Mignon O'Doherty Movies

In this mystery, a movie producer gets bored with his wife and begins an affair with a fiery actress. In the end, he jilts his mistress and returns to his wife. The trouble begins when someone stabs the actress and he is labelled the prime suspect by a detective. Later the producer discovers that the actress is still alive, and that the detective was her husband. A real murder follows and the producer is arrested. His loyal wife launches her own investigation and proves that her husband was innocent. The real killer, the husband of the actress, ends up killed in a car wreck. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This waterlogged adaptation of an obscure Grand Guignol stage play finds a hapless couple (Dermot Walsh and Hazel Court) convinced that their newly-acquired yacht is haunted by mysterious and deadly forces. After numerous fatalities, the couple eventually hires a paranormal investigator (John Robinson), who uncovers the yacht's bloody history and determines that the craft is occupied by the vengeful ghosts of the former owner's wife and her lover, who were murdered and subsequently entombed somewhere aboard. Writer-producer-director Vernon Sewell -- who filmed most of the scenes aboard his own private yacht -- executes a few interesting paranormal twists on the Old Dark House scenario, and he would revisit the seagoing thriller theme (on the same boat) somewhat less successfully with Terror Ship two years later. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Maytime in Mayfair is concerned with England's high-fashion set, especially those creatures whose designs set the tone for London's upper crust. Two of the leading emporia are located directly across the street from each other, one run by the lovely Eileen Grahame (Anna Neagle) and the other by the charming but scheming D'Arcy Davenport (Peter Graves). Davenport feels threatened by Eileen and would like nothing more than for her to close up her shop. One day, a young man by the name of Michael Gore-Brown (Michael Wilding) appears. As appealing as he is in debt, it turns out that he has fortuitously inherited the shop for which Eileen designs. Although encouraged to sell it immediately and get some desperately needed ready cash, he becomes quite taken with Eileen and decides to hold on to the salon. At the same time, D'Arcy manages to get his hands on Eileen's latest, top-secret designs and disseminates them to the press, which will ruin Eileen. Thinking that it is Michael that has done this terrible deed, Eileen leaves and goes to Paris. Depressed that his true love has spurned him, Michael is all set to sell the business to two buyers (who are secretly acting on D'Arcy's behalf) when Eileen returns, having discovered the truth. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide

Let the People Sing is an offshoot of J. B. Priestly's earlier show business-based fable The Good Companions. In Companions, a trio of mismatched dogooders save a musical troupe from ruin. In Let the People Sing, Alastair Sim is a besotted nobleman who comes to the aid of indigent comedian Fred Emney. Through Sim's intervention, the planned closing of a local music hall is prevented. Even if Sim hadn't let the people sing, as the title implores, they probably would have done so anyway. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on Monica Ewer's novel Ring O'Roses, the British musiccomedy He Found a Star is dominated by the thousand-watt personality of music hall favorite Vic Oliver. He's cast as Lucky Lyndon, a seedy but enthusiastic talent agent specializing in small-time variety acts. Lyndon spends the entire picture searching for the next "big star", never realizing that his secretary Ruth Cavour (played by Sarah Churchill, Winston's daughter) is madly in love with him. By the time he's figured out what's what, Lyndon has nearly come to grief trying to promote ungrateful nightclub songstress Suzanne (Evelyn Dall). An average subject at best, He Found a Star is distinguished by the creative cinematography of Oscar-winning lensman Ernest Palmer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dandy Dick stars the magnificent Will Hay as supercilious village vicar Rev. Richard Jedd, presently anxious to raise enough money for a new church steeple. Though Jedd draws the line at gambling, he is coerced into risking every penny on a race horse called Dandy Dick. Romance enters the picture when the vicar's daughter Pamela (Nancy Burne) falls in love with wealthy Tony Mardon (Esmond Knight), the horse's part-owner. Based on a play by Arthur Wing Pinero, Dandy Dick incorporates a number of comic highlights that Pinero never dreamed of, including the timorous vicar's first airplane trip. The film was one of several Will Hay vehicles directed by Hollywood's William ("One-Take") Beaudine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by J. B. Priestley, this British musical-comedy follows an unlikely trio as they try to revive the fortunes of a floundering touring theatrical troupe. Inigo Jolifant (John Gielgud) is a schoolteacher with a talent for songwriting, and Jess Oakroyd (Edmund Gwenn) is a man with theatrical ambitions who has just lot his job. Together, they persuade Miss Trant (Mary Glynne), an older single woman looking for adventure, to back them as they try to bring "The Dinky Do's" back into the spotlight. Susie Dean (Jessie Matthews) is a chorus girl who dreams of stardom, and when she's made the new leader of the show, it looks as if her dreams may finally become a reality. The Good Companions is buoyed by the superb singing and dancing talents of Matthews, who was considered one of the screen's greatest musical stars in England and Europe, though she inexplicably never achieved the same fame in the United States; Gielgud also got a rare opportunity to display his vocal abilities in this film. Keep your eyes peeled for Jack Hawkins and horror film great George Zucco, who both appear in supporting roles. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide