Known for Writing
Daniel Mainwaring (aka Geoffrey Homes) (July 22, 1902 – January 31, 1977) was an American novelist and screenwriter. A native of Oakland, California, he began his professional career as a journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle and enjoyed a successful career as a mystery novelist (under the name Geoffrey Homes). He worked as a film publicist and eventually abandoned fiction for a successful career as a screenwriter. His first novel (and the only one he ever published under his own name), One Against the Earth, was a proletarian novel about a young man born on a California ranch who becomes a drifter and is eventually unjustly accused of attacking a child, was published in 1932. He made his real mark, however, with a string of hard-boiled mystery novels (mostly with small-town California settings), the first of which was The Man Who Murdered Himself (1936). His final published novel, Build My Gallows High (William Morrow & Co., 1946), is generally regarded as his best—and its adaptation (by "Homes" himself) into the film noir classic Out of the Past assured his place in film history. Mainwaring explained to interviewer Pat McGilligan that he regarded the novel as a departure from his earlier literary efforts: With Build My Gallows High, I wanted to get away from straight mystery novels. Those detective stories are a bore to write. You've got to figure out "whodunit". I'd get to the end and have to say whodunit and be so mixed up I couldn't decide myself. (Wikipedia)
Born
July 22, 1902
Died
January 31, 1977 (age 74)
Birthplace
Oakland, California, USA
Filmography
49 films


Catacombs
1965 · 1h 24m
country: United Kingdom
A rich woman who uses meditation to deal with pain is visited by her niece who returns from Paris. The woman can be a handful and one of her employees suggests to her husband that he kill her freeing them both. When an affair starts between the husband and the niece murder becomes a real possibility. However some people won't stay dead.


The Gun Runners
1958 · 1h 23m
country: United States
Remake of "To Have and Have Not" based on Hemingway short story. Plot reset to early days of Cuban revolution. A charter boat skipper gets entangled in gunrunning scheme to get money to pay off debts. Sort of a sea-going film noir with bad girl, smarmy villain, and the "innocent" drawn into wrong side of law by circumstances.


Space Master X-7
1958 · 1h 11m
country: United States
A fungus dubbed "Blood Rust" from outer space threatens to destroy the Earth.


Cole Younger, Gunfighter
1958 · 1h 18m
country: United States
An outlaw must decide whether to stick his neck out for an innocent man.


Invasion of the Body Snatchers
1956 · 1h 20m
country: United States
A small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.


The Phenix City Story
1955 · 1h 40m
country: United States
A crime-busting lawyer and his initially reluctant attorney father take on the forces that run gambling and prostitution in their small Southern town.


A Bullet for Joey
1955 · 1h 25m
country: United States
Raoul Leduc is a police inspector trailing a spy who plots to kidnap an important American atomic scientist. Joe Victor a gangster who is hired to carry out the abduction, balks when he learns what is at stake and helps Leduc out instead.


An Annapolis Story
1955 · 1h 21m
country: United States
Two brothers, both cadets at Annapolis, fall in love with the same girl.


The Desperado
1954 · 1h 20m
country: United States
"Only a fool sticks his neck out for somebody else. Don't get in the habit of it." Outlaw gunslinger Sam Garrett offers that sage wisdom to fellow fugitive Tom Cameron, who's on the run from the "Bluebellies," Texas State Police officers who wield a brutal iron fist of enforcement in the early 1870s. But quick-draw, hard-bitten Garrett soon decides not to take his own advice after young Cameron heads home to surrender - and instead gets framed for a revenge murder by a jealous rival for the affections of his girl.


Black Horse Canyon
1954 · 1h 21m
country: United States
The story of a wild black stallion and the cowboys who set out to capture him.


Southwest Passage
1954 · 1h 15m
country: United States
As the Cavalry tests the viability of bringing camels to US deserts, a surveyor, Arab drivers, and fugitive bank robbers confront Apaches and thirst. Originally filmed in 3-D


Those Redheads from Seattle
1953 · 1h 30m
country: United States
A woman takes her four beautiful daughters to Alaska during the Gold Rush to find their fortune.


Bugles in the Afternoon
1952 · 1h 25m
country: United States
Old enemies stationed together at an Army post vie for the same woman.


This Woman Is Dangerous
1952 · 1h 40m
country: United States
A crime gang leader is losing her sight, so while her lover goes into hiding, she checks in to the hospital for extensive surgery to recover her eyesight. There she is treated by a handsome young doctor. As expected not only does the doctor successfully open her eyes, he also opens her heart for him.


The Last Outpost
1951 · 1h 29m
country: United States
The cavalry defend a small town from indians.


The Eagle and the Hawk
1950 · 1h 44m
country: United States
Texas Ranger Todd Crayden is assigned a suicide mission South of the Border, to smuggle a government agent into Mexico...


The Big Steal
1949 · 1h 11m
country: United States
Army Lieutenant Halliday, accused of stealing the Army payroll, pursues the real thief on a frantic chase through Mexico aided by the thief's ex-girlfriend and is in turn being chased by his accuser, Capt. Blake.


Roughshod
1949 · 1h 28m
country: United States
Rancher Clay and his brother, Steve, head out across the Sonora mountain pass, followed by Lednov, an ex-con seeking revenge on Clay for putting him behind bars. Clay and Steve unexpectedly cross paths with a group of dance hall girls -- including Mary, Marcia and Helen -- whose stagecoach has broken down, and help them get to the nearest ranch, where Lednov unfortunately catches up to Clay.


Out of the Past
1947 · 1h 37m
country: United States
The peaceful life of a gas station owner is disrupted when a man from his past arrives in town and forces him to return to the dark world he had tried to escape.


Swamp Fire
1946 · 1h 9m
country: United States
Buster Crabbe and Johnny Weissmuller battle it out in Cajun country! Johnny, a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi, is seduced away from his fiance (Carol Thurston) by a rich outsider (Virginia Grey) who's nursed him back to health after a serious accident. She owns a large piece of the swamp and has outlawed hunting on her property. His rival Mike (Crabbe) is a trapper who harbors deep resentment for Johnny and his new wealthy friends. When he feels Johnny is responsible for the hunting ban, he resorts to destructive acts of vengeance.


Big Town
1946 · 1h
country: United States
A newspaper editor goes on an anti-crime crusade, but gets carried away.


They Made Me a Killer
1946 · 1h 4m
country: United States
A fugitive receives help from a victim's sister as he tries to clear his name of robbery and murder charges.


Tokyo Rose
1946 · 1h 9m
country: United States
Lotus Long plays the title role, an American-educated Japanese woman broadcasting enemy propaganda to American troops. Captured GI Pete Sherman is one of a group of POWS slated to be interviewed on Tokyo Rose's radio program. Instead of advising his comrades to surrender (as ordered), Sherman uses his innate Yankee knowhow to hoist the treacherous deejay on her own petard. Managing to make his escape, Sherman hooks up with the Japanese Underground, convincing anti-militarist Charlie Otani to aid in a kidnapping plot aimed at Tokyo Rose.


Scared Stiff
1945 · 1h 5m
country: United States
A meek reporter happens upon a murder, an escaped gangster and a stolen jade chess set.


Secrets of the Underground
1942 · 1h 10m
country: United States
With the help of a WAAC group, Mr. District Attorny smashes a Nazi spy-ring that is selling counterfeit War Stamps and Bonds.