Directing

John Rawlins

Born 1902-06-09 · Long Beach, California, USA

Director John Rawlins started in films in 1918 as an actor, stunt man, gag writer and assistant director. For a while he sidelined as a comedy writer, then became an editor and later directed second features for First National in Britain from the early 1930s. Returning to the US, he joined Universal (1938-46), where he turned out "B" pictures and serials, including installments of the "Dick Tracy" and "Sherlock Holmes" series. He had similar assignments at RKO (1947-48) and United Artists (1951-53), before branching out into television dramas.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Dick Tracy's Dilemma poster
5.6

Dick Tracy investigates the theft of a fortune of fur coats, a possible insurance swindle and several murders, all linked to a huge thug who wears a hook in place of his right hand.

Dick Tracy's Dilemma

1947

Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome poster
5.5

A gang of criminals, which includes a piano player and an imposing former convict known as 'Gruesome', has found out about a scientist's secret formula for a gas that temporarily paralyzes anyone who breathes it. When Gruesome accidentally inhales some of the gas and passes out, the police think he is dead and take him to the morgue, where he later revives and escapes. This puzzling incident attracts the interest of Dick Tracy, and when the criminals later use the gas to rob a bank, Tracy realizes that he must devote his entire attention to stopping them.

Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome

1947

The Green Hornet Strikes Again! poster
6.8

Second serial featuring The Green Hornet and Kato.

The Green Hornet Strikes Again!

1940

Arabian Nights poster
6.0

Two half brothers battle each other for the power of the throne and the love of sensual, gorgeous dancing girl Scheherazade.

Arabian Nights

1942

Mississippi Gambler poster
6.5

A journalist finds out, that a plantation owner he meets is a gangster the police is looking for, who has changed his face with plastic surgery.

Mississippi Gambler

1942

No artwork available
7.0

A British comedy film directed by John Rawlins

High Society

1932

Lost Lagoon poster
6.2

Saddled with a loveless marriage and three ungrateful children, Charlie Walker (Jeffrey Lynn) dreams of escape. When he falls overboard on a boating trip and is presumed dead, his fantasy comes true. He washes up on a Caribbean island and meets a lovely local (Leila Barry). He gets a fresh start at life, opening a resort on his island home. But guilt and a few insurance agents may cut Charlie's dream short.

Lost Lagoon

1957

Lost Lagoon poster
6.2

Saddled with a loveless marriage and three ungrateful children, Charlie Walker (Jeffrey Lynn) dreams of escape. When he falls overboard on a boating trip and is presumed dead, his fantasy comes true. He washes up on a Caribbean island and meets a lovely local (Leila Barry). He gets a fresh start at life, opening a resort on his island home. But guilt and a few insurance agents may cut Charlie's dream short.

Lost Lagoon

1957

Overland Mail poster
10.0

Two investigators for a stagecoach company are assigned to find out why the company's stages keep being ambushed. They discover that the culprits are white men disguised as Indians, and they set out to discover who is behind the plot.

Overland Mail

1942

Ladies Courageous poster
5.3

Loretta Young stars in this drama about female pilots during WWII.

Ladies Courageous

1944

The Arizona Ranger poster
6.7

A disgraced veteran wanders the West alone until he decides to help a battered woman.

The Arizona Ranger

1948

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror poster
6.5

England, at the start of World War Two. Mysterious wireless broadcasts, apparently from Nazi Germany are heard over the BBC. They warn of acts of terror in England, just before they take place. Baffled, the Defense Committee call in Sherlock Holmes.

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror

1942

We've Never Been Licked poster
6.5

Young Brad Craig enters the military school with a chip on his shoulder which upperclassmen quickly knock off. Once adjusted, Craig falls in love with a professor's beautiful daughter, only to find she is in love with his roommate.

We've Never Been Licked

1943

Sea Raiders poster
6.5

A bunch of waterfront youths pursue the Sea Raiders, a gang of saboteurs.

Sea Raiders

1941

Sudan poster
6.4

A desert pickpocket, his sidekick, and an escaped slave help an incognito queen in danger.

Sudan

1945

Massacre River poster
6.6

Two Cavalry Officers clash over the Colonel's Daughter at a remote outpost with Indian troubles.

Massacre River

1949

The Leather Pushers poster
8.0

A shifty boxing promoter places an amateur in fixed fights, then hands his contract over to an suspicious female investigative reporter as a raffle prize. He later regrets his actions, however, when the boxer becomes an honest champion.

The Leather Pushers

1940

Half Way to Shanghai poster
6.0

A murder occurs on a train bound for Shanghai during World War II.

Half Way to Shanghai

1942

Michael O'Halloran poster
8.0

A young crippled girl and her love for a teenage newsboy despite her over-protective and alcoholic mother's objections.

Michael O'Halloran

1948

Fort Defiance poster
6.5

It's just after the Civil War and Ben Shelby arrives looking for Johnny Tallon whom he plans to kill. Shelby was the only survivor of a battle due to the cowardice of Tallon. Thinking Tallon dead, another man who lost a brother at the same battle arrives to kill Tallon's blind brother. Tallon arrives to find Shelby and his brother fleeing. Then they are attacked by Indians and Shelby and Tallon must now fight together postponing the inevitable showdown.

Fort Defiance

1951

Young Fugitives poster
3.7

A young man befriends the last surviving Civil War veteran, intending to rob him of $50,000.

Young Fugitives

1938

The Great Impersonation poster
6.4

An Englishman kills a German look-alike and poses as a Nazi spy in London.

The Great Impersonation

1942

The Boy From Indiana poster
9.0

Happy-go-lucky aspiring sportswriter Lon Decker from Indiana who has aspirations of becoming a sportswriter meets the shrewd and larcenous old man, "Mac" Dougal during his wandering. Mac likes to ensure his bets on Quarter-Horse races by doping a horse or two here and there. When Lon finds out Mac intends to fleece wealthy rancher Zelda Bagley he sets out to stop him.

The Boy From Indiana

1950

A Dangerous Game poster
7.0

Detectives Dick Williams and Andy McAllister find themselves trying to solve several crimes at an isolated mentally-ill hospital, where the patients range from slightly daffy to criminally insane, and they don't know which is which. A gang is out to steal a fortune inherited by one of the patients and, before Dick and Andy solve the case, several patients are transferred to the cemetery. And 'tiddlie-winks" are indeed involved.

A Dangerous Game

1941