Erin O'Brien-Moore Movies

Robert Morse recreated his Tony-winning stage role in this 1967 film version of Frank Loesser's Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical. A humble window washer at the New York offices of World Wide Wickets, J. Pierpont Finch applies the lessons he's learned from a book called How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying to wangle his way to the top of the executive heap. Though advised by the mailroom supervisor (Sammy Smith) to keep a low profile and play things "The Company Way," Finch follows his own skewed set of rules, endearing himself to bombastic company president J. B. Biggely (Rudy Vallee) by posing as a graduate of Grand Old Ivy, Biggely's alma mater. As he climbs to the top, Finch manages to dispose of an over-amorous rival by arranging a tryst between that rival and curvaceous secretary Hedy LaRue (Maureen Arthur)--who happens to be Biggely's live-in girlfriend. Finch also gets rid of the troublesome Mr. Ovington (Murray Matheson) by exposing the latter as an alumnus of Old Ivy's hated rival university. Graduating to vice-president, Finch feels secure enough to sing the show's one genuine love song "I Believe In You"--to himself! Actually, he's really in love with true-blue secretary Rosemary (Michele Lee), but won't admit to this until he suffers a career setback. Most of Loesser's songs survived the transition from stage to screen, with the exception of "Paris Original," which is heard merely as background music. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This children's movie details the adventure of a boy (Kevin Corcoran) who tries to unravel the secrets of the Mooncussers, a group of pirates who destroy ships by guiding them onto rocks with a fake lighthouse. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Grace Metalious' once-notorious bestseller Peyton Place is given a lavish -- and necessarily toned-down -- film treatment in this deluxe 20th Century-Fox production. Set during WWII, the film concentrates on several denizens of the outwardly respectable New England community of Peyton Place. Top-billed Lana Turner plays shopkeeper Constance McKenzie, who tries to make up for a past indiscretion -- which resulted in her illegitimate daughter Allison (Diane Varsi) -- by adopting a chaste, prudish attitude towards all things sexual. In spite of herself, Constance can't help but be attracted to handsome new teacher Michael Rossi (Lee Philips). Meanwhile, the restless Allison, who'd like to be as footloose and fancy-free as the town's "fast girl" Betty Anderson (Terry Moore), falls sincerely in love with mixed-up mama's boy Norman Page (Russ Tamblyn). And while all this is going on, "white trash" Selena Cross (Hope Lange) is raped by her stepfather, drunken school caretaker Lucas Cross (Arthur Kennedy). Other characters essential to the action are wealthy Rodney Harrington (Barry Coe), who must pay the price for his dalliance with Betty Anderson; Nellie Cross (Betty Field), Selena's long-suffering mother; and the town's Voice of Reason, Dr. Swain (Lloyd Nolan). This 166-minute soap opera (whittled down to 157 minutes before release) culminates in a spectacular murder trial which lays bare the deep, dark secrets of Peyton Place. Filmed on location in Camden, Maine, Peyton Place was a huge moneymaker (even those who felt that the film was but a heavily laundered shadow of the Metalious original were pleased with the professionalism of it all); it not only spawned a 1961 theatrical sequel, but also a long-running prime time TV serial. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Included are four Christmas episodes from '50s television shows: A Date with the Angels, Racket Squad, The Ruggles and Dragnet. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

Sea of Lost Ships is partly a tribute to the U.S. Coast Guard, but mostly a typical Republic Pictures melange of action, romance and suspense. John Derek plays Grad Matthews, descended from a long line of Coast Guard officers. Through a misunderstanding, Grad is booted out of the Coast Guard academy, but he signs up again as a lowly seaman. When the film isn't detailing the rivalry between Grad and his foster brother Hap O'Malley (Richard Jaeckel), over the affections of the beauteous Pat (Wanda Hendrix), it is offering several nail-biting examples of the Coast Guard's rescue activities on the high seas. Walter Brennan, Tom Tully and Barton MacLane also appear in Sea of Lost Ships, but the film's real stars are special-effects wizards Howard and Theodore Lydecker, whose miniature work -- especially the climactic rescue from an iceberg -- is never less than perfect. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Producer George Pal assembled an impressive roster of behind-the-camera talent -- including noted science fiction author Robert Heinlein and artist Chelsey Bonestell -- for this pioneering sci-fi adventure. Scientist Dr. Charles Cargraves (Warner Anderson), former Air Force General Thayer (Tom Powers), and industrial tycoon Jim Barnes (John Archer) believe that it's time that the U.S. blazed new trails and found new adventures. Convinced that exploration of space is the wave of the future (and that America's dominance in space is vitally important if they are to continue to dominate the Earth), the three men begin planning and constructing a spaceship called "Luna" in the Mojave Desert that will take the men to the moon and back. However, anti-American forces begin flooding the press with propaganda against the moon mission, and finally the men make their way to moon without the aid of the federal government. While the men are thrilled to succeed in their mission, it turns out that they miscalculated the amount of fuel needed to return -- and that the rocket needs to drop a lot of weight if it is to return to Earth. Destination Moon won an Academy Award for Best Special Effects of 1950; the film also features a brief appearance by cartoon favorite Woody Woodpecker, who helps explain how rockets work. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The second of Paul Muni's biographical films for Warner Bros., the Oscar-winning The Life of Emile Zola is by far the best, even allowing for the dramatic license taken with the material. When first we meet French novelist and essayist Zola, he is starving in a Parisian garret with his painter friend, Paul Cezanne. Each time Zola attempts to write "the truth," he is stymied by governmental censors. Still, he is able to achieve both fame and fortune with the publication of "Nana," an unardorned and best-selling tale of a prostitute (whom we can safely assume was not quite as likeable or attractive as Erin O'Brien-Moore, who plays the novel's "role model"). The lion's share of the film is devoted to Zola's attempts to clear the reputation of Army captain Alfred Dreyfus (Joseph Schildkraut), who has been framed on a charge of treason by his superiors and condemned to Devil's Island. Publishing his famous manifesto "J'accuse," Zola leaves himself wide open for public condemnation and criminal prosecution. Though he delivers a brilliant self-defense in court, Zola is found guilty. Forced to flee to England, he continues railing against the unjust, corrupt military establishment, eventually forcing a retrial and exoneration of Dreyfus. Alas, Zola is killed in a freak accident at home before he can meet the liberated Dreyfus. At his funeral, Emile Zola is eulogized by Anatole France (Morris Carnovsky), who refers to the fallen crusader as "a moment of the conscience of man." For various reasons -- some dramatic, some legal -- the actual facts of "L'affaire Dreyfus" are altered by the Norman Reilly Raine/Heinz Herald/Geza Herczeg screenplay.

The fact that Dreyfus was railroaded because he was Jewish is obscured; in fact, except for a very brief visual reference, the word "Jew" is never mentioned. Only those villains whose names were a matter of public record (Major Dort, Major Esterhazy) are specifically identified. Others are referred to as the Chief of Staff, the Minister of War, etc. to avoid lawsuits from their descendants (remember that the events depicted in the film, most of which take place between 1894 and 1902, were still within living memory in 1937). As for Dreyfus himself, he was not freed and restored to rank in 1902, the year of Zola's death, but in 1906-after being found guilty again in an 1899 retrial (Dreyfus died in 1935, outliving everyone else involved in the case). These historical gaffes can be forgiven in the light of the film's overall message: that a single small, clear voice can fight City Hall. If for nothing else, The Life of Emile Zola deserves classic status due to Paul Muni's towering performance, most notably in the unforgettable summation scene: "By all that I have done for France, by my works -- by all that I have written, I swear to you that Dreyfus is innocent. May all that melt away -- may my name be forgotten, if Dreyfus is not innocent. He is innocent." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When Errol Flynn insisted that Warner Bros. cook up a non-swashbuckler for his next vehicle, the result was Green Light. Based on a novel by Lloyd C. Douglas (Magnificent Obsession, The Robe etc.), the film tells the story of a young surgeon (Flynn) who willingly takes blame for a fatal mistake committed by an older doctor (Henry O'Neill). Disgraced, Flynn takes the near-suicidal assignment of testing a new vaccine for spotted fever; to ascertain the serum's effectiveness, he must expose himself to the disease. Flynn's fiancee (Anita Louise), having learned that her lover was not responsible for the older doctor's error, is reunited with Flynn as he lies recuperating from the fever. Weaving in and out of Green Light is the kindly old spiritual leader (Cedric Hardwicke) who espouses the values of sacrifice and faith. Green Light did acceptable box office business, but Errol Flynn was back at his sword-wielding best in his next film, The Prince and the Pauper. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The second screen version of Anna Katherine Green's 1878 whodunit stars Donald Cook as Dr. Truman Hartnell, a dedicated physician who after declaring old Silas Leavenworth (Frank Sheridan) fit for fight is appalled to learn that the wealthy broker is found dead, an apparent suicide. But Silas, who had bandied about the idea of leaving his ill-gotten gains to charity, had plenty of enemies within his own household. And sure enough, as Detective Bob Gryce (Norman Foster) soon learns, the mean old geezer was murdered by a person or persons unknown. Among the suspects: Henry Clavering (Gavin Gordon), Silas' disgruntled business partner; Eleanor (Jean Rouverol), Leavenworth's pretty niece; and Phoebe (Maude Eburne), the victim's cranky old-maid of a sister. A pet monkey also figures prominently in the plot but the original denouement was too gruesome for the British censors and Republic filmed a copout ending for foreign release versions. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Wandering around in the darkness, an amnesiac (Walter Abel) can't shake the feeling that he's murdered someone. When it develops that a prominent (if somewhat shifty) theatrical producer has been killed, our hero thinks that he's guilty. But unemployed actress Marie Smith (Margot Grahame) isn't completely convinced, so she helps him reconstruct the clues and -- hopefully -- track down the real killer. Walter Abel and Margot Grahame are more felicitously teamed here than they'd been as D'Artagnan and Milady de Winter in the previous season's Three Musketeers. Based on a novel by Gelett Burgess, Two in the Dark was remade in 1945 as Two O'Clock Courage (the book's original title). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Adapted from a typically tricky J. B. Priestley stage play, Dangerous Corner is a cautionary fable about the damage caused by telling the unvarnished truth. A burned-out radio tube is the catalyst for a series of painful and potentially dangerous revelations during a weekend party. The upshot of all this is the suicide of party guest Ian Keith and the mysterious theft of a large sum of money. Through an ingenious last-act plot twist (of the kind so beloved by Priestley and his ilk), the audience is treated to both a happy and a tragic denouement. Long ignored by film historians, Dangerous Corner was rediscovered when it popped up repeatedly on the American Movie Classics cable service in the mid-1980s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With Shirley Temple heading the cast of Our Little Girl, it's a moot point as to who plays the title role. Temple is cast as Molly Middleton, daughter of Dr. Donald Middleton (Joel McCrea) and his wife Elsa (Rosemary Ames). Long unhappy in their marriage, Donald and Elsa have stayed together this long only for the sake of cute little Molly. The "big break" finally comes when Elsa falls in love (or thinks she does) with handsome neighbor Rolfe Brent (Lyle Talbot) and Donald has a brief fling with his office assistant Sarah Boyton (Erin O'Brien-Moore). Distressed at the thought of her parent's separation, Molly runs away from home, whereupon her mother and father heap recriminations upon one another, blaming everyone but themselves for the girl's unhappiness. John Farrell MacDonald almost steals the film in the closing scenes as a philosophical hobo who convinces Donald and Elsa to stop thinking about themselves and devote their attention -- and affection -- to Molly. Our Little Girl is based on the Florence Leighton Ptazgraf story Heaven's Gate (the significance of this title is explained at several important plot junctures). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The George M. Cohan-Earl Digger Biggers theatrical comedy/mystery Seven Keys to Baldpate had already been filmed in 1915, 1917, 1925 and 1929 when this 1935 version made its appearance. It turned out to be the second of four talkie remakes of the Cohan-Diggers piece, if one includes the misbegotten 1983 adaptation House of the Long Shadows. The 1935 edition stars Gene Raymond as author William Magee, who wagers that he can write a mystery novel in 24 hours. At the suggestion of his agent, Magee heads to the remote and reportedly deserted Baldpate Inn so he can work undisturbed. Unfortunately, a steady stream of eccentric and highly suspicious characters, including a minor-league crook (Murray Alper) a duplicitous detective (Eric Blore), a damsel in distress (Margaret Callahan) and a murder victim-to-be (Erin O'Brien-Moore) converge upon the inn, all apparently in search of a cache of stolen money. The amusing double-surprise ending works just as well here as it did in all other versions of the Cohan-Diggers play. At the time of this film's release, RKO Radio issued a study guide to schoolrooms, noting with pride that all the "dated" slang in the original Seven Keys to Baldpate had been carefully weeded out -- unmindful that the "improved" rewrite would seem even more dated 60 years hence! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide