Discover Movies and TV shows that fit You with our Mobile Application
Biography
Born as Louis Friedlander in New York City, Lew Landers began his movie career as an actor. In 1914, he appeared in two features: D.W. Griffith's drama The Escape and the comedy short Admission – Two Pins, under his birth name. He began making films in the 1930s, one of his early ones being the Boris Karloff / Bela Lugosi thriller The Raven (1935). After directing a few more features, he changed his name to Lew Landers and directed more than 100 films in a variety of genres, including Westerns, comedies, and horror movies. He worked for every major film studio—and many minor ones—during his career. In the 1950s, he began to alternate his movie work with directing television series, including two episodes of Adventures of Superman and the campy Captain John Smith and Pocahontas.
On December 16, 1962, Landers died of a heart attack. His grave is located at Chapel of the Pines Crematory.
Actor Jim McKrell played a TV news reporter named Lew Landers in two films directed by Joe Dante: The Howling (1981) and Gremlins (1984).
Movies & TV shows
1958.
1 Movie · 2 TV shows
TV
Mackenzie's Raiders
1958
Thirty-nine episodes of the American Western television series, "Mackenzie's Raiders," starring Richard Carlson, were aired in the 1960's and 1960's. Art Gilmore was the narrator of the series.
TV
Bat Masterson
1958
Bat Masterson is an American Western television series which showed a fictionalized account of the life of real-life marshal/gambler/dandy Bat Masterson. The title character was played by Gene Barry a...
1957.
3 TV shows
TV
Maverick
5.33
1957
Roy Huggins is the creator of the American Western television series "maverick". The show ran from September 22, 1957 to July 8, 1962 on ABC and starred James Garner as "Bret Maverick," an articulate ...
TV
Whirlybirds
1957
Whirlybirds is a syndicated American drama/adventure television series, which aired for 111 episodes — broadcast from February 4, 1957, through January 18, 1960. It was produced by Desilu Studios .
T...
TV
Sugarfoot
1957
Sugarfoot is an American western television series that aired on ABC from 1957 to 1961. The series stars Will Hutchins as Tom Brewster, an Easterner who comes to the Oklahoma Territory to become a law...
1955.
3 TV shows
TV
Science Fiction Theatre
1955
Science Fiction Theatre is an American science fiction anthology series that aired in syndication from April 1955 to April 1957. It was produced by Ivan Tors and Maurice Ziv.
TV
Cheyenne
1955
Cheyenne is an American western television series of 108 black-and-white episodes broadcast on ABC from 1955 to 1963. The show was the first hour-long western, and in fact the first hour-long dramatic...
TV
Highway Patrol
1955
Highway Patrol is a syndicated action crime drama series produced from 1955 to 1959.
1954.
1 Movie
Captain Kidd and the Slave Girl
1954
Captain Kidd and the Slave Girl is a 1954 Action-adventure film about a woman who disguises herself as a slave girl in order to try to gain information from Captain Kidd about his hidden treasure. The...
1953.
4 Movies · 2 TV shows
TV
Topper
1953
Topper is an American fantasy sitcom based on the 1937 film of the same name. The series was broadcast on CBS from October 9, 1953 to July 15, 1955, and stars Leo G. Carroll in the title role.
Torpedo Alley
1953
After carrier pilot Lt Bingham is rescued at sea by a submarine when he crashes, he applies for submarine duty. During training he competes with Commander Heywood for the affection of Navy nurse Lt Su...
Run for the Hills
1953
Fearing nuclear war, an insurance man moves to a cave with his wife and family.
TV
Terry and the Pirates
1953
Terry and the Pirates is a short-lived American adventure series based on Milton Caniff's popular comic strip, was telecast from June 26, 1953 to November 21, 1953. The syndicated series ran for 18 ep...
Man in the Dark
1953
A prisoner undergoes experimental brain surgery in order to get early parole. He released but has no memories. Things get dangerous when a group of thugs go after him in search of loot he hid before h...
Captain John Smith and Pocahontas
1953
The story of, well, Captain John Smith and Pocahontas. Jamestown. Early 1600s.
1952.
4 Movies · 2 TV shows
Aladdin and His Lamp
1952
A poor young man finds a lamp with a genie trapped inside. The genie promises to grant the man three wishes if he frees him from the lamp.
TV
Mr. & Mrs. North
1952
Mr. & Mrs. North is an American comedy/mystery television series that aired on CBS from October 3, 1952 to May 25, 1954. The series centers on Jerry North, a mystery magazine publisher who thinks he i...
California Conquest
1952
The period is the 1840s and California is part of Mexico. Many of the citizens wish to become part of the United States. Other countries are also interested and the Russians have established bases in ...
TV
Adventures of Superman
1952
With powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, Superman battles for truth and justice.
Arctic Flight
1952
Mike Wein, an Alaskan bush pilot operating the the Bering Sea area, makes friends with John W. Wetherby, posing as a wealth United States businessman. But, in reality, he is a Russian spy on his way t...
Jungle Jim in the Forbidden Land
1952
Jungle Jim is forced to lead anthropologist Dr. Edwards into a land inhabited by giant people.
1951.
7 Movies · 1 TV show
Blue Blood
1951
An out of work racehorse trainer is adopted by the daughters of a wealthy breeder and trains a cast-off horse for the big race of the season.
The Big Gusher
1951
Hoping to strike it rich, four people--two best buddies, a blonde waitress and a cheerful oldtimer--pool their resources so they can drill for oil. A Columbia Pictures B-film from 1951.
TV
The Adventures of Kit Carson
1951
The Adventures of Kit Carson is an American Western series that aired in syndication from August 1951 to November 1955, originally sponsored by Coca-Cola. It stars Bill Williams in the title role as f...
When the Redskins Rode
1951
A French spy (Mary Castle) flirts with an Indian chief's son (Jon Hall) amid war in 1753 Williamsburg, Va.
The Magic Carpet
1951
The dethroned ruler becomes a masked avenger to win back his throne and his lady love.
Jungle Manhunt
1951
Football player Bob Miller, played by an actual football player, is lost in the jungle. Who else to find him but Jungle Jim.
Hurricane Island
1951
Ponce de Leon searches for the Fountain of Youth, but it's not an easy quest, thanks to bad weather, a treacherous lady pirate, warring Florida tribesmen, and a ship's cargo of man-hungry, marriage-mi...
1950.
7 Movies
Beauty on Parade
1950
Marian Medford Woodstock gave up a chance twenty years ago to compete for the Miss USA beauty title in order to marry Jeffrey Woodstock. She hopes to realize her past ambitions for fame and fortune th...
Tyrant of the Sea
1950
In 1803, the only thing standing between Napoleon and his plan of world domination is England and the British Navy. The admiralty, learning that Napoleon has assembled an invasion fleet decides to sen...
Chain Gang
1950
Crusading newspaperman Cliff Roberts masquerades as a prison guard to document inhuman conditions.
State Penitentiary
1950
A man wrongly accused of a crime must decide between getting involved in a prison break, or remaining in jail until his wife can prove his innocence.
Davy Crockett, Indian Scout
1950
It's 1848 and a wagon train with an Army escort is heading west through Indian territory, It's scout is Davy Crockett, nephew of his more famous namesake. There is spy amongst them informing the India...
Last of the Buccaneers
1950
Swashbuckler about the adventures of pirate Jean Lafitte after he helped save New Orleans from a British invasion during the War of 1812.
Dynamite Pass
1950
A cowhand becomes involved in a war between a road construction crew and the greedy toll-owner hoping to thwart the new project.
1949.
4 Movies
Barbary Pirate
1949
U.S. agent Major Tom Blake is sent to Tripoli to uncover who it is in Washington that is tipping off the pirates as to what's being shipped where. A fast-moving story with lots of sabers and rapiers.
