Directing

Sam Nelson

Born — Died

1896-05-11 — 1963-05-01

Place of birth

Whttier, California, USA

Known for

Directing

Credits

38 titles

Sam Nelson was a director and assistant director who worked from the end of the silent era right up through the early 1960s. While most of his film work was in the assistant director role, he did direct over 20 films during the 1930s and 1940s, all of which were westerns. As an assistant director he worked on such notable films as Pennies from Heaven, And Then There Were None, All the King's Men, the original 3:10 to Yuma, Some Like It Hot, A Raisin in the Sun, and Spartacus. In addition he appeared in over a dozen films in small roles. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Known for

Film credits

1920s · 8 titles

Behind the camera

The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok poster
9.0

A group of "Phantom Raiders" interfere with a cattle drive from Texas to Abilene; fortunately, U.S. Marshal Wild Bill Hickok is appointed to ensure the success of the mission.

The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok

1938

Outlaws of the Prairie poster
4.0

Charles Starrett plays two-fisted frontiersman Dart Collins in this slick Columbia "B" western. Collins wants to find out who's behind a series of gold-shipment robberies. So does heroine Judy Garfield (Iris Meredith), whose stage transport business faces foreclosure if the holdups continue. It comes as no surprise that the crimes are being orchestrated by the very people who want to force Judy out of business.

Outlaws of the Prairie

1937

Mandrake the Magician poster
5.9

Mandrake and his team attempt to prevent "The Wasp" from stealing and using a new Radium invention.

Mandrake the Magician

1939

Overland with Kit Carson poster
5.2

When Pegleg and his Black Raiders threaten the westward expansion of the United States, the government sends Kit Carson and David Brent to straighten things out.

Overland with Kit Carson

1939

The Man from Sundown poster
10.0

The hero, Texas Ranger Larry Whalen, is on the trail of a mysterious outlaw leader.

The Man from Sundown

1939

The Menace poster
5.6

A man framed for murder escapes from prison in order to prove his innocence.

The Menace

1932

Colorado Trail poster
8.0

In this western a traveling gun ends up in a small town and rescues an important rancher. Out of gratitude the rancher hires him to protect his land and cattle from his violent rival. It is revealed that the gunman is the son of the ruthless rival; he therefore, loses his job and finds himself entangled in the midst of a range war. He must eventually face his father when the bad guy takes over the only trail to the market.

Colorado Trail

1938

Law of the Plains poster
8.0

Rancher William Norton refuses to sell his cattle for half price, so saloon owner and gang leader Jim Fletcher, contrary to the orders from his secret boss Willard McGowan, the town banker, has his men rob and beat up Norton. Unknown to anyone, Marion, McGowan's adopted daughter is really the daughter of Norton, who disappeared as a young baby when she and her mother were passengers on a stagecoach held up by McGowan. Chuck Saunders, Norton's foreman, goes after the gang for robbing his boss and eventually uncovers the truth regarding Marion's heritage.

Law of the Plains

1938

The Stranger from Texas poster
8.0

Things get under way when US marshal Tom (Starrett) finds himself in the midst of a range war. The villains are a band of rustlers who play both sides of the confrontation against one another, the better to move in and claim all the livestock.

The Stranger from Texas

1939

Outlaws of the Panhandle poster
7.5

Outlaws of the Pandhandle was the last of Charles Starrett's "formula" westerns for Columbia: hereafter, Starrett would be seen only in the guise of frontier medico Steven Monroe or masked do-gooder The Durango Kid. For the moment, however, the star is cast as Jim Endicott, bound and determined to put an end to the underhanded activities of gin-mill operator Faro Jack Vaughn (Norman Willis). The villain's strategy is to get the local cowpunchers tanked up on rotgut that they'll prove to be easy pickings for a gang of rustlers-and will be unable to complete work on a railroad spur which will bypass the outlaws' hideaway.

Outlaws of the Panhandle

1941

West of Cheyenne poster
7.0

Brad Buckner has just bought a ranch. Murdock keeps his rustled cattle on the ranch and sends his men to kill Buckner just as they did the previous owners. But Buckner and his men foil their attempts and decide to search the ranch. To throw Buckner off he kidnaps Buckner's girlfriend and the Sheriff and makes plans to drive the cattle across the border.

West of Cheyenne

1938

Texas Stampede poster
7.0

Sheep raisers, resentful of old injuries from the cattlemen, bar the way to water when dry ranges force the cattle ranchers to drive their herds into the lowlands.

Texas Stampede

1939

Pioneers of the Frontier poster
9.0

Wild Bill Saunders discovers that his uncle Mort has been murdered by an unscrupulous ranch foreman, Matt Brawley. But before he can right Brawley's wrongs, Wild Bill is arrested for a murder he didn't commit. Sidekick Cannonball Sims and disgruntled girl rancher Joan Darcy plot to break Wild Bill out of jail but Brawley is wise to their plan.

Pioneers of the Frontier

1940

Western Caravans poster
7.0

A caravan of settlers is arriving and the ranchers intend to keep them out. It looks like a range war but Sheriff Jim gets the ranchers to accept the settlers. Kohler re-ignites the feud by making settler Winters appear to be a rustler and then by killing Winter's son. Once more the two sides appear headed for a war and Jim is caught in the middle.

Western Caravans

1939

Prairie Schooners poster
8.0

Wild Bill Hickok (Bill Elliott) leads a wagon train of settlers from Kansas to Colorado. Along the way, they cross a group of Indians who don't want any more settlers on their land.

Prairie Schooners

1940

North of the Yukon poster
7.0

In this North western, a brave Canadian Mountie pursuing a gang of fur thieves finds himself drummed out of the RCMP and forced to run a gauntlet of Mountie whips. When the gang learns of this, they convince him to join them.

North of the Yukon

1939

West of the Santa Fe poster
7.0

US marshal Lawlor (Starrett) takes on a gang of cattle rustlers headed by Taylor (Dick Curtis). His reasons are partly personal: Conway (Edward LeSaint), the cattle-baron father of Lawlor's sweetheart Madge (Meredith), has been murdered by Taylor's minions.

West of the Santa Fe

1938

Cattle Raiders poster
5.3

Tom Reynolds returns to find he is wanted for murder, his gun having been found at the scene. Tom suspects Munro and stages a fight to get a bullet from Monro's gun which he then sees matches the murder bullet. He gets his brother Steve to confess that he Monro forced him to rob the bank with his gun. But at Tom's trial, the bullets are ignored and when Steve fails to appear, Tom is found guilty.

Cattle Raiders

1938

South of Arizona poster
7.0

Kenyon has the newly arriving Ranger shot and his man Martin assume the Ranger's identity. Clay finds the Ranger before he dies and learns the truth. But when Clay confronts Martin, Martin convinces the townspeople he is a real Ranger and Clay is the murderer. Clay escapes and must now find a way to expose Martin as a fake.

South of Arizona

1938

The Avenging Rider poster
10.0

Wrongfully arrested, Tim must escape and find the men who murdered his partner and stole the gold.

The Avenging Rider

1943

Konga, the Wild Stallion poster
10.0

A long-standing feud between a rancher and a neighboring wheat farmer only intensifies after the rancher's wild stallion causes damage to the farmer's property. Western drama.

Konga, the Wild Stallion

1939

Sagebrush Law poster
6.7

Tom Weston arriving in town just as the Doctor announces his father's death a suicide, sees the gun is in the wrong hand. When the Bank Examiner announces the bank has no money and Tom's identity becomes known, the townsmen attempt to hang him. Escaping he finds the phony examiner and gets a a confession. Then he plans a trap for the murderer.

Sagebrush Law

1943

The Last Man poster
9.0

The villainous Marsden plans to sink a ship owned by Mr. Wingate to collect the insurance money, while also hoping to win over Wingate's daughter, Marian. Suez Canal Company detective Bannister tracks the criminals through the dangerous streets of Port Said and eventually lures the culprit out by arranging a shipment of $1,000,000 in gold. Marsden accompanies Marian and Wingate on the voyage to seize the gold and the girl. Bannister sneaks aboard at the last minute to protect them.

The Last Man

1932

Parents on Trial poster
8.0

According to Hollywood, the parents were generally at fault when good kids went bad. This theory is elucidated in Columbia's Parents on Trial, wherein strict disciplinarian James Westley (Henry Kolker) fails to understand or appreciate the real needs and feelings of his teenaged daughter Susan (Jean Parker).

Parents on Trial

1939

Rio Grande poster
4.7

No relation to the 1950 John Ford classic of the same name, Rio Grande is yet another rubber-stamp Charles Starrett western from the Columbia assembly line.

Rio Grande

1938

Mandrake the Magician poster
5.0

Feature version of the American serial film, produced for export only, never exhibited in the USA, and believed to be a lost film.

Mandrake the Magician

1940

The Thundering West poster
8.0

Outlaws Dale and Tucson quit Wolf's gang. Just as the two are about to rob the stage, Wolf and his gang beat them to it. Dale breaks it up saving the money and this gets him appointed Sheriff. But Wolf shows up and threatening to expose Dale, forces him to let his gang rob the express office.

The Thundering West

1939

Bullets for Rustlers poster
7.0

Steve Beaumont, an operative for the Cattleman's Protective Association, is assigned the difficult task of breaking up a murderous gang of rustlers led by Ed Brock and Strang. He takes Sheriff Webb, Judge Baxter, and rancher Ann Houston into his confidence, and works his way into the rustler stronghold and confidence by "turning rustler" himself.

Bullets for Rustlers

1940