Sort by IMDb Rating - Highest Rated Feature Films With Phil Karlson
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1. It Started with Eve (1941)
Passed | 90 min | Comedy, Music, Romance
In order to please his dying father, a man convinces a hat-check girl to impersonate his fiancée, but complications arise when the father's health suddenly improves.
Director: Henry Koster | Stars: Deanna Durbin, Charles Laughton, Robert Cummings, Guy Kibbee
Votes: 1,835
2. A Wave, a WAC and a Marine (1944)
Approved | 70 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
Henny, talent scout for the Margaret Ames Film Agency in Hollywood, mistakes understudies Judy and Marian for Eileen and Betty, the real stars of a Broadway show and signs them up for ... See full summary »
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: Elyse Knox, Ann Gillis, Sally Eilers, Richard Lane
Votes: 72
3. Scandal Sheet (1952)
Passed | 82 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
The editor of an exploitation newspaper commits a murder and assigns his protégé to investigate hoping to divert attention away from himself.
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: John Derek, Donna Reed, Broderick Crawford, Rosemary DeCamp
Votes: 3,487
4. 99 River Street (1953)
Not Rated | 83 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A former boxer turned cab driver has to hide from the police when his badgering wife is murdered by the jewel thief she was having an affair with.
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: John Payne, Evelyn Keyes, Brad Dexter, Frank Faylen
Votes: 3,440
5. Kansas City Confidential (1952)
Not Rated | 99 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
An ex-con trying to go straight is framed for a million dollar armored car robbery and must go to Mexico in order to unmask the real culprits.
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: John Payne, Coleen Gray, Preston Foster, Neville Brand
Votes: 8,158
6. The Phenix City Story (1955)
Passed | 100 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A crime-busting lawyer and his initially reluctant attorney father take on the forces that run gambling and prostitution in their small Southern town.
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: John McIntire, Richard Kiley, Kathryn Grant, Edward Andrews
Votes: 3,260
7. The Countess of Monte Cristo (1934)
Passed | 78 min | Comedy, Crime, Romance
A light-hearted comedy when a bit player in a musical tries to convince her friends that she is a countess.
Director: Karl Freund | Stars: Fay Wray, Paul Lukas, Reginald Owen, Patsy Kelly
Votes: 35
8. Gunman's Walk (1958)
Approved | 97 min | Western
A powerful rancher always protects his wild adult son by paying for damages and bribing witnesses, until his crimes become too serious to rectify.
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: Van Heflin, Tab Hunter, Kathryn Grant, James Darren
Votes: 2,128
9. The House of the Seven Gables (1940)
Approved | 89 min | Drama, Thriller
Based on the novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, this classic film follows a family feud between two brothers and an ancient curse that haunts them.
Director: Joe May | Stars: George Sanders, Margaret Lindsay, Vincent Price, Dick Foran
Votes: 1,519
10. Louisiana (1947)
Approved | 85 min | Drama
Fourteen-year-old James Houston Davis, the music-loving son of a poor sharecropper, is determined to get a good education and help improve life in his beloved state of Louisiana. With the ... See full synopsis »
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: Jimmie Davis, Margaret Lindsay, John Gallaudet, Freddie Stewart
Votes: 28
11. Walking Tall (1973)
R | 125 min | Action, Biography, Crime
Based on the life of Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser, who almost single-handily cleaned up his small town of crime and corruption, but at a personal cost of his family life and nearly his own life.
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: Joe Don Baker, Elizabeth Hartman, Leif Garrett, Dawn Lyn
Votes: 6,752 | Gross: $4.75M
12. Hell to Eternity (1960)
Approved | 131 min | Biography, Drama, War
When his adoptive Japanese-American family is sent to Manzanar after Pearl Harbor, a young Chicano enlists in the marines to become a hero in the Battle of Saipan.
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: Jeffrey Hunter, David Janssen, Vic Damone, Patricia Owens
Votes: 1,578
13. Princess O'Hara (1935)
Approved | 79 min | Comedy, Drama
King, the driver of a horse-drawn hansom cab, is killed in a turf war between Vic Toledo's cab company and his competitors. Vic sends his goons to get King's daughter Princess a new horse but they steal a prized racing horse.
Director: David Burton | Stars: Jean Parker, Chester Morris, Leon Errol, Vince Barnett
Votes: 37
14. The Young Doctors (1961)
Approved | 100 min | Drama
Medical drama set at one of New York City's hospitals during the early 1960s.
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: Fredric March, Ben Gazzara, Dick Clark, Ina Balin
Votes: 602
15. The Brothers Rico (1957)
Passed | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A retired mob accountant is drawn back in when his brothers, who have recently made a hit for the organization, decide to go to the authorities.
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: Richard Conte, Dianne Foster, Kathryn Grant, Larry Gates
Votes: 1,619
16. His Exciting Night (1938)
Approved | 61 min | Adventure, Comedy, Romance
Adam Tripp (Charles Ruggles), a mild-mannered, timid office clerk, becomes the butt of several practical jokes on his wedding-eve night, and nearly loses his bride-to-be, Anne Baker (Ona Munson).
Director: Gus Meins | Stars: Charles Ruggles, Ona Munson, Maxie Rosenbloom, Stepin Fetchit
Votes: 18
17. In the Navy (1941)
Passed | 86 min | Comedy
Russ Raymond, America's number one crooner, disappears and joins the Navy under the name Tommy Halstead. Dorothy Roberts, a magazine journalist, is intent on finding out what happened to ... See full summary »
Director: Arthur Lubin | Stars: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Dick Powell, Claire Dodd
Votes: 3,216
18. Rocky (1948)
Approved | 76 min | Drama
Out fishing one day, painter John Hammond and his son Chris come across Bert Hillman, the foreman of a local ranch. He and his ranch hand are searching for a wild dog that killed one of ... See full summary »
Directors: Phil Karlson, William Beaudine | Stars: Roddy McDowall, Edgar Barrier, Nita Hunter, Gale Sherwood
Votes: 53
19. Alias Mary Dow (1935)
Approved | 65 min | Drama
A taxi-dancer agrees to pose as a girl who had been kidnapped as a child 18 years before.
Director: Kurt Neumann | Stars: Sally Eilers, Ray Milland, Henry O'Neill, Katharine Alexander
Votes: 80
20. Tight Spot (1955)
Approved | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A female inmate is whisked out of prison and into a police-guarded hotel until the district attorney can convince her to testify against the mob.
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: Ginger Rogers, Edward G. Robinson, Brian Keith, Lucy Marlow
Votes: 2,545
21. Kilroy Was Here (1947)
Approved | 68 min | Comedy
"Kilroy Was Here" was a popular expression during World War II, but it's not much fun to John J. Kilroy, who has to try to live with all the jokes and wisecracks regarding his name.
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: Jackie Cooper, Jackie Coogan, Wanda McKay, Frank Jenks
Votes: 55
22. She Gets Her Man (1935)
Approved | 65 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Esmeralda is a cook in a diner in a small Arkansas town. When a gang of crooks moves into town and plots a bank robbery, Esmeralda unintentionally wrecks their plans, resulting in fame for ... See full summary »
Director: William Nigh | Stars: Zasu Pitts, Hugh O'Connell, Helen Twelvetrees, Lucien Littlefield
Votes: 20
23. The Affair of Susan (1935)
Passed | 62 min | Comedy, Romance
Two people go to Coney Island to find romance and wind up in jail.
Director: Kurt Neumann | Stars: Zasu Pitts, Hugh O'Connell, Walter Catlett, Tom Dugan
Votes: 32
24. I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby (1940)
Approved | 61 min | Comedy, Music, Romance
When Public Enemy No. 3 Sonny McGann meets composer Bob Gunther, he gets the idea of having Bob write music to a poem he has written about his long-lost sweetheart Sadie McGlonsky. ... See full summary »
Director: Albert S. Rogell | Stars: Broderick Crawford, Jessie Ralph, Johnny Downs, Peggy Moran
Votes: 36
25. The Invisible Man Returns (1940)
Passed | 81 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
The owner of a coal mining operation, falsely imprisoned for fratricide, takes a drug to make him invisible, despite its side effect: gradual madness.
