John Lee Mahin’s Typical Vibe
Signature vibe

Highest-ranked title
Highest-ranked title
John Lee Mahin has 10 titles in the CriticCrunch catalog across a career spanning the 1930s through the 2010s. 1 ranks in the Top 10%, led by The Bad Seed.
Recurring themes
A widower suspects that his seemingly perfect adolescent daughter is a heartless killer.
Dir. Rob Lowe · With Rob Lowe, Mckenna Grace, Sarah Dugdale

Air Force Colonel Kenneth Penmark and his wife, Christine, adore their daughter Rhoda, despite her secret tendency for selfishness. Christine keeps her knowledge of her daughter's darker side to herself, but when a schoolmate of Rhoda's dies mysteriously, her self-deception unravels.
Dir. Mervyn LeRoy · With Patty McCormack, Nancy Kelly, Henry Jones

Harvey, the arrogant and spoiled son of an indulgent absentee-father, falls overboard from a transatlantic steamship and is rescued by a fishing vessel on the Grand Banks. Harvey fails to persuade them to take him ashore, nor convince the crew of his wealth. The captain offers him a low-paid job, until they return to port, as part of the crew that turns him into a mature, considerate young man.
Dir. Victor Fleming · With Freddie Bartholomew, Spencer Tracy, Lionel Barrymore

A medical examiner discovers that an innocent shooting victim in a robbery died of bubonic plague. With only 48 hours to find the killer, who is now a ticking time bomb threatening the entire city, a grisly manhunt through the seamy underworld of the New Orleans Waterfront is underway.
Dir. Elia Kazan · With Richard Widmark, Paul Douglas, Barbara Bel Geddes

A Roman Catholic nun and a hard-bitten US Marine are stranded together on a Japanese-occupied island in the South Pacific during World War II. Under constant threat of discovery by a ruthless enemy, they hide in a cave and forage for food together. Their forced companionship and the struggle for survival forge a powerful emotional bond between them.
Dir. John Huston · With Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum

After fierce Roman commander Marcus Vinicius becomes infatuated with beautiful Christian hostage Lygia, he begins to question the tyrannical leadership of the despotic emperor Nero.
Dir. Mervyn LeRoy · With Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Leo Genn

A Union Cavalry outfit is sent behind confederate lines in strength to destroy a rail supply center. Along with them is sent a doctor who causes instant antipathy between him and the commander. The secret plan for the mission is overheard by a southern belle who must be taken along to assure her silence.
Dir. John Ford · With John Wayne, William Holden, Constance Towers
On a Kenyan safari, white hunter Victor Marswell has a love triangle with seductive American socialite Eloise Kelly and anthropologist Donald Nordley's cheating wife Linda.
Dir. John Ford · With Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly

After striking gold in Alaska, the romantic George sends his womanizing partner Sam to bring his fiancée up from Seattle. When Sam finds that she has already married, he returns instead with Angel, a dancer originally from France.
Dir. Henry Hathaway · With John Wayne, Stewart Granger, Ernie Kovacs

Dr. Jekyll believes good and evil exist in everyone and creates a potion that allows his evil side, Mr. Hyde, to come to the fore. He faces horrible consequences when he lets his dark side run amok.
Dir. Victor Fleming · With Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman, Lana Turner
Top Collaborators
Directors with 2+ shared titles, ranked by frequency