the killer themselves - before he finds them.

The Princess Comes Across

1936

This Side of Heaven poster
7.5

A family man becomes innocently involved in an embezzlement.

This Side of Heaven

1934

Vanessa: Her Love Story poster
6.2

The Victorian wife of a mad baron waits years for a British soldier sent to Egypt.

Vanessa: Her Love Story

1935

Film credits

Behind the camera

Evelyn Prentice poster
6.5

A criminal lawyer's wife is blackmailed when she is falsely accused of infidelity.

Evelyn Prentice

1934

Money and the Woman poster
4.4

An embezzler's wife begs his boss for forgiveness, only to fall in love with him.

Money and the Woman

1940

Captain Fly-by-Night poster
6.8

First one stranger, then another, arrive at the presidio, each with a government pass and each claiming to have been robbed by the notorious Captain Fly-by-Night and his highwaymen. The soldiers and Señorita Anita believe the first to be Fly-by-Night and the second to be Señor Rocha, Anita's fiancée and emissary of the governor. But the first stranger, to whom Anita is drawn, proves to be on a government mission and exposes the second stranger as Captain Fly-by-Night.

Captain Fly-by-Night

1922

The Princess Comes Across poster
6.2

A Swedish princess boards an ocean liner in Europe en route to an acting career in America and finds herself getting inconveniently attached to a bandleader returning home. To complicate matters, a blackmailer on board apparently knows she is not who she claims to be - and he has his sights set on other passengers with secrets of their own. In the meantime an escaped killer has stowed away under someone else's identity, and is killing again to cover his tracks; five international police detectives on board are heading the investigation to find him. When evidence points to the princess and bandleader, they must find the killer themselves - before he finds them.

The Princess Comes Across

1936

This Side of Heaven poster
7.5

A family man becomes innocently involved in an embezzlement.

This Side of Heaven

1934

Vanessa: Her Love Story poster
6.2

The Victorian wife of a mad baron waits years for a British soldier sent to Egypt.

Vanessa: Her Love Story

1935

White Gold poster
6.5

A sheep farmer brings his new wife to his father's ranch and the old man takes an instant dislike to her.

White Gold

1927

Red Dice poster
9.0

This unusual melodrama with comic touches was based on Octavus Roy Cohen's novel The Iron Chance. Alan Beckwith (Rod La Rocque) is a war hero who is very much down on his luck. He makes a deal with big-time bootlegger Andrew North (Gustave von Seyffertitz) -- if North will give him a large sum of money, Beckwith will kill himself at the end of a year's time. He is to marry a girl of North's choosing and take out an insurance policy naming her as beneficiary; North will collect from the widow. The plot thickens when Beckwith and Beverly (Marguerite De La Motte), the girl North has him marry, actually fall in love. Beverly's brother, Johnny (Ray Hallor), teams up with Beckwith to steal one of North's cargos of rum. North and his men catch them and things look bad until revenue officers -- called on by Beverly -- show up. The North gang is rounded up and Beckwith looks forward to a long life with his wife.

Red Dice

1926

The Trial of Vivienne Ware poster
9.0

Vivienne Ware is defended by her ex-beau when she's accused of killing her faithless fiance.

The Trial of Vivienne Ware

1932

Back Door to Heaven poster
4.8

The life of a young kid, who starts stealing small things to fit in with the "cool crowd".

Back Door to Heaven

1939

Rendezvous poster
4.9

A decoding expert tangles with enemy spies.

Rendezvous

1935

Rendezvous poster
4.9

A decoding expert tangles with enemy spies.

Rendezvous

1935

The Thundering Herd poster
9.0

Story of a trader who uncovers a scheme to blame the Indians for a Buffalo massacre.

The Thundering Herd

1925

The Squeaker poster
6.3

London's jewel thieves are under the thumb of a mysterious fence, who ruthlessly exposes any thief who crosses him. Desperate, Scotland Yard re-hires ex-Inspector Barrabal who, as a known drunkard, is ideally suited to go undercover with a faked criminal record (which may spoil his chances with lovely Carol Stedman).

The Squeaker

1937

The Valiant poster
6.1

A man condemned to execution tries to convince two women that he is not their son and brother, and that they must get on with their lives.

The Valiant

1929

The Valiant poster
6.1

A man condemned to execution tries to convince two women that he is not their son and brother, and that they must get on with their lives.

The Valiant

1929

The Crusader poster
10.0

Veteran action hero William Russell starred opposite his offscreen wife Helen Ferguson in this typical Fox oater about a miner who finds himself up against a master swindler (George Webb).

The Crusader

1922

Don't Bet on Women poster
4.9

At a big party, Roger Fallon, now a woman-hater, right to the core - this all due to a failed marriage and disastrous love affairs - talks to Herbert Drake. Herbert who is happily married, bets Fallon that the next woman who walks into the room, whoever she is, won't let Fallon kiss her for 48 hours. Fallon takes the bet. Suddenly, a very beautiful and sexy woman walks in. It's Herbert's wife, Jeanne Drake...

Don't Bet on Women

1931

The Power and the Glory poster
5.9

A man's life is retold just after his funeral. Beginning as a track walker, Tom Garner rose through all sorts of railroad jobs to head the company. In the meantime he lost touch with his family. When he saw what was happening it was already too late.

The Power and the Glory

1933

Bullets for O'Hara poster
5.0

A detective courts a gangster's ex-wife to lure him into a trap.

Bullets for O'Hara

1941

When the Lights Go On Again poster
6.0

The hometown life of a young soldier suffering from shellshock amnesia is revealed in flashback.

When the Lights Go On Again

1944

Gigolo poster
7.0

The heir to a family business travels to Paris to try to stop his youth-obsessed mother from squandering the family fortune with her new husband, who's married her for her money. After he returns from service in World War I, he finds his mother, now broke and abandoned by her gigolo husband....

Gigolo

1926

Christina poster
7.0

This part-talkie (17 minutes of dialogue in its 83-minute running time) tells the tale of Christina, the daughter of Dutch toymaker Niklaas. Much to her dad's dismay, Christina falls in love with sideshow huckster Jan. Likewise disapproving of the romance is Jan's jealous employer Mme. Bosman, who frames the young man on an embezzlement charge.

Christina

1929

The Cat and the Fiddle poster
7.1

A romance between a struggling composer and an American singer.

The Cat and the Fiddle

1934

Fire Over England poster
6.2

In 1588, relations between Spain and England are at the breaking point. With the support of Queen Elizabeth I, British sea raiders such as Sir Francis Drake regularly capture Spanish merchantmen, bringing gold from the New World.

Fire Over England

1937

The One-Man Trail poster
7.0

A young rancher searchs for the villain who murdered his father and ran off with his sister.

The One-Man Trail

1921

Johnny Come Lately poster
7.0

Cagney is a human dynamo as a drifter who helps save ailing Grace George from losing her newspaper. The pace is fast, and audiences of all ages will be pleased. The supporting cast, have all the small-town characterizations down pat -- with Margaret Hamilton a standout. Cagney himself, had genuine affection for this film, and listed it among his top five movie-making experiences at a retrospective the year before he died. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive, in partnership with the UCLA Film & Television Archive, in 2013.

Johnny Come Lately

1943

A Guy Could Change poster
7.0

A playboy is reformed by his daughter and fiancee.

A Guy Could Change

1946

Sin Town poster
9.0

Two World War I veterans are wrongly accused of killing a rancher and arrested for murder. With the help of the rancher's daughter, they escape and set out to capture the real culprit.

Sin Town

1929

Sin Town poster
9.0

Two World War I veterans are wrongly accused of killing a rancher and arrested for murder. With the help of the rancher's daughter, they escape and set out to capture the real culprit.

Sin Town

1929

Code of the West poster
7.0

Cal Thurman, a timid fellow, thinking that the woman he is to meet at the train station is an old maid, avoids her when he finds that she is a pretty young woman who flirts with the cowboys. He finally uses rough methods to win her love and, after through flames in a forest fire, succeeds in winning her. A lost film.

Code of the West

1925

The Light of Western Stars poster
10.0

Jack Holt, Billie Dove, and Noah Beery Sr., who starred together in Wanderers of the Wasteland, appear together again. Madeline Hammond, the sister of ranchman Al Hammond, arrives from the East. Gene Stewart, a rough and rowdy cowboy, convinces Madeline to marry him while he is on a drunken spree. Madeline sets out to reform him, and he sets out to rid their little section of the West of a band of outlaws.

The Light of Western Stars

1925

Surrender poster
5.5

Story of French prisoner in Germany who falls in love with a German general's daughter. From the novel "Axelle" by Pierre Benoit.

Surrender

1931

Scotland Yard poster
7.0

A criminal fleeing a bank robbery has a chance encounter with a banker and his wife and takes a locket with both their pictures in it as a remembrance of the wife's stunning beauty. After enlisting for WWI to escape prosecution, his face is disfigured in combat, and plastic surgeons mistakenly give him the banker's face. As the banker is conveniently MIA, it gives the criminal the opportunity to plan a bank heist from the inside and also to get closer to the banker's wife.

Scotland Yard

1930

Deserted at the Altar poster
7.0

Anna Moore, a poor orphaned country girl, and her little brother, Tommy, live with hypocritical Squire Simpson, who conspires with his son to acquire the inheritance due the girl.

Deserted at the Altar

1922

Play Square poster
8.0

Johnny Carroll joins a gang of thieves and is arrested by Detective McQuade for picking Judge Kerrigan's pocket. However, the judge remembers Johnny from his hometown of Meadville, and persuades him to reform. The young man returns home, takes a job in a grocery store, and renews his romance with Betty Bedford. Later, Johnny's former gang arrive in town and again try to recruit him. They induce him to crack the safe in Mr. Bedford's store, threatening to reveal his criminal past if he refuses. Upon opening the safe, Johnny refuses to be a party to the crime and fights the gang. Betty hears the commotion and returns with help. After the thieves are captured, Johnny and Betty are married.

Play Square

1921

Klondike Fury poster
5.1

In this Alaskan adventure, a surgeon becomes a pilot after he messes up an operation. Unfortunately, he crashes during a storm and finds himself cared for by a lovely woman. He gets a chance to reclaim his self-esteem when her son suddenly needs the same operation the surgeon botched.

Klondike Fury

1942

Danger Ahead poster
7.0

Produced by low-budget entrepreneur Phil Goldstone, this silent action melodrama starred Richard Talmadge, a German-born former stunt double for Douglas Fairbanks.Talmadge played Bruce Randall, a wealthy young man supposedly killed during a robbery in his home. But Bruce has survived and is instead wandering about in a state of amnesia.

Danger Ahead

1923

The Border Legion poster
7.0

Cowhand Jim Cleve is wrongly accused of murder and rescued by Jack Kells, leader of a band of Idaho outlaws known as the Border Legion. But when the Legion takes Joan Randall prisoner and leaves Cleve to guard her, he realizes that he cannot remain part of an outlaw band and decides to rescue Joan.

The Border Legion

1924

Transatlantic poster
5.8

As a luxurious ocean liner makes its way across the Atlantic Ocean, the audience is made privy to the travails of several of its passengers. Edmund Lowe heads the cast as Monty Greer, a suave gambler who falls in love with Judy, the daughter of immigrant lens grinder Rudolph Kramer. In trying to recover some valuable securities stolen from banker Henry Graham, Greer finds himself in the middle of a fierce gun battle in the ship's engine room. Meanwhile, Graham, who has been cheating on his wife Kay with sexy dancer Sigrid Carline, is murdered by person or persons unknown.

Transatlantic

1931