The best Douglass Dumbrille’s mystery movies

Douglass Dumbrille

Douglass Dumbrille

13/10/1889- 02/04/1974
We present our ranking of the best Douglass Dumbrille’s movies. Do you love cinema? Or are you looking for a movie of your favorite actor to watch tonight? Surely you have some to see or that you did not know yet about Douglass Dumbrille.

Fog Over Frisco

Fog Over Frisco
6.5/10
Val takes the assistance of a society reporter and a journalist to investigate the disappearance of her half-sister Arlene, a wealthy socialite who is involved in criminal activities.

Michael Shayne: Private Detective

Michael Shayne: Private Detective
6.6/10
  • Genre: ComedyDramaMystery
  • Release: 19/12/1940
  • Character: Benny Gordon (as Douglas Dumbrille)
Millionaire sportsman Hiram Brighton hires gumshoe Michael Shayne to keep his spoiled daughter Phyllis away from racetrack betting windows and roulette wheels. After Phyllis slips away and continues her compulsive gambling, Shayne fakes the murder of her gambler boyfriend, who is also romancing the daughter of casino owner Benny Gordon, in order to frighten her. When the tout really ends up murdered, Shayne and Phyllis' Aunt Olivia, an avid reader of murder mysteries, both try to find the identity of the killer.

The Frozen Ghost

The Frozen Ghost
5.8/10
  • Genre: CrimeMystery
  • Release: 01/06/1945
  • Character: Inspector Brant
When a man dies of a heart attack, a stage and radio mentalist believes he has willed him to die because he was angry with the man. Riddled with guilt, the mentalist cancels further shows, breaks off his engagement to his female partner, who can read minds while in a hypnotic trance, and takes refuge in the eerie wax-museum-cum-home of another woman friend.

Tell No Tales

Tell No Tales
6.5/10
  • Genre: CrimeDramaMystery
  • Release: 12/06/1939
  • Character: Matt Cooper (as Douglas Dumbrille)
A newspaper editor turns a kidnapping into the banner headlines and exclusive story that could save his publication.

Mr. Moto in Danger Island

Mr. Moto in Danger Island
6.7/10
In Puerto Rico to investigate a glut of contraband diamonds that are flooding the world's jewel market, Mr. Moto and his sidekick, a wrestler, find themselves involved in murders by thrown daggers, the frame-up of an overstressed Army colonel, and a pirate gang led by an unknown boss who has inside knowledge of the ensuing investigation.

Fast Company

Fast Company
6.6/10
Married book-dealers Joel and Garda Sloane try to clear a friend in the murder of a rival book-seller.

The Princess Comes Across

The Princess Comes Across
6.7/10
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.

City in Darkness

City in Darkness
6.5/10
Chan goes to Paris for a reunion with friends from World War I. There he investigates the murder of a munitions manufacturer who was supplying arms to the enemy. At the end Charlie preaches to us about the dangers of peace conferences.

Dragnet

Dragnet
6.4/10
Scotland Yard Inspector Geoffrey James (Henry Wilcoxon) comes to the United States looking for a band of international gem-thieves who have smuggled a rich load of jewels from England to America via a trans-ocean airline. Mary Hogan (Mary Brian), an airline hostess, aids him in his quest.

Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime

Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime
6/10
  • Genre: Mystery
  • Release: 14/08/1941
  • Character: John Matthews
Ralph Bellamy makes the third of four appearances as "master detective" Ellery Queen in Columbia's Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime. The principal villain is crooked stockbroker John Mathews (Douglass Dumbrille), whose Wall Street manipulations render Ray Jarden (H. B. Warner) penniless. Mathews' chicanery seems particularly coldblooded, inasmuch as his daughter Marian (Linda Hayes) is engaged to Jarden's son Walter (John Beal). When the latter disappears, Mathews asks Ellery Queen to locate the young man.

Slightly Honorable

Slightly Honorable
6/10
  • Genre: ComedyMystery
  • Release: 22/12/1939
  • Character: George Taylor
A lawyer is framed for the murder of a young party girl and tries to clear his name.

Charlie Chan at Treasure Island

Charlie Chan at Treasure Island
7.2/10
  • Genre: MysteryThriller
  • Release: 31/08/1939
  • Character: Stewart Salsbury, alias Thomas Gregory
Charlie's investigation of a phony psychic during the 1939 World Exposition on San Francisco's Treasure Island leads him to expose a suicide as murder.

Murder Among Friends

Murder Among Friends
7.6/10
  • Genre: Mystery
  • Release: 28/02/1941
  • Character: Carter Stevenson
A society doctor (John Hubbard) helps an insurance-company file clerk (Marjorie Weaver) check deaths related to a big policy.

Joe Palooka in the Counterpunch

Joe Palooka in the Counterpunch
5.8/10
Joe heads for South America to fight the Latin champ. Shipboard, he helps federal agents fight counterfeiters. He also spars with love interest Anne Howe.

The Lone Wolf Returns

The Lone Wolf Returns
6.7/10
  • Genre: Mystery
  • Release: 31/12/1935
  • Character: Morphew
Once a jewel thief always a jewel thief? Yes and no. Yes if you consider the fact that Michael Lanyard also known as the Lone Wolf once retired from the "trade" but relapses back into his old habits when he is tempted by the emerald pendant of beautiful socialite Marcia Stewart. The trouble (?) is that he falls for the belle and he soon gets more interested in getting the girl than the jewels that adorn her. What he wants now is to return the pendant but a rival gang interfere and force him to take part in a big-time caper.

Air Hawks

Air Hawks
5.9/10
An air delivery service is menaced by a mad scientist with a death ray machine that blows up planes in mid-flight.

Castle in the Desert

Castle in the Desert
7/10
Paul Manderley, eccentric historian, and his wife, descendant of the Borgias, live in an isolated castle-like mansion in the Mojave Desert. When a guest suddenly collapses, Charlie Chan is invited to stay. As the standard mystery-mansion props come into play, and all means of outside communication are sabotaged, it becomes evident that one of the inhabitants has access to poisons and is prepared to use them...

The Cat Creeps

The Cat Creeps
5.2/10
  • Genre: HorrorMystery
  • Release: 17/05/1946
  • Character: Tom McGalvey
A black cat is suspected of being possessed by the spirit of a elderly murdered woman.

The Lone Wolf and His Lady

The Lone Wolf and His Lady
5.4/10
Lone Wolf (Ron Randell) a newspaper man, is accused of gem theft.

Related actors