Philip Dorn
Actor · 1901 – 1975 · Scheveningen, 's-Gravenhage, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
Frits van Dongen (1901–1975), born Hein van der Niet and sometimes billed as Philip Dorn, was a Dutch actor who had a career in Hollywood. As a teenager he moved out of his parental home to perform in an amateur theatre group; his stage name Frits van Dongen already dates from that period. In the early 1920s, Van Dongen ended up in the professional stage, but it was not until 1934 that he starred in his first film: 'Op Hoop van Zegen'. This film marked his breakthrough as a film star in the Netherlands: in 1935 he played in 'De Big van het Regiment', 'De Kribbebijter' and 'Op Stap' and in 1936 in 'Rubber'. Van Dongen then left for Berlin to work with the likes of Veit Harlan and star in a number of successful German films. In 1939 Van Dongen and his second wife, Jewish actress Marianne van Dam, left for the United States at the invitation of director Henry Koster, who had directed Van Dongen in 'De Kribbebijter'. When he was given a seven-year contract at MGM, Van Dongen changed his name to Philip Dorn. After making his American debut in 1940 with 'Enemy Agent', he would frequently be cast as continental lover, anti-Nazi German or refugee. In 1952 he returned to Europe for several German films and a Dutch theatre tour with Lily Bouwmeester. In 1953 he quit acting in films, partly due to speech problems due to a concussion. He retired for the rest of his life in California, where he died.
Movies24
Movie6.6DramaMusicDiscovery by Flo Ziegfeld changes a girl's life but not necessarily for the better, as three beautiful women find out when they join the spectacle on Broadway: Susan, the singer who must leave behind her ageing vaudevillian father; vulnerable Sheila, the working girl pursued both by a millionaire and by her loyal boyfriend from Flatbush; and the mysterious European beauty Sandra, whose concert violinist husband cannot endure the thought of their escaping from poverty by promenading her glamor in skimpy costumes.
Ziegfeld Girl
1941 · 39 votes
Movie7.2FamilyDramaNorwegian immigrant Marta Hanson keeps a firm but loving hand on her household of four children, a devoted husband and a highly-educated lodger who reads great literature to the family every evening. Through financial crises, illnesses and the small triumphs of everyday life, Marta maintains her optimism and sense of humor, traits she passes on to her aspiring-author daughter, Katrin.
I Remember Mama
1948 · 66 votes
Movie6.0WesternRomanceJohn Breen (John Wayne), a Kentucky militiaman falls in love with French exile Fleurette De Marchand (Vera Ralston). He discovers a plot to steal the land that Fleurette's exiles plan to settle on and aims to foil it.
The Fighting Kentuckian
1949 · 68 votes
Movie7.3RomanceDramaWandered away from his asylum, an amnesiac World War I veteran falls in love with a music hall star but his amnesia makes it difficult to last.
Random Harvest
1942 · 118 votes
Movie6.6AdventureDramaA freedom-loving French journalist sacrifices his happiness and security to battle Nazi tyranny.
Passage to Marseille
1944 · 70 votes
Movie6.5DramaRomanceFrenchwoman Michele de la Becque, an opponent of the Nazis in German-occupied Paris, hides a downed American flyer, Pat Talbot, and attempts to get him safely out of the country.
Reunion in France
1942 · 22 votes
Movie5.9ActionAdventureA scientific expedition happens to discover that gold exists on Tarzan's escarpment. The villainous Medford and Vandermeer kidnap Jane and Boy to extort from Tarzan the location of the gold.
Tarzan's Secret Treasure
1941 · 85 votes
Movie7.6MusicRomanceJanus Fortuin is a goodhearted piano tuner married to a greedy landlady. Their daughter Polly is engaged to young songwriter George van Reen. When rich uncle Barend from Batavia makes a surprise visit — pretending to be a lodger called 'Van Santen' — the Fortuin family finds their lives turned upside down.
Movie8.0DocumentaryThis short celebrates the 20th anniversary of MGM. Segments are shown from several early hits, then from a number of 1944 releases.
Twenty Years After
1944 · 2 votes
Movie6.4DramaMysterySéraphine and her mother arrive in Paris to visit the 1867 World Exhibition. In an overcrowded city they must be accommodated in separate hotels. During the night the mother, who wasn't feeling very well, gets suddenly worse. When next morning Séraphine goes to meet her every trace of her presence has disappeared and everybody denies having ever met her. The bewildered young woman must find someone who believes her. Previous version of So Long at the Fair (1950).
Movie6.7DramaRomanceJohn Van Laer is the overseer of a vast rubber plantation in the Dutch East Indies. His new wife Renee joins him at the plantation, but the monotony of her existence and unbearable heat soon drive her to distraction. One of Van Laer's workmen takes advantage of the boss' absence to seduce Renee.
Rubber
1936 · 3 votes
Movie5.5Drama
Movie6.9WarDramaSubtitled The Fighting Guerillas, Chetniks tells the story of Serbian guerilla fighter General Dragoljub "Draža" Mihailović. Based on the General's own memoirs, the film depicts Mihailovitch (played here by Philip Dorn) as a selfless idealist, leading his resistance troops, known as the Chetniks, on one raid after another against the Germans during WW II.
Chetniks!
1943 · 7 votes
Movie9.0DramaThrillerEscaped Nazi POWs hold the denizens of a California resort hostage.
Escape in the Desert
1945 · 1 votes
Movie7.5DramaThrillerAn American goes to pre-war Germany to find his mother and discovers her in a concentration camp. With the help of an American-born widowed countess he seeks to engineer her escape.
Escape
1940 · 16 votes
Movie8.0DramaAfter some initial difficulties, the daughter of a circus director who died in an accident follows in her father’s footsteps and takes over the business.
Salto Mortale
1954 · 1 votes
Movie7.0DramaThrillerDr. Kildare's friend Dr. Gillespie is called in to investigate when a young man suffering from mental problems disappears on a killing spree.
Calling Dr. Gillespie
1942 · 7 votes
Movie7.0ComedyDer Hampelmann
1938 · 1 votes
Movie4.4ComedyDramaPeter and Delilah are a married couple running a roadside café in Nevada. Their stable partnership turns rocky, though, with the arrival of the sultry Sally, a waitress who catches Peter's wandering eye. Delilah strikes back by hiring Sally's boyfriend as a waiter. Sally is initially dismissive of Peter's advances, but when he wins $40,000 in a lottery, she quickly pounces, turning on the charm and eyeing the easy life.
Blonde Fever
1944 · 8 votes
Movie6.5WarDramaA Newfoundland fishingboat comes to the aid of a wrecked Danish sailing ship and tows it to a small village, but eventually the captain of the fishingboat realises that it's a U-boat supply ship in disguise, loaded with torpedoes. So, together with his crew and a group of villagers he sets about a plan to blow the ship as well as any U-boats that approach it. Based on the novel "The Gaunt Woman" by Edmund Gilligan.
Sealed Cargo
1951 · 23 votes
Movie6.5RomanceDramaA beautiful young concert pianist is torn between her attraction to her arrogant but brilliant maestro and her love for a farm boy she left back home.
I've Always Loved You
1946 · 7 votes
Movie6.3ActionCrimeRoger Quain, escorting two zoo-bound black panthers on the train from Milan to Paris, is unaware that a Western agent, Catherine Ullven, has hidden a microfilm in the collar of one of the animals. But when the train is derailed in the Swiss Alps and the panthers escape, she is forced to involve him in her mission, which now includes enemy agents hunting the microfilm, the animals, Catherine and Roger.
Spy Hunt
1950 · 11 votes
Movie6.6AdventureDramaA World War II Hollywood propaganda film detailing the dark underside of Nazism and the Third Reich set between two brothers, Kurt and Erik Franken, whom are SS officers in the Nazi party. Kurt learns and exposes the evils of the system to Erik and tries to convince him of the immoral stance that marches under the symbol of the swastika.
Underground
1941 · 9 votes
Movie6.7DramaAdventureAfter a passionate affair in Paris, adventurer Sascha Demidoff can no longer forget Sitha, the beautiful Maharani of Eshanpur. He travels through the wilderness of India to the maharaja's palace, where Sitha still returns his passion. But when his connection to her becomes apparent, he finds himself exposed to the revenge of the deceived maharaja. It is only with Sitha's help that he narrowly escapes from a ravenous tiger in the predator courtyard and flees with her from the palace to Berlin. Meanwhile, the architect Fürbringer is waiting for a message from Eschnapur, where he has been promised the construction of several large buildings. However, Fürbringer's friend and first draughtsman Sperling returns from India without having achieved anything. When Fürbringer's fiancée, Irene Traven, discovers that the maharajah is in Berlin incognito, she gains access to him and manages to get the prince to award her fiancé the building contract...