Stagecoach Kid
1949
Crooked ranch foreman Thatcher sends his two henchmen, Parnell and Clint, out to murder his boss, wealthy Peter Arnold who has just arrived to retire on his ranch, bringing in tow his daughter, tomboy...
Law of the Barbary Coast
1949
Wayne Adams is murdered in a Barbary Coast saloon and gambling hall in San Francisco in 1880, and his sister, Julie, enlists the aid of the district attorney, Michael Lodge, in gathering evidence in w...
Air Hostess
1949
The Hansen School for Air Hostesses, operated by Celia Hansen, welcomes a new group of students; a librarian named Ruth Jackson; Lorraine Carter, a nurse; and Jennifer White, whose husband was an avia...
1948.
3 Movies
Adventures of Gallant Bess
1948
Ted Daniels, a ranch hand working for a rodeo, captures a magnificent wild horse that he tames and trains. As Ted is recovering from an accident that happened during a rodeo, the rodeo owner cheats hi...
1947.
5 Movies · 1 TV show
TV
Public Prosecutor
1947
Public Prosecutor is a 26-episodes American television series produced in 1947–1948, and first aired in 1951.
The Son of Rusty
1947
The fourth film in Columbia's "Rusty" series is a lecture against spreading gossip. A young army veteran comes to town, and Danny and his friends learn that he had spent time in a military stockade fo...
Danger Street
1947
Magazine owners (Jane Withers, Robert Lowery) sell a revealing photo, then play detective when the deal leads to murder.
Seven Keys to Baldpate
1947
Writer Kenneth Magee has bet that he can finish a story at rural resort Baldpate Inn, now closed for the winter. The owner has given him the "only" key to the front door. But there are six other keys,...
Thunder Mountain
1947
Marvin Hayden returns to find his ranch is about to be sold at auction and the Hayden Jorth feud still going strong. Carson wants the Hayden ranch and tries to kill Hayden. When he fails he kills Chic...
1946.
5 Movies
A Close Call for Boston Blackie
5.63
1946
Blackie runs into a woman he formally loved who now is married with a kid. When her husband gets out of prison he's killed in Blackie's apartment and of course the police thing Blackie pulled the trig...
The Truth About Murder
1946
A young attorney (Bonita Granville) is convinced a murder suspect is innocent in the killing of his wife.
Tokyo Rose
1946
Lotus Long plays the title role, an American-educated Japanese woman broadcasting enemy propaganda to American troops. Captured GI Pete Sherman (Byron Barr) is one of a group of POWS slated to be inte...
The Mask of Diijon
1946
A stage illusionist plots a revenge after a particularly humiliating comeback attempt.
Death Valley
1946
A dance hall girl is murdered and her body is robbed of gold that was obtained illegally. The rightful owner of the gold and her sweetheart are confronted by the killer as he flees into Death Valley.
1945.
8 Movies
Shadow Of Terror
1945
A scientist possessing the formula for making a nuclear bomb finds himself chased by evil gangsters in this thriller that was made just after the A-bomb was dropped upon Hiroshima.
Trouble Chasers
1945
A pair of gangsters are under the mistaken impression that three goofballs know the location of a valuable stolen necklace.
Arson Squad
1945
Tom Mitchell is an insurance investigator and Fire Capt. Joe Dugan is chief of the police department's arson troubleshooters. Tom and Joe team up to solve a particularly vicious series of deliberate f...
Crime, Inc.
1945
A crime reporter writes book to expose names and methods of the criminal leaders. He is held on a charge after refusing to explain how he got his information, but is released and helps to expose the s...
The Power of the Whistler
5.67
1945
A woman uses a deck of cards to predict death within 24 hours for a stranger sitting at a bar, then tries to help him remember who he is by showing him items in his pockets.
The Enchanted Forest
1945
Director Lew Landers' 1945 children's film is about an elderly hermit, living in a forest and friends with its many birds and animals, who rescues and raises a lost child.
1944.
9 Movies
Stars on Parade
1944
In this musical showcase, two aspiring stars attempt to wow a pair of talent scouts with their stellar abilities. Songs include "My Heart Isn't in It" (Jack Lawrence), "It's Love, Love, Love" (Mack Da...
U-Boat Prisoner
1944
Bruce Bennett plays merchant seaman Archie Gibbs, who manages to survive when his ship is torpedoed by a German submarine. Disguising himself in the uniform of a dead Nazi spy, Gibbs is picked up by t...
Swing in the Saddle
1944
In this tuneful western, two curious actresses head West to find out the name of their secret admirer. Songs include: "Amor," (Sunny Skylar, Gabriel Ruiz), "Hey Mabel" (Fred Stryker), "By the River Sa...
I'm from Arkansas
1944
A town in Arkansas makes national headlines when a local sow gives birth to 18 piglets.
Two-Man Submarine
1944
Medical researchers Jerry Evans and Walt Hedges are assigned by a pharmaceutical company to work at a secret laboratory on a remote South Pacific Island in order to produce penicillium, the mold from ...
Black Arrow
1944
With a plot line mostly lifted from 1941's "White Eagle", Columbia's 24th serial (following "The Desert Hawk-1944" and ahead of 1945's "Brenda Starr, Reporter"), "Black Arrow" finds carpet-baggers Jak...
Cowboy Canteen
1944
Song and comedy revue, featuring Western talents, along with a theatrical troupe taking their vacation on the Lazy B Ranch run by Steve Bradley. Steve is about to enter the army and he and Tex Coulter...
The Black Parachute
1944
A paratrooper drops behind enemy lines to rescue the deposed king of a mythical Balkan nation.
1943.
7 Movies
Redhead from Manhattan
1943
Lupe Vélez plays a dual role, twin sisters Rita and Elaine. After escaping a torpedoed ship, Rita shows up in Manhattan, where she takes the place of her Broadway-star twin sister Elaine (both parts p...
The Deerslayer
1943
Deerslayer, a white man who was brought up by the Mohicans, helps his old tribe when the Hurons steal Princess Wah Tah, the betrothed of his friend Jingo-Good. His friends, the Hutters, are a white fa...
After Midnight with Boston Blackie
1943
Blackie is arrested when retrieving stolen gems from a safety deposit box for a friend.
Doughboys in Ireland
1943
According to Doughboys in Ireland, there were people who sang their way through WW2. Kenny Baker plays Danny O'Keefe, the leader of the Manhattan orchestra, who is drafted into the army along with a g...
The Return of the Vampire
6
1943
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 ...
Power of the Press
6.5
1943
Although he's credited only for story, the dialogue has Fuller's headline punch, and of course newspapering was an alternative universe he knew inside out. A publisher whose once-honest New York tablo...
Murder in Times Square
1943
An actor becomes a suspect in the murders of four New Yorkers injected with rattlesnake venom.
1942.
10 Movies
Alias Boston Blackie
1942
It is the Christmas Holidays and reformed thief, Boston Blackie goes to Castle Theater to pick up players who will perform for prisoners that are still in prison. He takes a girl with him who has a br...
Sabotage Squad
1942
A police lieutenant and a patriotic professional gambler, rivals in life and love, combine efforts to corner a gang of Nazi saboteurs operating out of a barber shop, in which their mutual girlfriend w...
Cadets on Parade
1942
A military school cadet runs away after failing to fit in at sports or school life. He's befriended by a newsboy and they tutor each other, but soon get embroiled in a ransom scheme.
The Boogie Man Will Get You
6
1942
A young divorcee tries to convert a historic house into a hotel despite its oddball inhabitants and dead bodies in the cellar.
Submarine Raider
1942
On December 6, 1941, Captain Yamanada of the Japanese aircraft carrier "Hiranamu", orders full steam ahead for Pearl Harbor. His ship encounters and sinks an American yacht and the single survivor, Su...
Smith of Minnesota
1942
This biopic takes an in-depth look into the life of Minnesota All-American football player Bruce Smith. The story is framed by a screenwriter's interview with the famed halfback. In order to garner in...
Atlantic Convoy
1942
American naval forces are using a port in Iceland as a base for anti-submarine patrols to protect North Atlantic convoys from Nazi subs. The Nazis send undercover agents into the port in a scheme to b...
1941.
8 Movies
Lucky Devils
1941
Lucky Devils casts the mismatched duo as a pair of intrepid newsreel cameramen. When they're not risking their lives coverning the Hot Spots of the world, Dick (Arlen) and Andy (Devine) busy themselve...
Back in the Saddle
1941
Gene returns from the East with new ranch owner Tom Bennett to find everyone's cattle dying. Blaine has reopened the copper mine and the waste is poisoning the water supply. While Gene is away Tom con...
The Singing Hill
1941
If a young lady gives up her inheritance the local ranchers will lose their free grazing land.
Ridin' on a Rainbow
1941
When the showboat hits town, two men use the parade as a distraction to rob the bank. Their accomplice is Pop, the clown from the showboat. He leaves the money on the boat and tells his daughter Patsy...
Harvard Here I Come
1941
Slapsie Rosenbloom receives an award from the satirical Harvard Lampoon for his well-known stupidity. Instead of being enraged, Slapsie Maxie is delighted by the "honor", and promptly tries to enroll ...
Mystery Ship
1941
The Stork Pays Off
1941
Gangster Deak Foster (Victory Jory) and his three henchmen, Brains Moran (Maxie Rosenbloom), Ears-to-the-Ground Hinkle (Horace MacMahon) and Photofinish Farris (George McKay), take over what they thin...
I Was a Prisoner on Devil's Island
1941
A ship's officer is sentenced to Devil's Island for murder after a fatal brawl.
1940.
8 Movies
Sing, Dance, Plenty Hot
1940
In this musical, a con man makes a good living by promoting bogus charity shows. He gets the communities all revved up and then skips town with all their money. But then he meets three earnest people ...
Enemy Agent
1940
A man is framed for being a spy. After he is released, he sets out to find who the real spies are.
Honeymoon Deferred
1940
Edmund Lowe plays an insurance investigator who interrupts his honeymoon to look into the case of a murder, which could also be a suicide, in which case his company won't have to pay the victim's cont...
La Conga Nights
1940
In this comedy, actor Hugh Herbert plays six different roles. Only one of the roles is a man. The story centers around a dizzy music lover, who has grown rich through real estate deals. Also figuring ...
Wagons Westward
1940
David Cook and twin brother Tom are poles apart in disposition and traits. When their father dies, Tom goes to New Mexico to live with his Uncle Hardtack while David remains behind to care for their m...
1939.
5 Movies
Conspiracy
1939
American Steve Kendall, a freighter's radio officer, discovers seaman Carlson sending an unauthorized message ashore as the ship approaches his war-poised homeland. Carlson is shot in cold blood when ...
Pacific Liner
1939
An outbreak of cholera threatens a luxury liner in this surprisingly low-budget melodrama from RKO. En route from Shanghai to San Francisco, chief engineer Crusher McKay (Victor McLaglen) and shipboar...
Bad Lands
1939
A sheriff and his posse set out to catch a murderer, but their mission proves more dangerous than anyone suspected after they become stranded in the desert and attacked by Apaches.
1938.
8 Movies
Smashing the Rackets
1938
Jim 'Socker' Conway, former boxer and FBI hero, is maneuvered for political reasons into a do-nothing job in the district attorney's office. Meanwhile, he meets wild debutante Letty Lane, girlfriend o...
Law of the Underworld
1938
A respected citizen with secret ties to the local mob is faced with revealing his criminal connections to save two innocent people from execution
Double Danger
1938
A crime novelist devises a scheme to catch the thief who has stolen the valuable "Konjer Diamonds". Director Lew Landers' 1938 B-film stars Preston Foster, Whitney Bourne, Cecil Kellaway, Donald Meek,...
Sky Giant
1938
Given the job of training young pilots for important post-war cargo flights, hard-boiled Col. Stockton forces ex-officer Stag Cahill back into the military to be his aide at the academy. Complications...
Blind Alibi
1938
A Paris sculptor (Richard Dix) fakes blindness in Los Angeles to recover his blackmailed sister's love letters.
Crashing Hollywood
1938
Two gangsters provide details of an actual bank robbery when helping a neophite screenwriter create a hit Hollywood film.
Annabel Takes a Tour
1938
Annabel Allison, star of Wonder Pictures, is irked at her poor publicity, especially when a rival gets engaged to a Marquis; so she makes studio head Webb re-hire disgraced publicity agent Morgan for ...
1937.
7 Movies
They Wanted to Marry
1937
Newspaper photographer Jim Tyler sneaks into a society girl's wedding, and the bride's sister decides she prefers him to her upper-crust suitors. She even likes his pigeon, who travels everywhere with...
Living on Love
1937
A man and woman, who've never met, are forced by circumstances to share the same apartment. A remake of the 1933 film "Rafter Romance".
The Man Who Found Himself
1937
Young Jim Stanton is a conscientious surgeon, but spends too many off-duty hours pursuing his passion for aviation to suit his stuffy father. When it is discovered that a passenger killed in a plane t...
Flight from Glory
1937
Director Lew Landers' 1937 B-film, about a crew of misfit pilots working for an Argentinian air service, stars Chester Morris, Van Heflin, Whitney Bourne, Onslow Stevens, Richard Lane, Douglas Walton,...
You Can't Buy Luck
1937
When a gambler is accused of murder, the pretty orphanage employee he loves sets out to prove him innocent of the crime.
Border Cafe
1937
The spoiled, hard-partying son of a senator runs away from home after being reprimanded by his father, finds himself down-on-his luck in a tiny western town, and is rehabilitated through the friendshi...
1936.
4 Movies
The Adventures of Frank Merriwell
1936
A 12-episode serial in which scholastic sports star Frank Merriwell leaves school to search for his missing father. His adventures involve a mysterious inscription on a ring, buried treasure, kidnapin...
Without Orders
1936
At Portland, Oregon, playboy pilot Len Kendrick (Vinton Haworth) lands at the end of a cross-country record flight, met by his father J.P. Kendrick (Charley Grapewin) who owns Amalgamated Air Lines. L...
Night Waitress
1936
Helen Roberts, who's on probation, goes back to work as a waitress at Torre's Fish Palace, a San Francisco waterfront dive. The customers are low characters trying to make time with Helen and ex-rum r...
1935.
3 Movies
The Raven
5.83
1935
A brilliant but deranged neurosurgeon becomes obsessively fixated on a judge's daughter who in no way wants him. With the help of an escaped criminal whose face he has surgically deformed, the mad man...
Rustlers of Red Dog
1935
A movie serial in 12 chapters: After gold is discovered in the town of Nugget, the titular band of thieves and cutthroats inundates the frontier settlement. A group of three compatriots -- upstanding...
The Call of the Savage
1935
Two competing teams of scientists search the African jungles for a secret formula.
1934.
3 Movies
The Red Rider
1934
"Red" Davison(Buck Jones), the sheriff of Sun Dog, sacrifices his job and his good name to save his best friend, "Silent" Slade from the hangman's noose, following a framed-up court decision which sen...
The Vanishing Shadow
1934
A 12-episode serial in which a son avenges the death of his father at the hands of corrupt politicians. He develops a wide variety of complex devices in his crusade . . . ray guns, robots and a 'vanis...
Tailspin Tommy
1934
A young mechanic gets a job with a small airline, which he helps win a mail contract. A rival airline plots to destroy it in order to get the contracts for itself.
Last updated:
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Lew_Landers", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.