Boris Ingster

Writing

Boris Ingster

Born October 29, 1903 · Riga, Russian Empire

Died August 3, 1978 · aged 74

Boris Ingster (October 29, 1903 - August 2, 1978) was a Latvian-American screenwriter, film and television director and producer notable for his role in launching the film noir genre. In the 1930s he was a screenwriter on several films. He made his directorial debut in 1940 with the film noir movie Stranger on the Third Floor. In the 1950s and 1960s he shifted much of his attention to producing te…

Known For

Happy LandingHappy Landing · 1938
Happy Landing
6.31938
MovieComedyMusic
Bandleader and manager discover skater in Norway. They become rivals as she returns with them to America.
Guns of DiabloGuns of Diablo · 1964
Guns of Diablo
5.21964
MovieRomanceWestern
14-year-old Kurt Russell plays Jamie, an orphaned boy heading westward with a wagon train. Charles Bronson is a wagon scout Linc Murdock, who runs into difficulties when he meets old flame Maria, who is now married to corrupt lawman Rance Macklin. The jealous Macklin has Murdock arrested, but Maria frees him, permitting Murdock and Jamie to embark on a new adventure involving a "lost" gold mine. Edited from TV series, The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters
Stranger on the Third FloorStranger on the Third Floor · 1940
Stranger on the Third Floor
6.51940
MovieCrimeDrama
Newspaper reporter Michael Ward plunges into a nightmare of guilt, fearing that his "evidence" has sentenced the wrong man to death.
Dancing PirateDancing Pirate · 1936
Dancing Pirate
5.71936
MovieMusicAdventure
Jonathan Pride is a mild-mannered dance instructor in 1820 Boston. En route to visit relatives, Jonathan is shanghaied by a band of zany pirates and forced to work as a galley boy. When the pirate vessel arrives at the port of Las Palomas, Jonathan, clad in buccaneer's garb, makes his escape. Everyone in Las Palomas, including Governor Alcalde (Frank Morgan) and fetching senorita Serafina (Steffi Duna), assumes that Jonathan is the pirate chieftain, leading to a series of typical comic-opera complications.
Cloak and DaggerCloak and Dagger · 1946
Cloak and Dagger
6.51946
MovieDramaThriller
Italian partisans help a professor sent by the OSS to find an atomic scientist held by Nazis.
The Karate KillersThe Karate Killers · 1967
The Karate Killers
5.11967
MovieActionAdventure
International spies Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin travel around the globe in an effort to track down a secret formula that was divided into four parts and left by a dying scientist with his four of five daughters, all of whom live in different countries. His widow, Amanda, is murdered at the beginning by the counter-spies of the organization THRUSH. Evil THRUSH agent Randolph also wants the formula, and is aided by his karate-chopping henchmen.
CaliforniaCalifornia · 1947
California
6.81947
MovieWestern
"Wicked" Lily Bishop joins a wagon train to California, led by Michael Fabian and Johnny Trumbo, but news of the Gold Rush scatters the train. When Johnny and Michael finally arrive, Lily is rich from her saloon and storekeeper (former slaver) Pharaoh Coffin is bleeding the miners dry. But worse troubles are ahead: California is inching toward statehood, and certain people want to make it their private empire.
The Spy in the Green HatThe Spy in the Green Hat · 1967
The Spy in the Green Hat
6.61967
MovieActionAdventure
"Spy in the Green Hat, The (1966)" on the other hand, is both exciting AND funny. Especially the scene where Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) hides from THRUSH agents under a young woman's (the incredibly cute Letícia Román) bed and is caught by the woman's grandmother (Penny Santon), who is forcing Solo to marry the young woman. He successfully escapes, but is hunted by a legion of stereotyped Italian gangsters. Now that's comedy.

Filmography

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Paris UndergroundParis Underground · 1945
Paris Underground
6.21945
MovieDramaWar
Constance Bennett both produced and starred in the espionager Paris Underground. Bennett and Gracie Fields play, respectively, an American and an English citizen trapped in Paris when the Nazis invade. The women team up to help Allied aviators escape from the occupied city into Free French territory. The screenplay was based on the true wartime activities of Etta Shiber, who engineered the escape of nearly 300 Allied pilots. British fans of comedienne Gracie Fields were put off by the scenes in which she is tortured by the Gestapo, while Constance Bennett's following had been rapidly dwindling since the 1930s; as a result, the heartfelt but tiresome Paris Underground failed to make a dent at the box-office. It would be Constance Bennett's last starring film--and Gracie Fields' last film, period.

Screenplay