Director: Joe May | Stars: Cedric Hardwicke, Vincent Price, Nan Grey, John Sutton
Votes: 5,306
26. Dark Alibi (1946)
Approved | 61 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A public defender enlists Charlie to exonerate one of his clients, an ex-con falsely accused of bank robbery and murder, scheduled for execution in nine days.
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: Sidney Toler, Mantan Moreland, Ben Carter, Benson Fong
Votes: 1,453
27. Seven Sinners (1940)
Approved | 87 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Banished from various U.S. protectorates in the Pacific, a saloon entertainer uses her femme-fatale charms to woo politicians, navy personnel, gangsters, riff-raff, judges and a ship's doctor in order to achieve her aims.
Director: Tay Garnett | Stars: Marlene Dietrich, John Wayne, Albert Dekker, Broderick Crawford
Votes: 1,663
28. The Flame of New Orleans (1941)
Passed | 79 min | Adventure, Comedy, Music
In old New Orleans, a beautiful adventuress juggles the attentions of a rich banker and a dashing sea captain.
Director: René Clair | Stars: Marlene Dietrich, Bruce Cabot, Roland Young, Mischa Auer
Votes: 1,302
29. You're Not So Tough (1940)
Approved | 65 min | Drama
The Dead End Kids are out of the slums of New York's East Side and running around the sunny valleys of California looking for a way to make a quick buck. The idea of working never enters ... See full summary »
Director: Joe May | Stars: The Dead End Kids, Nan Grey, Rosina Galli, Henry Armetta
Votes: 58
30. My Pal, the King (1932)
74 min | Western
The king of a European country, who is a child, meets the cowboy star of a traveling circus.
Director: Kurt Neumann | Stars: Tom Mix, Mickey Rooney, James Kirkwood, Wallis Clark
Votes: 49
31. Framed (1975)
R | 106 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A gambler kills a sheriff in self defense. But as everyone in conspiring against him, he is condemned to a long sentence in prison.
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: Joe Don Baker, Conny Van Dyke, Gabriel Dell, John Marley
Votes: 738 | Gross: $2.12M
32. Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935)
Approved | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
An opium-addicted choirmaster develops an obsession for a beautiful young girl and will not stop short of murder in order to have her.
Director: Stuart Walker | Stars: Claude Rains, Douglass Montgomery, Heather Angel, David Manners
Votes: 610
33. The Shanghai Cobra (1945)
Approved | 64 min | Mystery
Someone is attempting to steal radium stored in a bank. Death by cobra venom connects a number of murders. Charlie investigates.
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: Sidney Toler, Mantan Moreland, Benson Fong, James Cardwell
Votes: 1,243
34. Thunderhoof (1948)
Approved | 77 min | Drama, Romance, Western
Texas rancher Scotty Mason goes into the Mexican desert-country in search of a wild horse, and takes his young wife, Margarita and his hired-hand, The Kid, whose life Scotty had saved a few... See full summary »
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: Preston Foster, Mary Stuart, William Bishop, Dice
Votes: 147
35. Werewolf of London (1935)
Passed | 75 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
After botanist Wilfred Glendon travels to Tibet in search of a rare flower, the Mariphasa, he returns to a London haunted by murders that can only be the work of bloodthirsty werewolves.
Director: Stuart Walker | Stars: Henry Hull, Warner Oland, Valerie Hobson, Lester Matthews
Votes: 6,513
36. Adventures in Silverado (1948)
Approved | 75 min | Western
Into California's 1880 frontier country rides Robert Louis Stevenson Edgar Barrier, the novelist, looking for story material 'in a land of stage-drivers and highwaymen', and soon finds it ... See full summary »
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: William Bishop, Gloria Henry, Edgar Buchanan, Forrest Tucker
Votes: 133
37. Between Us Girls (1942)
Approved | 85 min | Comedy, Romance
A young actress tries to help her mother's romance by deception, and winds up in some hilarious escapades before learning her lesson.
Director: Henry Koster | Stars: Diana Barrymore, Robert Cummings, Kay Francis, John Boles
Votes: 110
38. Bowery Bombshell (1946)
Passed | 65 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Slip, Sach, Bobby, Whitey and Chuck unsuccessfully try to sell a dilapidated car to a street cleaner for a fabulous amount, so they can get enough money to save Louie's Malt Shop.
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, William 'Billy' Benedict
Votes: 420
39. Newsboys' Home (1938)
Approved | 73 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A clueless publisher's daughter inherits a newspaper that sponsors a charity home for boys, and proceeds to run the paper to the ground.
Directors: Harold Young, Arthur Lubin | Stars: Jackie Cooper, Edmund Lowe, Wendy Barrie, Samuel S. Hinds
Votes: 42
40. Assignment: Paris (1952)
Passed | 85 min | Drama, Thriller
Cold war intrigue in France and Hungary.
Directors: Robert Parrish, Phil Karlson | Stars: Dana Andrews, Märta Torén, George Sanders, Audrey Totter
Votes: 689
41. The Texas Rangers (1951)
Passed | 74 min | Western
In 1874, unable to eliminate a gang of notorious outlaws, the Texas Rangers hire two former convicts to assist with the tracking and the destruction of the Sam Bass gang.
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: George Montgomery, Gale Storm, Jerome Courtland, Noah Beery Jr.
Votes: 455
42. The Secret Ways (1961)
Approved | 112 min | Adventure, History, Mystery
During the 1956 Hungarian uprising, an American mercenary is hired to smuggle a Hungarian resistance leader out of Soviet-occupied Budapest.
Directors: Phil Karlson, Richard Widmark | Stars: Richard Widmark, Sonja Ziemann, Charles Regnier, Walter Rilla
Votes: 507
43. Great Expectations (1934)
Approved | 102 min | Drama, Romance
9 year old 'Pip' Pirrip, an orphan living with relatives, aids and befriends an escaped convict on the moors, an act that will have a profound effect on his life.
Director: Stuart Walker | Stars: Henry Hull, Phillips Holmes, Jane Wyatt, Florence Reed
Votes: 223
44. Love Before Breakfast (1936)
Passed | 70 min | Comedy, Romance
A rich businessman stalks another man's fiancée.
Director: Walter Lang | Stars: Carole Lombard, Preston Foster, Cesar Romero, Janet Beecher
Votes: 899
45. The Iroquois Trail (1950)
Approved | 86 min | Western
Hawkeye, an American scout, helps the British side in the French and Indian War, aided by his Indian blood brother Sagamore.
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: George Montgomery, Brenda Marshall, Glenn Langan, Paul Cavanagh
Votes: 197
46. Margie (1940)
Approved | 59 min | Comedy
A struggling husband-wife songwriting team try to sell a radio program in the midst of crooked producers, song-stealing friends, repo men, and an overly amorous sponsor.
Directors: Otis Garrett, Paul Gerard Smith | Stars: Tom Brown, Nan Grey, Mischa Auer, Joy Hodges
Votes: 26
47. Kid Galahad (1962)
Approved | 96 min | Drama, Musical, Sport
After completing his military service, Walter Gulick takes a job as a sparring partner at a gym, the owner of which sees potential in Walter as a professional fighter and takes him under his wing.
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: Elvis Presley, Gig Young, Lola Albright, Joan Blackman
Votes: 3,116 | Gross: $1.80M
48. Ladies of the Chorus (1948)
Approved | 61 min | Musical, Romance
A chorus girl falls in love with a wealthy young man, but their relationship is jeopardized by her mother's fears about the reaction of his family.
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: Adele Jergens, Marilyn Monroe, Rand Brooks, Nana Bryant
Votes: 1,586
49. Key Witness (1960)
Approved | 82 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
In Los Angeles, a brave witness to murder agrees to testify in court against the street gang leader who's desperate to silence him.
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: Jeffrey Hunter, Pat Crowley, Dennis Hopper, Joby Baker
Votes: 366
50. Black Gold (1947)
Passed | 90 min | Drama, History, Sport
In the 1920s Texas, Indian farmer Charley Eagle is dreaming of winning the Kentucky Derby with his Black Hope horse but things change when oil is found on his land and the Black Gold colt is born.
Director: Phil Karlson | Stars: Anthony Quinn, Katherine DeMille, 'Ducky' Louie, Raymond Hatton
Votes: 231