Robert E. O'Connor Movies
Boasting a colorful show-biz background as a circus and vaudeville performer, Robert Emmet O'Connor entered films in 1926. Blessed with a pudgy Irish mug that could convey both jocularity and menace, O'Connor was most often cast as cops and detectives, some of them honest and lovable, some of them corrupt and pugnacious. His roles ranged from such hefty assignments as the flustered plainclothesman Henderson in Night at the Opera (1935) to such bits as the traffic cop who is confused by Jimmy Cagney's barrage of Yiddish in Taxi! (1932). One of his most famous non-cop roles was warm-hearted bootlegger Paddy Ryan in Public Enemy. During the 1940s, O'Connor was a contract player at MGM, showing up in everything from Our Gang comedies to the live-action prologue of the Tex Avery cartoon classic Who Killed Who? (1944). Robert Emmet O'Connor's last film role was Paramount studio-guard Jonesy in Sunset Boulevard (1950). Twelve years later, he died of injuries sustained in a fire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1930
Not the first of the prison pictures, but the one that truly put the genre on the map. Playboy Kent (Robert Montgomery), driving drunk, kills a couple of pedestrians and is sentenced to a 10-year manslaughter term. His cellmate is forger Morgan (Chester Morris), a tough but essentially decent con; the cell-block leader is Butch (Wallace Beery), whose outer oafishness hides a cruel, calculating mind. Butch lives for the day that he can bust out and doesn't care who gets hurt along the way. Panicking, Kent "rats" on Butch and is murdered during the climactic breakout as a consequence. Morgan behaves courageously, saving the warden (Lewis Stone) and the guards from Butch's wrath; as a reward, Morgan earns a reduced sentence and the love of Kent's sister Anne (Leila Hyams). Remarkably brutal for an MGM film, The Big House (a double Oscar winner, for best screenplay and sound recording) established not only the grimy mise-en-scene of prison life, but also a whole new glossary of slang terms and a veritable menagerie of movie "types," from the firm but kindly prison chaplain to the embittered lifer. The film was gloriously lampooned by Laurel & Hardy's Pardon Us, in which Walter Long played the Beery counterpart. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chester Morris, Wallace Beery, (more)
- 1930
Paid was the third film version of the Bayard Veiller stage play Within the Law. Joan Crawford is cast as a shopgirl falsely arrested for stealing and sent to jail for three years. She swears vengeance on the store owner (Purnell Pratt), and to that end sets up a shady but legal racket wherein she and partner Marie Prevost act as "matchmakers" for lonely old men. It's all part of a plan to fleece the store owner by placing him in a compromising position, but Joan is sidetracked when she meets the owner's son (Kent Douglass. Marrying him in order to exact revenge on his father, Crawford falls in love with the young man and abandons her scheme. But once more, Crawford is wrongly accused of a crime, this time of murder. Paid ends happily for all concerned--especially MGM, which remade this reliable property (again!) under its old title Within the Law (1939), with Ruth Hussey in the lead. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Crawford, Robert Armstrong, (more)
- 1930
Having starred in Our Dancing Daughters (28) and Our Modern Maidens (30), the next logical step for Joan Crawford was Our Blushing Brides (30). Crawford is featured with her Dancing Daughters costars Dorothy Sebastian and Anita Page in this tale of three roommates trying to make good in the Big City. Crawford works as a department store mannequin, while Sebastian and Page have jobs as clerks. Robert Montgomery, son of the store's owner, marries Crawford, having failed to "score" any other way; Sebastian weds a thief (John Miljan) whom she mistakes as a millionaire; and Robert Montgomery's younger brother Raymond Hackett takes Page as his mistress, which results in her suicide after he drops her. Our Blushing Brides has plenty to blush about. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery, (more)
- 1930
The one-time-only combination of director John Ford and actors Spencer Tracy (in his first film) and Humphrey Bogart (in his second) should be recommendation enough for the offbeat comedy-drama Up the River. Tracy and Warren Hymer play Saint Louis and Dannemora Dan, two hard-boiled but likeable prison convicts. While in stir, the boys befriend another convict named Steve (Bogart), who is in love with woman's-prison inmate Judy (Claire Luce). Eventually, Steve and Judy are released, whereupon they get married and head to a small town where no one knows of their criminal pasts. It isn't long, however, before the couple's future happiness is threatened by dishonest salesman Frosby (Gaylord Pendleton), the no-good rat who framed Judy. Frosby threatens to expose Steve's prison record if the latter refuses to go along with a scheme to defraud his neighbors. Learning of this situation, Saint Louis and Dan escape from jail, foil Frosby's scheme, and return behind bars just in time to play in a prison all-star baseball game! Nonsensical to say the least, Up the River is also a film that's hard to dislike. It was remade by 20th Century-Fox in 1938, with Preston S. Foster and Tony Martin respectively in the Tracy and Bogart roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spencer Tracy, Claire Luce, (more)
- 1930
Framed represented the return of Evelyn Brent to her old home studio of FBO, which by 1930 had been rechristened RKO Radio. Brent plays Rose Manning, a sexy nightclub hostess who hopes to avenge the murder of her father. Holding the local police chief responsible (the chief is played by William Holden -- but not that William Holden), Rose sets about to seduce and compromise the chief's patrolman son Jimmy McArthur (Regis Toomey), only to fall in love with the boy. To save Jimmy from being put "on the spot," Rose double-crosses her crooked cohort, bootlegger Chuck Gaines (Ralf Harolde). Both contemporary critics and later film historians noted that Framed borrowed freely from such earlier "slice of life" crime mellers as Broadway (which also starred Evelyn Brent) and The Racket. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Evelyn Brent, Regis Toomey, (more)
- 1930
This thriller begins in 1889 as a lover kills another in a mansion. The film then jumps ahead to 1929 as an eccentric antique dealer, his daughter, maid and butler are moving in to the same mansion. Upon the arrival of the daughter's fiance, a reporter, a series of strange murders start. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Winton, Crauford Kent, (more)
- 1930
In this lively drama, a gambler believes he has killed a man and so boards the first train out of town. Unfortunately, a crash ensues and the wounded fugitive ends up recuperating at the home of a minister who has mistaken the card sharp for a traveling evangelist. The opportunistic gambler begins playing along. Time passes and he finds himself falling in love with the preacher's lovely daughter. The gambler is doing well in his new role, but just as he settles down into his happy new life, his past exploits return to haunt him. Luckily he is exonerated and his love finds forgiveness in her heart. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Dix, Mary Lawlor, (more)
- 1930
Bebe Daniels plays a safecracker posing as a French maid in order to gain access to wealthy homes. In the midst of a nocturnal search for a cache of valuables, Daniels is interrupted by Ben Lyon, another safecracker. Narrowly escaping arrest, Bebe and Ben decide to pool their talents, but Bebe gets the urge to reform and encourages Ben to do the same. As it turns out, both thieves are swindled out of their own savings by a seemingly benign old couple. Alias French Gertie, based on the Bayard Veiller play The Chatterbox, represents the first screen teaming of future newlyweds Bebe Daniels and Ben Lyon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ben Lyon, Robert E. O'Connor, (more)
- 1929
When silent star Colleen Moore nervously faced a microphone for her first "sound" test, the results were so positive that virtually every member of the First National executive board shouted unanimously, "Thank God! She can talk!" In the long run, however, it probably wouldn't have mattered if she could have talked or not, since most of her early talkies -- including Smiling Irish Eyes -- were produced by her then-husband John McCormick, who was disinclined to fire his own wife! In her first musical appearance, Moore plays Kathleen O'Connor, an Irish lass in love with would-be songwriter Rory O'More (James Hall). Upon achieving success on Broadway, O'More forgets all about Kathleen and begins dallying with such sophisticated tootsies as Frankie West (Betty Francisco) and Goldie DeVeer (Julanne Johnston). Heading to America herself to be reunited with O'More, Kathleen finds nothing but disappointment and heartache -- not to mention ample opportunities to sing. Adding to the ethnic mix of Smiling Irish Eyes is the presence of two stereotypical Jews, played by William Strauss and Otto Lederer; also on hand is future cowboy sidekick George "Gabby" Hayes, plus teeth and minus beard, as a New York cabbie. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Colleen Moore, James Hall, (more)
- 1929
Released in both silent and sound versions, Isle of Lost Ships stars Jason Robards Sr. as Frank Howard, an accused criminal being transported to prison by no-nonsense cop Jackson (Robert Emmet O'Connor). While sailing towards their destination, prisoner and policeman are swept up in a storm at sea and deposited on an island "decorated" with derelict ships. Having already performed heroically during the storm, Howard further proves his mettle by saving heroine Dorothy Renwick (Virginia Valli) from lecherous privateer Captain Forbes (Noah Beery Sr), killing a marauding shark, and braving the depths of the Sargasso Sea to repair a submarine. Understandably impressed by all this, Jackson changes his mind about following the letter of the law and sets about to prove Howard's innocence. Isle of Lost Ships was later reissued in excerpt form as the Robert Youngson one-reeler An Adventure to Remember. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Robards, Sr., Clarissa Selwynne, (more)
- 1928
Popular film lore has it that The Jazz Singer was the film that established the talkie as the pre-eminent film medium in 1927. But it was Al Jolson's follow-up film, The Singing Fool that actually introduced the sound film to the general film-going population of the United States and it was the popularity of The Singing Fool that paved the way for the wide-acceptance of sound features. Jolson plays Al Stone, a singing waiter at Blackie Joe's cafe, who writes a hit song and sky-rockets to success as a Broadway headliner. Looking ahead to unlimited success, Al falls in love with scheming golddigger Molly Winton (Josephine Dunn), whom he marries. When Molly gives him a son, Sonny Boy (Davey Lee), Al is beside himself with love for his cutey-pie offspring. But when Molly deserts him for small-time gangster John Perry (Reed Howes) and takes Sonny Boy with her, Al is heartbroken. His spirit shattered, Al becomes a bum and, after a time, regains his singing waiter job at Blackie Joe's. Back at the dive, Grace (Betty Bronson), a cigarette girl secretly in love with Al, convinces him to make a comeback. Al struggles and regains his confidence and hits the stage like a trouper -- even when he hears that his beloved Sonny Boy has died in a hospital ward. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Al Jolson, Betty Bronson, (more)
- 1928
Starring Joan Crawford and John Gilbert, this suspenseful, silent crime-drama follows the exploits of a gangster who does his time for manslaughter and emerges from prison determined to reform. Unfortunately, he soon finds it is easier said than done when his former colleagues pay him a call. Fortunately, his loyal gal gives him enough love and support to see that he succeeds. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Gilbert, Joan Crawford, (more)
- 1928
Most of Dressed to Kill takes place at a swank nightclub which serves as an Underworld rendezvous. Heroine Jean (Mary Astor) hopes to recover the bonds that her imprisoned sweetheart is accused of stealing. To do this, Jean sidles up to mob boss Mile-Away Barry (Edmund Lowe), figuring that he was the mastermind behind the theft. Unfortunately, the crooks play for keeps, and by Reel Five it looks as though Jean is going to be taken "for a ride." But Mile-Away Barry undergoes a sudden change of heart, putting his own life on the line to save Jean's. One symbolic touch -- the chief heavy dying from police bullets under an advertising billboard reading "You Can't Win" -- was borrowed from Josef Von Sternberg's Salvation Hunters and would be used again, with variations, in Howard Hawks' Scarface. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Lowe, Mary Astor, (more)
- 1928
The Noose was based on a story by H. H. Van Loan -- or rather, the play adapted from that story by Willard Mack. Cheap crook Nickie Elkins (Richard Barthelmess) is the son of equally dishonest Buck Gordon (Montague Love). When his ex-wife (Alice Joyce) marries Governor Bancroft (Robert T. Haines), Gordon sees an opportunity for blackmail. To save his mother from disgrace, Elkins kills his own father. The outcome of the story is in the hands of poor Mrs. Bancroft: If she tells the truth, she will cause the ruination of her husband's political ambitions; if she remains silent, her son will be hanged. Strong dramatic support is provided by Lina Basquette as Nickie's faithful sweetheart Dot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Barthelmess, Montagu Love, (more)
- 1928
Lewis Stone, best known to modern viewers as kindly Judge Hardy from the "Andy Hardy" series, was on occasion not so kindly in films. In Freedom of the Press, Stone plays a thoroughly corrupt politician named Daniel Steele. Embarking upon a mayoral campaign, Steele sets about to destroy his enemies, starting with newspaper publisher John Ballard (H.B. Warner). He goes so far as to order Ballard's assassination. The publisher's son Bill (Malcolm McGregor), previously an aimless wastrel, takes over the newspaper and mounts an expose of Steele's dirty political machine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Malcolm McGregor, Henry B. Walthall, (more)
- 1926
With a star-director combination like Tommy Meighan and Allan Dwan, how could Tin Gods not succeed at the box office? After the death of his child in an accident, engineer Roger Drake (Meighan) parts company with his politically ambitious wife Janet (Aileen Pringle). Unable to hold onto a job in the U.S., Drake ends up working on a treacherous bridge project in South America. Stricken with fever, Drake is saved through the tender ministrations of native girl Carita (Renee Adoree). But when he recovers, our hero indicates that he may wish to reconcile with his wife, whereupon the heartbroken Carita jumps off the newly-completed bridge to her death. Profoundly affected by this, Drake elects to remain in South America long enough to build a shrine for his lost love. Among the screenwriters for Tin Gods was actor Paul Dickey, who'd previously played Guy of Gisborne in the Allan Dwan-directed Robin Hood (1922). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thomas Meighan, Renée Adorée, (more)
