Hugh O'Connell Movies

Cult-favorite director Anthony Mann's second filmic effort was the unprepossessing Universal mini-musical Moonlight in Havana. Allan Jones stars as hotshot baseball player Johnny Norton, in Havana for spring training. It turns out that Johnny has a beautiful singing voice, but only when he's suffering from a cold. Enterprising nightclub manager Barney Crane (William Frawley) attempts to inflict poor Johnny with cold germs, resulting in unchecked zaniness whenever our hero recovers sufficiently to lose his voice. The film's 63-minute running time manages to accommodate the drunken comedy relief of Hugh O'Connell and Jack Norton, and an abundance of musical numbers, courtesy of Allan Jones, Jane Frazee, the Horton Dancing Group, the Jivin' Jacks and Jills and Grace & Nicco. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this cornball musical comedy, a hillbilly gal and her uncle struggle to keep sly city slickers from getting their land. It is an uphill battle as their farm is located on Fifth Avenue, New York City. The slickers then resort to trickery by offering the girl a phony singing gig on the radio. Unfortunately for them, something goes wrong and the girl's heartfelt singing is heard all over the town. Of course she is a big hit. Songs include: "Hey Junior", "You're Telling I", "Manhattan Holiday", and "Puddin' Head" (all by Eddie Cherkose, Sol Meyer, Jule Styne). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Basil Rathbone is the batty physician of the title, a sophisticated gentleman who woos and weds several of his wealthy women patients. Unfortunately the ladies have a bad habit of dying prematurely, with the above-suspicion doctor diagnosing these deaths as the result of disease. Given the film's title, it isn't hard to figure out that the doctor has been knocking off his wives himself through sophisticated medical methods. An intriguing plot twist involves the doctor's loyal male assistant (Martin Kosleck), who tampers with the buried bodies of the victims to hide the evidence; though it's never made obvious by the script, it is implied that the doctor and his assistant have a strong sexual bond between them. The ex-fiance of Dr. Rathbone's latest bride (Ellen Drew) saves the woman from suffering the fate of her predecessors, leaving Rathbone no recourse but a suicidal plunge off a skyscraper. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Leo McCarey was supposed to both produce and direct My Favorite Wife, but an illness forced him to relinquish the director's chair to Garson Kanin, who did a splendid job. This hilarious retread of the old "Enoch Arden" legend stars Irene Dunne as Ellen, who returns home to her husband Nick (Cary Grant) and children Tim (Ann Shoemaker) and Chinch (Mary Lou Harrington) after being marooned on a desert island for seven years. Thing of it is, Ellen has been declared legally dead, and Nick has taken unto himself a second wife, the bitchy Bianca (Gail Patrick). Upon discovering that Ellen is still alive, Nick is on the verge of a tender reunion-until it discovers that she spent those seven lost years in the company of handsome Mr. Barkett (Randolph Scott). The superb supporting cast includes Granville Bates as a flummoxed judge, Chester Clute as a meek shoe salesman whom Ellen tries to pass off as Barkett, and Donald MacBride as a beetle-browed honeymoon-hotel clerk. My Favorite Wife was remade in 1963 as Move Over Darling, in which Irene Dunne and Cary Grant were replaced by Doris Day and James Garner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Mystery House is a perfunctory Warner Bros. programmer which coasts along on the appeal of its stars. When a prominent banker is murdered while on a hunting trip, the dead man's daughter, Gwen Kingery (Anne Nagel), calls in private eye Lance O'Leary (Dick Purcell) to investigate. No sooner has he started gathering clues than another murder is committed?and another?and another?.The culprit wants to cover up an embezzlement scheme, and there is certainly no shortage of suspects. Without revealing the ending, it can be noted that Mystery House offers at least one surprise when Lance O'Leary ends up falling in love not with Gwen Kingery but with wisecracking nurse Sarah Keate (Anne Sheridan). Sarah, in fact, is the leading character in the Mignon C. Eberhardt novel upon which Mystery House was based-except in the original, she's a middle-aged spinster rather than a Hollywood glamorpuss. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With Glenda Farrell having temporarily taken leave of Warner Bros., the actress' signature role of fast-talking girl reporter Torchy Blane was taken over by Lola Lane in Torchy Blane in Panama. Also absent from the proceedings is Barton MacLane as Torchy's loudmouthed police-lieutenant boyfriend Steve McBride; he's been replaced by Paul Kelly, who is frankly better in the role. The plot takes flight when a New York fraternal convention is interrupted by a daring bank robbery. Hoping to crack the story and outscoop her rival newshounds, Torchy Blane heads to Panama by plane, parachute and ocean liner. She manages to beat the other reporters to the punch, and to capture the mastermind of the robbery, with the surprisingly able assistance of McBride's dum-dum sergeant Gahagan (Tom Kennedy). Lola Lane is adequate as Torchy, but there was only one Glenda Farrell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ronald Reagan is his usual sprightly self as ambitious insurance claims adjuster Eric Gregg. While diligently investigating a phony insurance racket, Gregg remains blissfully unaware that his own wife Nona (Sheila Bromley) has become deeply indebted to the crooks. Once this fact surfaces, Gregg loses both Nona and his job. Picking up the pieces is friendly cigar-stand clerk Patricia Carmody (Gloria Blondell), who ends up helping Gregg round up the villains. At the time Accidents Will Happen was released in 1938, the newspapers were jam-packed with stories about big-money insurance frauds; though the film lacks this timeliness when seen today, it remains an enjoyable trifle thanks to the always-dependable Reagan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Edmund Goulding directed this remake of his own 1929 The Trespasser, which starred Gloria Swanson. Here Bette Davis assumes the lead role of Mary Donnell, a young innocent married to a bootlegger. When her husband is killed, she decides to pursue a better life and gets a job as a secretary to attorney Lloyd Rogers (Ian Hunter). Lloyd falls in love with Mary but stoically keeps his feelings hidden from her. One of Lloyd's clients is the millionaire Merrick (Donald Crisp), whose playboy son Jack (Henry Fonda) falls in love with Mary. The two elope and take off on their honeymoon, but Merrick, who feels that Mary is not good enough for Jack, asks that the marriage be annulled. Jack reluctantly agrees and Mary goes back to her old job with Lloyd. But Mary finds that she is pregnant and has a baby boy. She swears Lloyd to secrecy concerning her child and Lloyd agrees. Meanwhile, Jack marries a woman of his own class, Flip (Anita Louise), but she is fatally injured in an automobile accident. Lloyd also falls ill and dies at Mary's feet --but not before confessing his love for Mary. When his will is read, it reveals that he has left Mary and her child a vast fortune. Lloyd's wife (Katherine Alexander) believes the baby boy is Lloyd's illegitimate child, and she tries to overturn the terms of the will. Jack hears about Mary's child, and she confesses that the child is actually his. Merrick then tries to have the baby taken away from Mary, contending that she is unfit to raise the baby. Unable to withstand Merrick's legal hammering, Mary offers the child to Jack and Flip. Mary, distraught after abandoning her baby, leaves on a European trip. While she is gone, Flip dies and Jack leaves for Europe to try to find her. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

This is the second entry in the Torch Blane reporter series. In this episode, ace reporter Torchy, wanting to impress her beau the police lieutenant, begins looking into a notorious murder. She gets a hot tip, boards a plane and sets off to follow up. She is accompanied by two rival journalists. En route, it is discovered that one of them is the murderer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Based on a popular novel by Samuel Hopkins Adams, this screwball comedy stars Errol Flynn in the title-role, the heir to an industrial fortune kept hidden from the world by his imperious grandmother (May Robson). Intrigued by the secrecy, peppy Joan Blondell literally crashes the estate to liberate the young man and the two embark on a whirlwind trip through Pennsylvania. Falling in love with the intruder along the way, Flynn learns how life is lived by the other half -- or at least by the wacky Warner Bros. stock company -- and proves himself to be much more capable than "Grandma" Robson ever imagined. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

Screenwriter Preston Sturges never lets the facts get in the way of a good story in this colorful filmed biography of turn-of-the-century millionaire Diamond Jim Brady. The hearty Edward Arnold stars as Brady, who parlays a small-time railroad supply firm into a thriving financial empire. Once he's in the chips, Diamond Jim indulges in his every whim, lavishing his money on wine, women, song and food -- lots and lots of food. Alas, for all his business acumen, he is never able to find true romance, striking out twice with coquettish Emma (Jean Arthur) and her more sedate look-alike Jane (also Jean Arthur). Along, the way, Diamond Jim also has a casual fling with the fabulous Lillian Russell (Binnie Barnes), but theirs is more a friendship than an affair. Having paid no attention to the truth throughout the film, writer Sturges felt no need to accurately portray Brady's ultimate demise, so he borrows a page from the old George Arliss vehicle Old English by having Diamond Jim deliberately eat himself to death. Edward Arnold would repeat his Diamond Jim Brady characterization opposite Alice Faye in 1940's Lillian Russell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Margaret Sullavan graduates from a girl's orphanage to an usherette's job at a Budapest movie theatre. Bibulous millionaire Frank Morgan makes a play for Margaret, but she keeps him at arm's length by picking a name from the phone book and insists that that's the name of her husband. The man chosen at random is attorney Herbert Marshall, who can't understand why Morgan has taken a sudden interest in him. Morgan offers Marshall a huge contract in hopes that Margaret will be "exchanged", but the truth comes out to everyone's satisfaction. Adapted from a Ferenc Molnar play by Preston Sturges (who added a hilarious movie-within-a-movie in which the "stars" emote by speaking in one-syllable sentences), Good Fairy was remade as the Deanna Durbin vehicle I'll Be Yours (47). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a waitress at a local lunch counter inadvertently foils a bank robbery and finds herself turned into a national heroine by an eager-beaver reporter. Unfortunately, her sudden notoriety causes gangsters to abduct her. The plucky waitress not only manages to talk them into returning her, she also convinces them to go straight. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide