Matt Willis

The Return of the Vampire

In 1918, an English family is terrorized by a vampire, until they learn how to deal with it. They think their troubles are over, but German bombs in WWII free the monster. He reclaims the soul of his wolfman ex-servant, and assuming the identity of a scientist who has just escaped from a concentration camp, he starts out on a plan to get revenge upon the family.

The Mark of the Whistler

A drifter claims the money in an old bank account. Soon he finds himself the target of two men who turn out to be the sons of the man's old partner, who is now in prison because of a conflict with him over the money in that account.

Invisible Agent

The Invisible Man's grandson uses his secret formula to spy on Nazi Germany.

The Mysterious Doctor

The citizens of a tiny Cornish village are tormented during World War II by a headless ghost which is haunting the local tin mine.

A Tragedy at Midnight

The host of a whodunit radio show finds himself involved in his own mystery when he awakens to find a woman with a knife in her back in his bedroom.

Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison

A warden and his assistant clash over prison reform, triggering a violent riot.

It's a Joke, Son!

Claghorn gets into some financial difficulties and is forced by a machine-political gang to enter a race for state senator against his wife (Una Merkel) who appears to have a good chance to beat the political hack backed by the machine. Claghorn is in to siphon votes and ensure his wife's opponent will win and is expected to run a campaign that will defeat himself and his wife. But, he runs to win and the machine's henchies abduct him.

Radio Romeo

Harry gets a job at a radio station as an "advice to the lovelorn" host and winds up getting involved in a young woman's marital problems.

Breakthrough

Filmed with the full cooperation of the U.S. Army, Breakthrough is a lean, no-nonsense war film set during the 1944 invasion of the continent.

Forever Yours

A young woman who has been stricken with infantile paralysis gives up hope and is trying to "will herself" to die. A doctor who has been conducting experiments with patients with paralyzed nerves is convinced he can cure her.

Louisiana Hayride

A naïve farm girl is duped by con men who promise her movie stardom in exchange for her savings.

Blonde Savage

An expedition into the deep jungle discovers a native tribe led by a tall Caucasian blonde woman.

Mr. Noisy

This All-Star Comedy (production number 7437, and a remake of 1940's "The Heckler" with Charley Chase) has Shemp Howard, noise-maker and heckler deluxe, hired by two gamblers to rattle a ball team while the gamblers bet on the opponents. The gamblers are more than a little bit vexed when Shemp loses his voice.

Singing on the Trail

In this Western, Ken Curtis, Columbia Pictures' low-budget answer to Gene Autry, romanced one of the studio's most beautiful starlets, Rita Hayworth-lookalike Dusty Anderson. She played Helen Wyatt, whose father (the rotund Guy Kibbee) loses his ranch to the hayseed singing group the Hoosier Hot Shots. Unbeknownst to Wyatt, the Hot Shots have been swindled by a couple of Eastern crooks (Ian Keith and Matt Willis) and consider themselves the lawful owners. Chased by the irascible Wyatt, the band members seek protection from aspiring singer Curt Stanton (Curtis), who they mistake for a gunslinger.

Scarlet Street

Cashier and part-time starving artist Christopher Cross is absolutely smitten with the beautiful Kitty March. Kitty plays along, but she's really only interested in Johnny, a two-bit crook. When Kitty and Johnny find out that art dealers are interested in Chris's work, they con him into letting Kitty take credit for the paintings. Cross allows it because he is in love with Kitty, but his love will only let her get away with so much.

Strange Voyage

A group of men go on an expedition seeking sunken treasure, and wind up battling bad weather, rough seas and each other.

Dangerous Partners

A young couple's accident could make them rich, if they can evade a Nazi spy ring.

The Spirit of Stanford

Columbia's Spirit of Stanford is built around the talents of a real-life college football star, in this instance all-American quarterback Frankie Albert.

The Ghost That Walks Alone

Honeymooners find a dead radio producer in their suite.

Saboteur

Aircraft factory worker Barry Kane flees across the United States after he is wrongly accused of starting the fire that killed his best friend.

A Walk in the Sun

In the 1943 invasion of Italy, one American platoon lands, digs in, then makes its way inland to attempt to take a fortified farmhouse, as tension and casualties mount.

Overland to Deadwood

Cash Quinlan, owner of the Hauling Company, is the leader behind a gang of raiders who have been robbing stagecoaches between Mesquite and Deadwood. He hopes by doing so to drive his competitors out of business so that he can get the railroad franchise for himself.....

Swamp Water

A hunter happens upon a fugitive and his daughter living in a Georgia swamp. He falls in love with the girl and persuades the fugitive to return to town.

Mug Town

Steve Bell, Tommy, Pig, Ape, and String are run of town. Steve, while hopping a freight card and trying to avoid the brakeman, is killed. The boys meet Steve's mother, Alice Bell and Tommy is given a job in the storage garage which she owns jointly with Mack Steward. Steve's brother Don Bell is working with some gangsters by tipping them off on valuable merchandise that can be hijacked. Pig, Ape and String overhear Don's plans to use Tommy as the fall guy in the next hijacking.

The Fleet's In

Shy sailor Casey Kirby suddenly becomes known as a sea wolf when his picture is taken with a famous actress. Things get complicated when bets are placed on his prowess with the ladies.

Home in San Antone

Posing as unemployed musicians, Roy Acuff and his Smoky Mountain Boys, are being helped by Ted Gibson owner of the Harmony Inn in San Antonio, Texas. Gibson is impoverished because he keeps buying his kleptomaniac Uncle Zeke out of trouble, supports his Ma, and Grandpa. He wants to marry Jean Wallace, and doesn't know that Acuff and his musicians are traveling incognito for the radio show "Who Am I Helping?" If he guesses their identity, he wins $100,000.

In Old California

Boston pharmacist Tom Craig comes to Sacramento, where he runs afoul of local political boss Britt Dawson, who exacts protection payment from the citizenry. Dawson frames Craig with poisoned medicine, but Craig redeems himself during a Gold Rush epidemic.

The Spoilers

When honest ship captain Roy Glennister gets swindled out of his mine claim, he turns to saloon singer Cherry Malotte for assistance in his battle with no-good town kingpin Alexander McNamara.

Vacation in Reno

A hapless husband searches for buried treasure at a dude ranch; meanwhile, his wife wants a divorce and bank robbers want him dead.

The Burning Cross

Recently returned from WWII combat, unable to find a job, finding his sweetheart engaged to another man, and generally aware of the changes which have occurred in his hometown while he was away, a young man becomes easily talked into joining the Ku Klux Klan. Banned by the Virginia Board of Censors, and financed independently because no bank would loan money for it.

About Face

Two Army sergeants disrupt a bar, a party and an Army-Navy dance.

The Son of Rusty

The fourth film in Columbia's "Rusty" series is a lecture against gossiping. A young army veteran comes to town, and Danny and his friends learn that he had spent time in a military stockade for an infraction of a regulation. Danny's friends spread the story all over town. The seriousness of the minor infraction grows with each telling. As a sidebar, Rusty finds a mate and becomes a father.

The Mutineers

Mobster Thomas Nagle and his gang take over a ship to use running guns and counterfeit money into Lisbon.

Corvette K-225

The story of a Canadian WWII naval vessel, with a dramatic subplot concerning her first captain.

A Guy Named Joe

A cocky U.S. Army Air Force pilot stationed in England during World War II falls for a daring female flier. After he's killed on a mission, he's sent back to Earth by a heavenly General with a new assignment.

Stage Door Canteen

A young soldier on a pass in New York City visits the famed Stage Door Canteen, where famous stars of theatre and film appear and host a recreational center for servicemen during the war. The soldier meets a pretty young hostess and they enjoy the many entertainers and a growing romance.

Blonde Alibi

Soon after a young woman breaks off her engagement to a doctor, the doctor is found murdered. Suspicion falls on his ex-fiancé and a pilot with a checkered past.

It Ain't Hay

Abbot and Costello must find a replacement for a woman's horse they accidentally killed after feeding it some candy. They head for the racetrack, find a look-a-like and take it. They do not realize that the nag is "Tea Biscuit," a champion racehorse.

The Noose Hangs High

Two window washers who are mistaken by Nick Craig, a bookie, as the messengers he sent for to pick up $50,000. Now the person he sent them to sent two of his men to get the money back but they found out about it. So they try to mail to Craig but a mix up has the money sent somewhere else and the woman who got it spent it. Now Craig needs the money to pay off one of his clients.

So Dear to My Heart

The tale of Jeremiah Kincaid and his quest to raise his 'champion' lamb, Danny. Jeremiah's dream of showing Danny at the Pike County Fair must overcome the obstinate objections of his loving, yet strict, grandmother Granny. Jeremiah's confidant, Uncle Hiram, is the boy's steady ally.

She Has What It Takes

Fay Weston (Jinx Falkenburg), a radio singer of no consequence, pretends to be the daughter of a recently deceased Broadway stage star in order to hoodwink Broadway play producer in starring her in a planned-show that is a tribute to her supposed mother.

Shep Comes Home

Little Larry Havens, whose father died in WWII, runs away from home to keep from being separated from "Shep," his father's dog. In Arizona, he is befriended by a kindly Mexican, Manuel Ortiz, who he is able to repay in time, with the aid of Sheriff "Cap" Weatherby, when Ortiz is suspected of crimes committed by local gangsters. "Shep" is instrumental in saving Ortiz from a lynching, and Larry, "Shep" and Ortiz all find a home with a couple they have befriended.