Martha O'Driscoll Movies

Auteur theorists who've charted the career of "cult" director Edgar G. Ulmer have seldom mentioned Carnegie Hall, simply because it was more expensive than most of Ulmer's films and thus can't be regarded a "low-budget masterpiece." The wafer-thin plotline concerns a young immigrant woman (Marsha Hunt) who takes a job as a Carnegie Hall cleaning woman. Her love of music leads her to a better job in the Hall, and after several years she rises to the position of concert organizer. The woman uses her clout to promote her own son's career as a pianist. Carnegie Hall showcases a number of celebrated musicians. Selections include: Arthur Rubinstein performing Chopin's Polonaise in A Flat, Jascha Heifetz performing Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in G Major by Tchaikovsky, Ezio Pinza singing both the drinking song from Don Giovanni and one of the arias from Simon di Boccanegra, Lily Pons singing The Bell Song from Lakme by Delibes, and Jan Peerce singing O Sole Mio.The film also includes musical performances by Bruno Walter,Rise Stevens, Gregor Piatagorsky, Harry James, Vaughn Monroe, Leopold Stokowski, and others. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A Hollywood movie company descends on the Ozarks in this pleasant, if low-budget, musical from PRC undoubtedly inspired by the concurrent success of Broadway's Oklahoma! Despairing of the ill-tempered behavior of Shirley, a scientifically raised mule, Dr. Jane Colwell (Martha O'Driscoll) returns to the farm in Missouri's Ozark Mountains. Shirley's indubitable talents, however, are discovered by a movie company, whose producer, Mike Burton (William Wright), sets out to win the affection of both Dr. Colwell and her obstinate animal, a feat accomplished much to the consternation of the company's star, Gloria Baxter (Renee Godfrey). The expected romantic confusion ensues and three professors from the Midland College Deptartment of Agriculture (Will Wright, Chester Clute, and Paul Scardon) descend on the movie location to put a halt to Shirley's promising screen career. But Mike and his flamboyant director (John Carradine) do their best to placate both the prominent faculty and their beast, and soon everyone is enjoying a typical Missouri hayride. Second leads Eddie Dean and Mabel Todd perform "There's a Rose That Grows in the Ozarks" and "Monkey Business"; Renee Godfrey and the Tailor-Maids take care of "Big Town Gal"; leading lady Martha O'Driscoll warbles "Never Knew That I Could Sing" and "I'm So In Love With You"; and the entire company, including John Carradine, performs "There's Nothing Like an Old Missouri Hayride." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi

This Universal "monster rally", an immediate sequel to House of Frankenstein, would seem to have been deliberately designed as the final entry in the studio's B-horror cycle. Onslow Stevens plays psychiatrist Dr. Edelman, who suddenly has a thriving business when two of Universal's "fright" personalities come calling. Count Dracula (John Carradine) wishes to be weaned away from his vampiric tendencies, while Lawrence Talbot (Lon Chaney), aka the Wolfman, wants to be cured of his werewolfism. Edelman does his best to help, simultaneously attempting to bring the Frankenstein monster (Glenn Strange) back to life. Unfortunately, Edelman inherits the madness, killer instincts and other antisocial habits of his celebrated patients. Only Lawrence Talbot manages to escape from Edelman's lab unscathed, ambling off into the sunset with heroine Militza (Martha O'Driscoll). Universal contract starlet Jane Adams, perennially cast as unfortunate young women with physical afflictions, plays Edelman's faithful hunchbacked nurse. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

One of the last of Universal's "pocket" musicals, Under Western Skies packs a surplus of entertainment value into its brief 57 minutes. Martha O'Driscoll plays Katie, the daughter of travelling showman Willie (Leon Errol). While playing an engagement in a wild-and-wooly Arizona town, Katie runs afoul of a group of bluenoses who harbor a low opinion of show folk. Denied access to the local music hall, the troupe pitches camp at the saloon owned by King Randall (Leo Carrillo). When it turns out the Randall is the head of an outlaw gang, Katie and friends are rescued by shy schoolteacher Tod (Noah Beery Jr.), who happens to be a crack shot! Among the performers in Willie's entourage is the venerable vaudeville team of Al Shaw and Sam Lee, whose routines are older than dirt and just about as funny. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this crime drama, a former card shark finally gets paroled and decides to take his singing niece to Chicago to make a new start. Unfortunately, the musical niece ends up working at a gangster's nightclub and the gambler, unable to resist the lure of easy money, returns to card playing. Later an investigating attorney falls in love with the singer whose boss he has been assigned to ultimately prosecute. Songs include: "In Love with Love," "Mam'selle Is on Her Way" (George Waggner, Milton Rosen), "Tango" (Edgar Fairchild), and "Cuddle Up a Little Closer" (Karl Hoschna, Otto Harbach). ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Colonel Breckinridge Marshall (Walter Catlett) of Clearwater, GA -- who puts on a big front but is actually only a step away from the poor house -- rents a luxurious townhouse in Manhattan in anticipation of the Carnegie Hall debut of his two daughters, singer Melinda (Gloria Jean) and pianist/singer Susannah (Martha O'Driscoll). But on their first night there, they hear strange noises and other disturbances, including the sound of someone tap-dancing -- Susannah runs for help to the next building, which turns out to be a nightclub where Olsen (Ole Olsen) and Johnson (Chic Johnson) are working, and finds herself in the middle of one of their "nut humor" Hellzapoppin'-style sketches. The two comics try to make amends by helping her out and find themselves up to their neck in strange warnings ("First is worst"), noises, and bizarre, ghostly apparations seemingly from nowhere, and alleged ghostly goings on. They eventually figure out that the house once belonged to one Wilbur Duffington, a wealthy ne'er-do-well out of New York's "gilded age" whose main hobbies were tap-dancing and drinking plum brandy, before he fell from a third-story window in the year 1900 at a party he was throwing. The boys reason that Wilbur, if he is there, might want to finish the party he was having the night he died; when that doesn't work, they reason out that he had to be a real square because he died in 1900, and so they bring in a swing band and a bunch of jitterbug dancers to drive him out -- that seems to do the trick, the ghost seemingly departing. But then the noises continue and the Marshalls are at their wits' end, until Olsen and Johnson accidentally discover far more sinister goings on, involving a band of criminals who have already committed one murder, something in that house worth killing for, and a plan to eliminate the Marshall family. Before it's over, a pitched battle ensues between the heroes and a band of costumed thugs (including a pair of ill-tempered dwarves), and a race against time to get the Marshall girls to a performance on time to save their careers, plus the unmasking of the man behind all of the mayhem, all intermixed with lots of Olsen and Johnson's patented nut-humor and the presence of a pre-Sky King Kirby Grant leading a band, singing, and playing a violin. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Part of the series of Universal B-musicals teaming Martha O'Driscoll and Noah Beery Jr., this film is also a remake of the 1937 comedy Love in a Bungalow. Patty Callahan (O'Driscoll) offers residence in a model home to soldier Jeff (Beery) and soon falls in love with him. Although the pair are unmarried, they enter a marital contest intended to celebrate the "Happiest G.I. Couple." Winning the contest brings on all sorts of farcical troubles until the couple are able to be united for real. Songs include "Don't Sweetheart Me" and "Best of All." ~ Nicole Gagne, Rovi

In this musical, a gang of college students decide to play a little trick by creating the perfect student. The fictional gal has everything a university would ever want. The trouble begins when the campus psych professor becomes determined to meet this girl. If the gang cannot bring her forward, they will be expelled. They hire a New York actress to portray the imaginary girl and all is well at the end. Songs include: "It Seems I've Heard That Song Before," "You're So Good to Me" "If It's Love," "Man," "Gotcha Too Ta Mee," "You Got to Study, Buddy." All the songs were penned by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne who went on to become one of Hollywood's top song-writing teams. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Olsen and Johnson's followup to their zany, iconoclastic Hellzapoppin' was the more conventional Crazy House. The premise: Having nearly laid waste to Universal while filming Hellzapoppin', O & J are thrown out of the studio when they arrive with plans for a new picture. Only momentarily daunted, our heroes decide to produce the film themselves, renting a studio and hiring carhop Margie (Martha O'Driscoll) as their leading lady. The success of this plan hinges upon an "angel", self-proclaimed millionaire Col. Merriweather (Percy Kilbride), who promises to advance the money for the new film. Things get sticky when the Colonel turns out to be a balmy eccentric with nary a cent to his name. After a wild courtroom trial presided over by ever-scowling Edgar Kennedy, it is decided that Olsen and Johnson will be permitted to screen their