Donald Crisp

Date of Birth: 27 Jul 1882
Country: UK
Total Credits at Criticker: 95 (Actor), 11 (Director)
Biography submitted by Dunstan-xxx
Find more information about Donald Crisp at The Internet Movie Database
Titles you haven't rated - Actor (95) | Director (11)
The Civil War divides friends and destroys families, but that's nothing compared to the anarchy in the black-ruled South after the war. (imdb)
Mi Taylor was a young wanderer and opportunist whose father had given him "all the roads in the Kingdom" to travel... (imdb)
Cheng Huan is a missionary whose goal is to bring the teachings of peace by Buddha to the civilized Anglo-Saxons... (imdb)
Fletcher Christian successfully leads a revolt against the ruthless Captain Bligh on the HMS Bounty. However, Bligh returns one year later, hell bent on avenging his captors.
The owner of a rubber plantation becomes involved with the new wife of one of his employees. (imdb)
Set in antebellum New Orleans during the early 1850's, this film follows Julie Marsden through her quest for social redemption on her own terms... (imdb)
A young girl comes to an embittered town and confronts it's attitude with her determination to see the best in life. (imdb)
The Earnshaws are Yorkshire farmers during the early 19th Century. One day, Mr. Earnshaw returns from a trip to the city... (imdb)
At the turn of the century in a Welsh mining village, the Morgans (he stern, she gentle) raise coal-mining sons and hope their youngest will find a better life. Lots of atmosphere, very sentimental view of pre-union miners' lives (imdb)
Clay Spencer is a hard-working man who loves his wife and large family. He is respected by his neighbors and always ready to give them a helping hand. Although not a churchgoer, he even helps a newly arrived local minister regain his flock after he and Clay get into a bit of trouble. If he has one dream in life it's to build his wife Olivia a beautiful house on a piece of land he inherited on Spender's mountain. When his eldest son, Clayboy, graduates at the top of his high school class and has
Hard times came for Carraclough family and they are forced to sell their dog to the rich Duke of Rudling. However, Lassie, the dog, is unwilling to leave the young Carraclough boy and sets out on the long and dangerous journey in order to rejoin him. (imdb)
Mary Stuart returns to Scotland to rule as queen, to the chagrin of Elizabeth I of England who finds her a dangerous rival. There is much ado over whom Mary shall marry; to her later regret, she picks effete Lord Darnley over the strong but unpopular Earl of Bothwell. (imdb)
Mysterious Will Lockhart delivers supplies to storekeeper Barbara Waggoman at Coronado, an isolated town in Apache country. Before long, he's tangled with Dave Waggoman, vicious son of autocratic rancher Alec and cousin of sweet Barbara. But he sticks around town, his presence a catalyst for changes in people's lives, searching for someone he doesn't know...who's been selling rifles to the Apaches. (imdb)
Dr. Clitterhouse is fascinated with the working of the criminal mind. His interest is so deep that he finds the best way to observe criminals in action is to become one himself! Whilst robbing a safe at an exclusive party he stumbles across an organized gang trying to the same thing. He teams up with the gang to observe them in action but one of the members, Rocks Valentine would like nothing better than to see Clitterhouse out of the way. (imdb)
Seeking revenge, an athletic young man joins the pirate band responsible for his father's death. (imdb)
A brother and sister move into an old seaside house they find abandoned for many years on the English coast. Their original enchantment with the house diminishes as they hear stories of the previous owners and meet their daughter (now a young woman) who now lives as a neighbor with her grandfather. Also heard are unexplained sounds during the night... (imdb)
Dr. Paul Ehrlich was the German physician who developed the first synthetic antimicrobial drug, 606 or Salvarsan. The film describes how Ehrlich first became interested in the properties of the then-new synthetic dyes and had an intuition that they could be useful in the diagnosis of bacterial diseases... (imdb)
Steve Sinclair (Robert Taylor) is a world a world-weary former gunslinger, now living as a peaceful farmer. Things go wrong when his wild younger brother Tony (John Cassavetes) arrives on the scene with his new bride Joan Blake (Julie London). (imdb)
Dr. Jekyll believes good and evil exist in everyone. Experiments reveal his evil side, named Hyde. Experience teaches him how evil Hyde can be: he kills Ivy who earlier expressed interest in Jekyll and Sir Charles, Jekyll's faincee's father. (imdb)
Geoffrey Thorpe is an adventurous and dashing pirate, who feels that he should pirate the Spanish ships for the good of England. In one such battle, he overtakes a Spanish ship and when he comes aboard he finds Dona Maria, a beautiful Spanish royal... (imdb)
In rural 1840's Scotland, Gavin Dishart arrives to become the new "little minister" of Thrums's Auld Licht church. He meets a mysterious young gypsy girl in the dens and to his horror Babbie draws him into her escape from the soldiers after she incites a Luddite riot... (imdb)
The story revolves around Pamela, as a woman in late-1800's England who has no intention of marriage and wishes to be her own person. After a great deal of difficulty in finding a job, she finally lands a position at a "woman's" magazine, which covered topics such as sewing and cooking. After the editor takes sick, she moves the magazine into discussing issues of gender equality, child labor, medical care, and finding a job... (imdb)
Delia breaks her engagement to Clem, in favor of wealthy Jim. Cousin Charlotte comforts Clem, and becomes pregnant. Clem dies in the war before he can marry her, and Charlotte raises her daughter as a "foundling." When Jim's brother, Joe, falls in love with Charlotte, Delia, out of spiteful jealousy, destroys the forthcoming wedding, and eventually takes Charlotte's child from her. (imdb)
Gang boss Little John Sarto returns from Europe where he was looking for "class" to find his old mob taken over by Jack Burns. When he puts together a rival gang he gets wounded and seeks refuge in a monastery. He is gradually transformed by the simple, sincere brothers and, after one last gangland appearance, decides his has found class at last in the monastery. (imdb)
An aging politician (Spencer Tracy) tries to get re-elected one last time in the changing world of the 1950s when TV started to play a bigger part in politics. Based loosely on the career of multi-term Boston Mayor James Michael Curley, this film examines the good and evil inherent in politics and all the things that go into an election. Tracy's uphill battle to stay in office is set against the political machinery that preyed on ethnic hatred and old-time money. (imdb)
Scotland 1865. An old shepherd and his little Skye terrier go to Edinburgh. But when the shepherd dies of pneumonia, the dog remains faithful to his master, refuses to be adopted by anyone, and takes to sleeping on his master's grave in the Greyfriars kirkyard, despite a caretaker with a "no dogs" rule. And when Bobby is taken up for being unlicensed, it's up to the children of Edinburgh and the Lord Provost to decide what's to be done. (imdb)
In 1915 France, Major Brand commands the 39th Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps. The young airmen go up in bullet-riddled "crates" and the casualty rate is appalling, but Brand can't make the "brass hats" at headquarters see reason. Insubordinate air ace Captain Courtney is another thorn in Brand's side...but finds the smile wiped from his face when he rises to command the squadron himself. Everyone keeps a stiff upper lip. (imdb)
Major Vickers is an officer at the 27th Lancers in India 1856. When the regiment is on maneuver, the barracks are attacked by Surat Khan and his soldiers who massacre British women and children. This leaves an inextinguishable memory and Vickers promises to revenge the dead. (imdb)
A serious biopic of the life of Emile Zola. Starting in Paris in 1862 it deals, among other events, with the Dreyfus Affair and anti-semitism in France. (imdb)
The life story of a salt-of-the-earth Irish immigrant, who becomes an Army Noncommissioned Officer and spends his 50 year career at the United States Military Academy at West Point. This includes his job-related experiences as well as his family life and the relationships he develops with young cadets with whom he befriends. Based on the life of a real person. (imdb)
Cagney is Danny Kenny, a truck driver who enters "the fight game" and Sheridan his former girlfriend, Peggy. Danny realizes success in the ring and uses his income to pay for his bother Eddie's music education... (imdb)
Director Michael Curtiz's period drama frames the tumultuous affair between Queen Elizabeth I (Bette Davis) and the man who would be King of England, Robert Devereux (Errol Flynn), the Earl of Essex... (imdb)
Hal Foster's Sunday-comics saga of a young Viking prince in the service of King Arthur is brought to the screen in CinemaScope and Technicolor in Prince Valiant. Despite the fact that he sports a dutch bob that makes him look like actress Phyllis Kirk, Robert Wagner is quite virile and convincing as the title character. (All Movie Guide)
McCord's gang robs the stage carrying money to pay Indians for their land, and the notorious outlaw "The Oklahoma Kid" Jim Kincaid takes the money from McCord. McCord stakes a "sooner" claim on land which is to be used for a new town; in exchange for giving it up he gets control of gambling and saloons. When Kincaid's father runs for mayor, McCord incites a mob to lynch the old man whom McCord has already framed for murder.. (imdb)
A territorial dispute between a ranch owner and a cattleman escalates somethin' fierce.
The Battle of Midway (1942) - Short Film
On June 4-6, 1942, a large Japanese force attempted to capture Midway Island in the North Pacific, but was defeated by U.S. forces with a loss ratio of 4:1 in favor of the Americans. On hand was a crew of naval photographers directed by John Ford; their documentary footage was edited together with narration by Hollywood actors. The film covers the attack on Midway, some limited aerial footage, the search for survivors, and aftermath of the battle. (imdb)
The story of legendary Notre Dame football player and coach Knute Rockne. (imdb)
Mary Rafferty comes from a poor family of steel mill workers in 19th Century Pittsburgh. Her family objects when she goes to work as a maid for the wealthy Scott family which controls the mill. Mary catches the attention of handsome scion Paul Scott, but their romance is complicated by Paul's engagement to someone else and a bitter strike among the mill workers. (imdb)
Don Cesar de Vega, son of Zorro, is in Spain for his education. By way of education, he duels with Don Sebastian of the Queen's Guard (soon to be his rival for the hand of lovely Dolores de Muro), makes love, and befriends the visiting Archduke of Austria. But a quarrel ending in violence gives Don Sebastian the chance to dispose of his rival by framing him for murder! Feigning suicide, Cesar escapes. Being a chip off the old block, a whip-wielding outlaw sets out to clear the name of Vega. (imdb)
The Battle (1911) - Short Film
Union soldiers march off to battle amid cheering crowds. After the battle turns against the Union Army, one soldier runs away, hiding in his girlfriend's house. Ashamed of his cowardice, he finds his courage and crosses enemy lines to bring help to his trapped comrades. (imdb)
Smith as an iron-willed railroad detective. When his friend Murray is fired from the railraod and begins helping Rebstock wreck trains, Smith must go after him. He also seems to have an interest in Murray's wife (and vice versa). (imdb)
Extremely stylish, well-acted soap opera in the "Madame X" vein, with singer Francis recounting events leading up to her murder of oily Rathbone. Visually arresting, this looks more like a 1920s German film than a late 1930s Hollywood product; in fact director May was a German émigré. Based very closely on the 1935 German film "Mazurka." (Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide)
A dramatised life of Samuel Langhorn Clemens, or Mark Twain. (imdb)
Fate's Turning (1911) - Short Film
A young girl working as a waitress at a resort for the wealthy is swept off her feet by a rich young gentleman, and before she knows it, she's pregnant. (imdb)
Conscience (1911) - Short Film
As they have breakfast in their hunting lodge Howard jokingly tells his wife to improve her coffee or he'll shoot her. Later she meets him as he's out hunting and is accidentally shot and killed by another hunter. Because the maid overheard his joke at breakfast Howard is arrested for her murder. (imdb)
Her Awakening (1911) - Short Film
An attractive young woman is ashamed of her shabbily-dressed mother, and won't introduce her to her suitor. Distraught, the mother wanders into the street and is killed. Too late, the daughter realizes how badly she treated her. (imdb)
The Making of a Man (1911) - Short Film
A young woman becomes infatuated with the leading man of a traveling theatrical troupe. She sneaks away to join him in the next town, but her father forces her to return home... (imdb)
The Adventures of Billy (1911) - Short Film
Billy witnesses two tramps accidentally kill someone during a robbery. The tramps lock him up and decide that he must be killed, too. (imdb)
The Miser's Heart (1911) - Short Film
Thieves decide to steal the money an old miser has hidden away. He refuses to open the safe for them, so they threaten to kill a girl who lives in his building. (imdb)
The Failure (1911) - Short Film
A man loses his business and his fiancée, and drifts into the saloons. There he meets a similarly-downtrodden young woman. She works behind the scenes to help him recover his life, and eventually he realizes how steadfast she is. (imdb)
The Eternal Mother (1912) - Short Film
John and Mary divorce their spouses to marry each other. Mary dies after giving birth and the baby is taken in by John's first wife, Martha. She refuses all contact with John until many years later when he becomes ill and she finally forgives him for deserting her. (imdb)
The newly named emperor Maximilian and his wife Carolotta arrive in Mexico to face popular sentiment favoring Benito Juraez and democracy. He tries to appease the Mexicans but fails. Abraham Lincoln is supporting Juarez and asks the French to withdraw support for Maximilian. Carlotta goes to France to plead with Napoleon, to no avail. (imdb)
A dramatic comparison between the mating habits of animals and the way humans choose their own partners. (imdb)
In 1894, Brant Royle shocks the aristocratic tobacco growers of Kingsmont by planning to mass-produce cigarettes. (imdb)
Through hypnotism and telepathic mind control, a sinister music maestro controls the singing voice, but not the heart, of the woman he loves. (imdb)
During World War II an American travels to Britain to sell an old house near London that belongs to his family. But he meets Susan Trimble who lives in the house and who is strictly against the sale. While they spend the night in an air-raid shelter she tells him the story of the building from it's construction in 1804 until present day. (imdb)
A gangster's widow fights for love despite society's disapproval. (TCM.com)
Fiona, Evelyn and Susanna are sisters. Their mother dies on the Lusitania, their father is killed in France, they must manage their Fifth Avenue mansion by themselves. Fiona marries Charles Barclay in order to get an inheritance and he begins a campaign to obtain the mansion to level it for real estate development. She vows that this will never happen. (imdb)
A father returns to the family he left years earlier and tries to solve their problems. (TCM.com)
Major Clint Drango of the U.S. Army and his aide, Capt. Banning, ride into a burned-out Georgia town shortly after the end of the Civil War with orders to set up a military governorship. The townspeople are bitter over the destruction of their homes, but they do not know that Drango was a participant in that destruction. Renegade former Confederates under Clay Allen plan to undermine Drango's benign administration in hopes of restarting the war. (imdb)
Officer O'Malley arrests John Phillips for a traffic violation and costs him a chance at a good job. Phillips has a wife and crippled child, so he commits robbery and O'Malley sends him to prison. After this O'Malley becomes closer to Phillips' family. (imdb)
Blake Washburn blames manufacturer MacFarland for his defeat in the race for re-election to the state legislature. He takes over his uncle's newspaper to take on big business as an enemy of the people. Miss Martin works in the "Herald" newspaper office. When tragedy strikes, Blake must re-examine his views. (imdb)
Yes, it's true, an all color silent movie! The title refers to Leif Ericsson, who leaves Norway to search for new lands west of Greenland. On the way he vies for the love of Helga with his companion Egil and Alwin, an English slave. More conflict arises when he stops at the colony of his father (Eric the Red) in Greenland, for Leif has converted to Christianity, which his father hates. He also has to deal with the unrest of his crew, who fear falling off the edge of the Earth. (imdb)
Irish rebels launch an uprising against the British occupation of Ireland in the 1920s. One of the rebellion's leaders and a beautiful aristocratic Englishwoman meet and, despite the enormous class, cultural, political and social differences between them, fall in love. (imdb)
Story of a rising stage star and the trouble she causes by her ambition. (imdb)
Based on a novel written in 1872, this charming tale of a young boy and his dog is leisurely and heart-warming. Nello (David Ladd) and his grandfather Daas (Donald Crisp) manage to make ends meet by delivering milk from the nearby farms to the city of Antwerp. Nello's most deeply felt ambition is to follow in the footsteps of the greatest Flemish artists but his grandfather has little faith in Nello's ability to make a living with brush and canvas. (allmovie.com)
The life of Irish politician Charles Stewart Parnell, following from 1880 onward his struggle to free his country from English rule, pursued in prison, Parliament, and elsewhere. Emphasis is on the relationship with married Katie O'Shea which threatens to bring all Parnell's plans to ruin. Moderately accurate historically. (imdb)
In this melodrama, a loyal research psychologist escapes from Budapest after the nature of his work is discovered. He resettles in Scotland and soon resumes his work. His benefactors provide him a female assistant, and at first the stubborn scientist is not pleased. Eventually the two fall in love. Not long after the research is finished, they marry and for a time the two are happy. But then a terrible fire erupts and the assistant/wife dies trying to protect the researcher's valuable notes. (allmovie.com)
Laddie (Son of Lassie) and his master are trapped in Norway during WW2 - has he inherited his mothers famous courage? (imdb)
The story takes place in Scotland, where plain Maggie Wylie's family, fearing she may become a spinster, finances young John Shand's studies in return for his agreement to marry her in five years. Recognizing his ambitions, Maggie helps to guide his career without his realizing it. He honors his commitment, even though he does not feel real love for her as she does for him. Will he succumb to the wiles of young aristocratic beauty Sybil, or learn to appreciate Maggie's true worth? (imdb)
When Lassie's master dies, an old friend tries to convince a judge that the dog's life should be spared. (imdb)
William McClure is the villlage doctor in a remote Scottish glen. Tricked into buying Lassie, a collie afraid of water, he sets about teaching her to swim. At the same time he has the bigger problem that he is getting older and must ensure the glen will have a new local doctor ready. (imdb)
A horse is offered for sale to the cavalry but is rejected as unfit for service. A cavalry private buys the horse, and trains it to be a champion racer. When he thinks it's ready, he manages to sneak it into England to race in the British Grand National. Based on a true story. (imdb)
Briefly breaking away from her high-gloss modern soap operas, Kay Francis stars as Florence Nightingale in this reverent Warner Bros. biopic. The screenplay concentrates on Nightingale's humanitarian activities during the Crimean War of 1854-55. (allrovi.com)
Showgirl Joan Blondell, supported by her friend Ginger Rogers, fights for the custody of her son during a divorce hearing. (imdb)
When he finds out that his wife is having an affair, a criminologist commits the perfect murder--and pins the crime on his wife's boyfriend so well that the man is convicted of the murder. (imdb)
British officer is assigned to duty in Ireland and gets embroiled in Anglo-Irish battles and old girl friend who is now married to an Irishman. Powell learns more than he wanted to know about "the Irish Problem." (imdb)
Ex-con Chick Hewes (Regis Toomey) tries to go straight with the help of wife Molly (Clara Bow), but circumstances force the couple into involvement in a serious crime. (imdb)
Henry, the pagan son of a white father and native mother, has inherited land and a store, but he prefers the simple life. When he falls in love with a native girl, her guardian, who is trying to bring her up as a 'proper' Christian, but who also lusts after her himself, plots to keep them apart. (imdb)
Winning Back His Love (1910) - Short Film
A Husband thinks the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. His wife shows him its not.
During World War I, criminal Dakin Barrolles, fleeing a bank robbery gone awry, has a chance meeting with a rich, drunken banker and his wife. Fascinated by the kind of people he would ordinarily never get to meet, he steals a locket with the banker's picture. (imdb)
Sons of Liberty (1939) - Short Film
Set during the American Revolution, this colorful 2 reel short tells the story of Haym Salomon, American patriot and financier of the American Revolution. (imdb)
An American, working for his oil company in China, disregards all but the company's interests. " The characters and the institution portrayed in the story are not actual but the product of fiction. The oil business was chosen because light has ever been symbolic of progress." (imdb)
Just prior to the outbreak of World War I, in the British West African town of Akkra, English woman Myra Carson becomes involved in a scandal and is deported. While Myra's ship is docked at Duala, in German West Africa, the war breaks out and she finds herself facing internment by the Germans.
The Italian Barber (1911) - Short Film
Tony, the barber, on his way to the shop meets little Alice, the newsgirl, who runs a stand on a neighboring corner. He at once becomes smitten and can think of nothing else. Later they are betrothed and little Alice fancies she has made a good catch. However, clouds gather when Alice's sister Florence, who is a vaudeville artist, returns from her road tour with her sketch partner Bobby Mack, for the moment Tony sees Florence he transfers his affections to her. (imdb)
The only person that Vanessa wants to marry is Benjamin and they are finally engaged. When a fire sweeps through her fathers house, Benjie is able to save Vanessa, but he cannot save her already dead father. Since Vanessa blames him in her fathers death, they separate and Benjie marries Marion, the barmaid. After realizing that she was mistaken, Vanessa finds that he is married and she then reluctantly accepts the proposal of Ellis. (imdb)
Heart Beats of Long Ago (1911) - Short Film
A feud existed between two Italian houses and it meant disaster to any one of the belligerents to intrude into the opposing house. The Lord of the house gives a feast in honor of the arrival of a wealthy foreign noble, whom he expects to make his son-in-law. The daughter, however, has given her heart to the son of her father's enemy. That he may be present at the festival, she surreptitiously takes her father's signet ring, throwing it to him from the window, which, of course, admits him. (imdb)
The Inner Circle (1912) - Short Film
A lonely widower living in the Italian quarter of the city, whose only solace since the death of his wife is his little child, is reluctantly a member of a secret society existent among his countrymen. The active members of this society have observed with envy the success of another Italian and feel that they should share the proceeds of his industry without working for it, so to this end send the wealthy man a demand for $5,000, ostensibly to defray the expenses of their society.
A 1933 screen test for a proposed, but never filmed, movie version of "Hamlet" in Technicolor, starring John Barrymore - this is the Ghost Scene.
The Battle of the Sexes is a 1914 American silent drama film directed by D. W. Griffith for the Majestic Motion Picture Company. No complete print of the film is known to exist; however, a fragment has survived. Griffith remade the film as The Battle of the Sexes in 1928 as a comedy-drama and this latter version is available on DVD. (wikipedia.org)
The Diving Girl (1911) - Short Film
With her uncle she visits the seashore and goes bathing with a party of her brother's friends. Uncle also takes a dip and is annoyed at the perilous performance of the girl. He orders her from the water and locks her in her room, but brother releases her. He finally concludes that home is the best place for her, for there she will run no chance of drowning.