Director William A. Wellman (1896)

Lafayette Escadrille (1958) is an American war film produced by Warner Bros. It marks the final work of director William A. Wellman, who also wrote the original story. The film follows Thad Walker, a privileged youth from Boston who flees to France during World War I after getting into legal trouble. In Paris, he meets fellow Americans ‘Duke’ Sinclair, Dave Putnam, Tom Hitchcock, and Bill Wellman at a bar where they hear about an exciting new opportunity: joining the recently formed Lafayette Escadrille and becoming volunteer pilots for France. The group enlists and trains together before ultimately becoming ...

The Public Enemy (1931) is an American pre-Code gangster film, produced and distributed by Warner Bros. Directed by William A. Wellman and starring James Cagney, the film follows the story of Irish-American friends Tom Powers and Matt Doyle in 1900s Chicago. They start off with petty theft, selling their stolen goods to a man known as ‘Putty Nose’. Tempted by the promise of protection, they join his gang for a fur warehouse robbery. However, things go wrong when Tom accidentally shoots a stuffed bear, alerting the police who kill one of the gang members, Larry ...