Movies by James Burke

Call of the Wild

Call of the Wild

Jack Thornton has trouble winning enough at cards for the stake he needs to get to the Alaska gold fields. His luck changes when he pays $250 for Buck, a sled dog that is part wolf to keep him from being shot by an arrogant Englishman also headed for the Yukon. En route to the Yukon with Shorty Houlihan -- who spent time in jail for opening someone else's letter with a map of where gold is to be found -- Jack rescues a woman whose husband was the addressee of that letter. Buck helps Jack win a $1,000 bet to get the supplies he needs. And whe...

City Limits

City Limits

The wealthy president of a big railroad, who's beginning to crumble under the combined pressure of business, personal and physical problems, meets up with a pair of hoboes from whom he starts to learn how to really enjoy life in ways he never knew were possible.

Shady Lady

Shady Lady

A crook becomes the victim of a crafty card player who works for the District Attorney.

Can This Be Dixie?

Can This Be Dixie?

A young girl and her uncle who run a traveling medicine show lend their efforts to salvage an old plantation.

The Affair of Susan

The Affair of Susan

Two people go to Coney Island to find romance and wind up in jail.

A Close Call for Ellery Queen

A Close Call for Ellery Queen

Amateur sleuth Ellery Queen learns the truth about a businessman's two long-lost daughters.

Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime

Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime

Several days after one of his company's dams burst, ruining the life savings of several investors, a shady power company president is found stabbed to death. Ellery Queen gets to the bottom of the mystery.

The Gas House Kids in Hollywood

The Gas House Kids in Hollywood

The Gas House Kids, the very poor man's Bowery Boys, head for Hollywood.

Night Wind

Night Wind

A boy tries to protect his dog, a German shepherd that served with U.S. Army forces after it begins attacking strangers several years after the war.

I Love a Bandleader

I Love a Bandleader

A painter suffering from amnesia convinces himself that he's a famous bandleader and finds romance with a pretty singer. Comedy with music.

Unforgettable Christmas

Unforgettable Christmas

If Princess Colette were to get a Christmas wish, she would rather be a fashion designer than heir to her country's throne, but when she works for designer Wilson James on a collection, she finds both her true calling and her true love.

Reaching for the Sun

Reaching for the Sun

Comedy of a North Woods clam-digger who journeys to Detroit to earn money for outboard motor by working on auto assembly line.

Dancing Feet

Dancing Feet

Peyton Wells (Ben Lyon) rescues Judy Jones (Joan Marsh) from a very dull young man, at a sedate party given for her by her multi-millionaire grandfather Silas P. Jones (Purnell Pratt.) Judy refuses to accompany Peyton on a slumming trip to a cheap dance hall, and Peyton dances with several of the dowagers and tells them that Silas is practically dying of scarlet fever. The guests hastily depart and Joan joins Peyton at the Dreamland Dance Hall. She is mistaken by Jimmy Cassidy (Edward J. Nugent) as one of the hostesses and decides to dance w...

Song and Dance Man

Song and Dance Man

Julia and Hap are a dance team. He drinks and gambles, she succeeds for a while with the help of producer Alan.

The Neuron Suite

The Neuron Suite

James Burke roams the Hotel del Coronado, using its services as a metaphor for the neuro-chemical activity of the human brain.

Case of the Missing Man

Case of the Missing Man

After an argument with his newspaper's city editor, press-photographer Jimmy Hudson quits his job and takes up free-lancing as a street-photographer for a living. He stumbles across the robbing of a jewelry store and takes a picture of one of the robbers as he is leaving the scene-of-the-crime in which murder has also been committed. At the risk of his own life, over the protests of his sweetheart, he sets a trap to catch the crook.

Shamrock Hill

Shamrock Hill

A young girl holds a special place in her heart for a place called Shamrock HIll, and she tries to stop it from having a television station built on it.

The Timber Trail

The Timber Trail

Monte Hale is a stagecoach driver for Jed Baker's stage-line. Jed believes his brother, Ralph, is behind the many hold-ups of his stagecoaches but has no proof. Ralph, in turn, blames Jed for the attacks on the linemen of his pioneer telegraph company. Big Bart, a ruthless gunman and outlaw-gang leader working for crooked banker Jordan Weatherbee, is actually behind the troubles of both companies. Bart plans to frame Jed for a double-murder and then kill him. Monte saves his life and, together, they devise a plan of their own to bring an end...

Life Begins with Love

Life Begins with Love

A spoiled playboy is forced to leave town to avoid the press, which latches on to his statement, while tipsy, that he will give away his fortune. He disguises himself and gets a job as a laborer at a day-care center. He finds himself attracted to the owner, a pretty young girl determined to make life better for her charges, and he soon begins to question his own priorities.

Ticket to a Crime

Ticket to a Crime

After a jeweler hires a private detective to help him find $50,000 missing from his company, he is murdered while attending a society party; and the private eye, aided by his comely secretary, vies with a bumbling police detective to find the murderer among several suspects, including the dead man's daughter, her current husband, her former husband, and an ex-convict.