new film before a gathering of Hollywood studio executives, with distribution rights going to the highest bidder. The finale devolves into frantic slapstick when the last reel of the film turns up missing (a plot device later utilized in Mel Brooks' Silent Movie). Though Crazy House gets off to a suitably wacky start-when word arrives at Universal that Olsen and Johnson are coming, barricades are set up and armed guards posted, while every studio contractee from Leo Carrillo to "Sherlock Holmes" (Basil Rathbone) and "Dr. Watson" (Nigel Bruce) brace themselves for the comedians' invasion-the film quickly settles into a standard musical-comedy groove, complete with such guest stars as Allan Jones, Count Basie, the Delta Rhythm Boys and the Glenn Miller Singers. Still, there are plenty of hilarious moments along the way, most of them handled by raucous comedienne Cass Daley, playing a dual role. And there's seldom been a more satisfying movie finale than the last gag of Crazy House, which literally disposes of tiresome romantic leads Martha O'Driscoll and Patric Knowles. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This patriotic WW II-era bit of anti-Japanese propaganda centers on a white Texas college student who becomes such good friends with Japanese students on campus that he goes to their country after he is wrongfully accused of being a traitor. All this happened before the U.S. declared war on Japan. After the war begins, the fellow willingly makes pro-Japanese radio broadcasts. Fortunately, the fellow turns out to be a red-blooded American boy through and through and thanks to him, the Japanese are rendered helpless by the end of the film. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Cecil B. DeMille's Technicolor historical spectacle Reap the Wild Wind was to have starred Gary Cooper, but Cooper's prior commitment to Goldwyn's Pride of the Yankees compelled DeMille to recast the leading role with John Wayne. The film, set in the mid-19th century, centers around Key West, Florida, where piracy reigns unchecked and steam engines are beginning to replace tall ships. Jack Stuart (Wayne) is a sea captain who crashes his vessel on the shoals of Key West. Loxi Claiborne (Paulette Goddard), the hoydenish manager of a salvage firm, arrives on the scene, but discovers that her rival in the salvage business, King Cutler (Raymond Massey) has reached Wayne first and lashed him to the mast, and is proceeding to ransack the ship with the aid of his partner-in-crime, younger brother Dan Cutler (Robert Preston). The Cutlers have built up quite a reputation for reaching wrecks ahead of competitors - to such a degree that some suspect them of making under-the-table deals with dishonest captains. While the men continue to ransack the ship, Loxi nurses Jack back to health, and the two fall in love; meanwhile, Jack worries openly that he'll lose the privilege of piloting his company's newest steamship. To ensure that this doesn't happen, Loxi offers to travel to Charleston, South Carolina and convince investigators that pirates were responsible for what happened to Jack. Subsequently, the company attorney, Stephen Tolliver (Ray Milland) must go to Florida with Jack's commission papers, and investigate the circumstances of the incident prior to givng the papers to the captain. In the process, Jack and Stephen become intense rivals for Loxi's affections. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Andrew Jackson is very happy to serve as the secretary of the society that honors his presidential namesake until he is arrested for embezzling from the town coffers. With no one to speak on his behalf, poor innocent Jackson is tossed into jail. There he finds himself haunted by several ghosts, including Presidents Andrew Jackson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Supreme Court Justice John Marshall. Each of this sagacious specters offers his advice to the incarcerated Andrew. Then Jesse James shows up and helps Andrew, the only one who can see them, escape and with their help, bring the real crooks to justice. When not helping Andrew, the ghosts have great fun adjusting to the modern world. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Henry Aldrich for President was the second of Paramount's "Henry Aldrich" series to star Jimmy Lydon in the teenaged title role. This time Henry is pitted against an arrogant jock for the presidency of the Centerville High School student council. Henry's chances don't seem bright, especially since a pompous teacher (Lucien Littlefield) is writing the opponent's speeches for him. As often happens in these films, a misunderstanding threatens not only to lose Henry the election but to get him expelled from school as well. Somehow the plot is resolved by a wild climactic airplane ride, with hapless Henry at the controls. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi