David Butler
4 credits on HibingeTV
American film director, actor, and screenwriter (1894-1979) who directed over 50 films from the 1920s through the 1960s. He began as a child actor in silent films before transitioning to directing, helming The College Hero (1927) and later directing Shirley Temple films for Fox, including The Little Colonel (1935) and Heidi (1937). He also directed numerous television episodes, including work on Leave It to Beaver and Wagon Train.
Directed
Sci-Fi, Comedy
A 1930 American pre-Code science fiction musical comedy directed by David Butler, notable for its imaginative portrayal of New York City in 1980. The film follows a man from 1930 (El Brendel) who is struck by lightning and revived by scientists 50 years later in a world where airplanes have replaced cars, numbers have replaced names, pills have replaced food, and babies come from vending machines. He befriends J-21 (John Garrick), who can't marry the girl of his dreams (Maureen O'Sullivan) until he proves himself on a rocketship expedition to Mars. The film was a lavish production for Fox, budgeted at over $1 million, and was one of the first science fiction musicals. The film entered the public domain via non-renewal of its copyright.
Sci-Fi · Comedy · Musical
Just Imagine
1930 - Sci-Fi
Comedy, Drama
A silent college sports drama directed by David Butler for Columbia Pictures. The film follows a college student who rises from underdog to campus hero through athletic prowess, navigating romance and rivalry along the way. Pauline Garon stars as the love interest in one of the many college-themed films that were popular in the 1920s. The film is a product of the era's fascination with collegiate culture, which would reach its peak with Harold Lloyd's The Freshman (1925). The film is in the public domain.
Comedy · Drama · Silent
The College Hero
1927 - Comedy
Acted In
Comedy, Romance
The Man on the Box is a 1925 silent comedy film directed by Charles Reisner for Warner Bros., starring Syd Chaplin (Buster Keaton's half-brother). Based on the 1904 novel by Harold MacGrath, the film follows a wealthy young man who disguises himself as a gardener to be near the woman he loves, only to discover that the butler is an enemy spy planning to steal military secrets. As a 1925 work, the film is in the public domain.
Comedy · Romance
The Man on the Box
1925 - as Bob's Brother-in-Law
Drama, Western
A King Vidor silent western based on Ralph Connor's novel, shot on location in the Sierra foothills. John Bowers plays a missionary preacher who arrives in a rough cowboy camp determined to build a church in the saloon, while Colleen Moore is the rancher's daughter injured in a cattle stampede whom he helps heal. Vidor packed the film with action, including a climactic stampede, and the production built its own "Vidor Village" set in the mountains. As a work published before 1930, it is in the public domain in the United States.
Drama · Western · Silent
The Sky Pilot
1921 - as Bill Hendricks