Wait, who's Frank Tuttle? That would've been my question last week.

Tuttle was a director in Golden-Age Hollywood, mostly at Paramount, mostly doing genre stuff, who got tagged as a communist after WWII and was blacklisted. He was tagged as a communist because he was a communist—at least he was a party member for about 10 years—but in 1951 he named names before HUAC. Didn't help. Then he went to France and made movies there. Then he returned to Hollywood. He died in January 1963, age 70. His obits often begin the same way:

Frank Tuttle, noted movie director who gave Alan Ladd his first starring role and who directed other big filmland names, died yesterday.

(I love “filmland names.” Gonna have to use that.)

Among the movies he directed that wound up in the obits? “Hell on Frisco Bay” with Ladd, “The Big Broadcast” with Bing Crosby, and “The Great John L.” Also that first film with Ladd, “This Gun for Hire,” an early noir starring Veronica Lake.

So—back to the original question—one assumes Tuttle might be known for one of these movies? Unless times have changed?

Something's certainly changed. Here's IMDb's answer:

Sure, “The Cradle Buster,” a silent classic starring Glenn Hunter and Marguerite Courtot. Who doesn't talk about that?

Everyone. Everyone doesn't talk about that. But I guess IMDb's algorithm went with it because Tuttle not only directed it but he's its sole writing credit. Of his 14 other writing credits, he's sharing credit or uncredited. So, since he did more for this one, he must be known for this one. That's the logic. Or illogic.

Again, IMDb might just want to look at the intel on its own website. Here's Tuttle's top three movies by IMDb user rating:

1. Dangerously Yours: 8.3
2. A Kiss in the Dark: 7.4
3. This Gun for Hire: 7.3

Except the first two are based on very small sample sizes: just 18 and 26 votes, respectively. So do any of Tuttle's movies have, say, a high number of user ratings? Which might indicate engagement and known-for-ness?

Yes! One does:

1. This Gun for Hire: 11k
2. Manhandled: 1.2k
3. The Canary Murder Case: 1.1k

As for where “Cradle Buster” ranks among number of user ratings? That would be ... let's see ... tied for LAST. With zero. Zilch. Bupkis. Nada. Nothing. In the entire history of IMDb, no one has seen it and bothered to vote for it. But that's what they say he's known for.

It's the illogic that gets me. It's the lack of caring about their own fucking website.