Maureen O'Hara Movies
Born in Ranelagh, Ireland, near Dublin, Maureen O'Hara was trained at the Abbey Theatre School and appeared on radio as a young girl before making her stage debut with the Abbey Players in the mid-'30s. She went to London in 1938, and made her first important screen appearance that same year in the Charles Laughton/Erich Pommer-produced drama Jamaica Inn, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. She was brought to Hollywood with Laughton's help and co-starred with him in the celebrated costume drama The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which established O'Hara as a major new leading lady. Although she appeared in dramas such as How Green Was My Valley with Walter Pidgeon, The Fallen Sparrow opposite John Garfield, and This Land Is Mine with Laughton, it was in Hollywood's swashbucklers that O'Hara became most popular and familiar. Beginning with The Black Swan opposite Tyrone Power in 1942, she always seemed to be fighting (or romancing) pirates, especially once Technicolor became standard for such films. Her red hair photographed exceptionally well, and, with her extraordinary good looks, she exuded a robust sexuality that made her one of the most popular actresses of the late '40s and early '50s.O'Hara was also a good sport, willing to play scenes that demanded a lot of her physically, which directors and producers appreciated. The Spanish Main, Sinbad the Sailor, and Against All Flags (the latter starring Errol Flynn) were among her most popular action films of the '40s. During this period, the actress also starred as young Natalie Wood's beautiful, strong-willed mother in the classic holiday fantasy Miracle on 34th Street and as John Wayne's estranged wife in the John Ford cavalry drama Rio Grande. O'Hara became Wayne's most popular leading lady, most notably in Ford's The Quiet Man, but her career was interrupted during the late '50s when she sued the scandal magazine Confidential. It picked up again in 1960, when she did one of her occasional offbeat projects, the satire Our Man in Havana, based on a Graham Greene novel and starring Alec Guinness. O'Hara moved into more distinctly maternal roles during the '60s, playing the mother of Hayley Mills in Disney's popular The Parent Trap. She also starred with Wayne in the comedy Western McLintock!, and with James Stewart in the The Rare Breed, both directed by Andrew V. McLaglen. Following her last film with Wayne, Big Jake, and a 1973 television adaptation of John Steinbeck's The Red Pony, O'Hara went into retirement, although returned to the screen in 1991 to play John Candy's overbearing mother in the comedy Only the Lonely. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
Perhaps unintentionally, the 1942 Technicolor swashbuckler The Black Swan is a bondage fetishist's dream, with hero and heroine Tyrone Power and Maureen O'Hara taking turns being tied up and imprisoned throughout the film's brisk 85-minute running time. Very loosely adapted by Ben Hecht and Seton I. Miller from a novel by Rafael Sabatini, the film casts Power as rogueish, hot-tempered buccaneer Jamie Waring, who considers the day wasted when he hasn't sacked a Spanish galleon or plundered a rich coastal town. Jamie's partner in crime is pirate king Henry Morgan Laird Cregar, an alliance that comes to an end when Morgan is appointed governor of Jamaica. Disgusted by this defection, Jamie considers joining the scurrilous Redbeard George Sanders, but eventually decides to reform his ways when he falls in love with Margaret Denby Maureen O'Hara, the gorgeous daughter of the former Jamaican governor Lord Denby George Zucco. Before the final obligatory sail into the sunset, however, Margaret is kidnapped and manhandled on a seemingly hourly basis, while Jamie is subjected to even more abuse at the hands of pirates and officials alike. Henry King handles the derring-do in Black Swan with commendable sobriety, leaving the story's tongue-in-cheek elements in the capable hands of the cast and the screenwriters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tyrone Power, Maureen O'Hara, (more)
One of the first big-studio productions to acknowledge America's entry into WW2, 20th Century-Fox's To the Shores of Tripoli was filmed with full the cooperation of the US Marine Corps. John Payne plays Chris Winters, a wealthy, wise-lipped young Marine recruit who learns the true meaning of "Semper Fidelis" the hard way, courtesy of tough-as-nails drill sergeant Dixie Smith (Randolph Scott). Chris also falls in love with Navy nurse Mary Carter (Maureen O'Hara in her first Technicolor appearance), which leaves his poor hometown sweetheart Helene Hunt (Nancy Kelly) in the lurch. By film's end, Chris is one of the Few and the Proud as he and his buddies are shipped off to combat overseas. Portions of To the Shores of Tripoli were filmed in Hawaii just before the Pearl Harbor attack; according to studio publicity, some of the cameramen managed to capture portions of the Japanese raid on film, though none of these scenes seem to have made their way into the final release print. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Payne, Maureen O'Hara, (more)
- 1942
This historical drama tells the story of the first class to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. In the early 19th Century, Congress appropriated the money to build the school, but opponents who believed it to be an illegitimate expansion of the powers of the federal government decided to sabotage the school. They put the hard-as-nails Major Sam Carter (Laird Cregar) in charge of the academy, and he ruthlessly put the recruits through grueling training -- until only ten prospective soldiers remained. They include Dawson (George Montgomery), a patriotic farm boy and Howard Shelton (John Sutton), a selfish playboy who has come to West Point only because of its prestige. The two vie for Carolyn Bainbridge (Maureen O'Hara), while they, along with the other eight, try convince Carter that the school is worth keeping. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Montgomery, Maureen O'Hara, (more)
- 1941
One of the less laudable results of the United States' wartime "good neighbor" policy with South America was the relentlessly unfunny comedy They Met in Argentina. Looking about as Latin as corned beef and cabbage, Maureen O'Hara stars as spoiled Argentine heiress Lolita, who meets her match in the form of stubborn Texan Tim Kelly (James Ellison). He has been instructed to purchase a champion race horse from Lolita's wealthy father at any price; she is determined not to allow the sale to go through. All sorts of "hilarious" hijinks take place before shrewish Lolita is tamed by the persistent Kelly. No one emerged from They Met in Argentina covered with glory, certainly not tunesmiths Rodgers and Hart, who contributed one of their least memorable scores ever. Losing twice as much money as it cost, the film was an ill-fated comeback effort by former RKO Radio production executive Lou Brock, who ended his days as a hotel night clerk. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maureen O'Hara, Gene Raymond, (more)
Spanning 50 years, director John Ford's How Green Was My Valley revolves around the life of the Morgans, a Welsh mining family, as told through the eyes of its youngest child Huw (Roddy McDowall). Over the years, the family struggles to survive through unionization, strikes, and child abuse. As they do so, their hometown and its culture begins to slowly decline. Donald Crisp portrays Gwilym, the patriarch of the Morgan household, who dreams of a better life for young Huw. Based on the novel of the same name by Richard Llewellyn, How Green Was My Valley won five Academy Awards in 1941, including Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Crisp), Best Art Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Picture (beating Citizen Kane). The book was later adapted into a 1975 BBC miniseries. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, (more)
- 1940
In this heartwarming drama, an orphaned 5-year old is sent to live with her cold-hearted aunt who keeps her around because the girl is the only one who knows the secret of her father's will. The little girl will not even tell her big sister who is in love with an American writer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1940
A creaky remake of the 1932 film of the same name, Bill of Divorcement tells of the effect an emotionally disturbed father's homecoming has on this household. Adolphe Menjou, a longtime mental patient, is released after 20 years' confinement and returns home. Only vaguely aware of the time lapse, Menjou meets his daughter (Maureen O'Hara), and attempts a reunion with his wife (Fay Bainter), who is on the verge of divorcing her long-absent husband and remarrying. Thanks to undue pressure from friends and family, the wife very nearly takes her husband back, much against her will. But the daughter steps in and volunteers to sacrifice her own future to take care of her father, thereby allowing mother to chart her own course of happiness. Incredibly dated in its attitudes toward divorce and insanity, Bill of Divorcement worked somewhat better in its 1932 version, thanks to the charisma and chemistry of John Barrymore as the father and newcomer Katharine Hepburn as the daughter. For many years, the 1940 Bill of Divorcement was retitled Never to Love when shown on TV. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maureen O'Hara, Adolphe Menjou, (more)
Based on a story by Vicki Baum (of Grand Hotel) fame, Dance, Girl Dance finds innocent young Judy (Maureen O'Hara) journeying to the Big Apple in hopes of gaining fame as a classical dancer. Instead she ends up as the "stooge" for raucous strip-tease artist Bubbles (Lucille Ball), who attempts to perform ballet before leering, catcalling, unappreciative burlesque audiences. Eventually, Judy and Bubbles both fall for playboy Jimmy Harris (Louis Hayward), a rivalry that culminates in a hair-pulling, eye-scratching cat fight. Eventually, Harris's ex-wife (Virginia Field) reels him back in, and Judy is hired by ballet producer and entrepreneur Steve Adams (Ralph Bellamy). In recent years, Dance, Girl, Dance has been canonized as a feminist manifesto, due to the fact that Dorothy Arzner was the director and because of Maureen O'Hara's climactic burlesque-house speech, in which she lambastes the male spectators for their puerile chauvinism. It should be noted, however, that Arzner became director only after Roy Del Ruth pulled out of the project. Uncertain how to promote the film, RKO Radio elected to sneak it into its first-run houses without fanfare, and the result was a $400,000 loss for the studio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maureen O'Hara, Louis Hayward, (more)
- 1939
Filmed in 1938, My Irish Molly was released in US in 1940 to capitalize on the popularity of Maureen O'Hara. The actress enjoys top billing in the American prints, but the film's real star is juvenile music-hall star Binkie Stuart as the titular Molly. An orphan girl, poor but plucky Molly is continually persecuted by her harridan of an aunt (Maureen Moore), who withholds the fact that the girl is an heiress. The return of emigrant Bob (Philip Reed) from New York to the Auld Sod-the better to be reunited with his sweetheart Eileen (O'Hara)--leads to Molly's rescue from her tormentor. In other words, My Irish Molly is a Shirley Temple flick without Shirley Temple. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maureen O'Hara, Binkie Stuart, (more)
Few will argue with the contention that RKO Radio's 1939 adaptation of Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame was the best of the many screen versions of the Hugo classic. We say this even allowing for certain liberties taken with the source material-liberties calculated by scenarists Sonya Levien and Bruno Frank to draw parallels between 15th century Paris and 20th century Europe. Thus, Claude Frollo (Cedric Hardwicke), the villain of the piece, is no longer merely a religious hypocrite unable to control his own carnal desires. Instead, Frollo is a bush-league Hitler, warning that the invention of the printing press is dangerous in that it will encourage the rabble to think for themselves, and plotting the persecution and destruction of the "undesirable" gypsies. In the same vein, Gringoire the Poet (Edmond O'Brien in his film debut) has been transformed into an agit-prop "Group Theatre" activist, bent on bringing the unvarnished truth to the ignorant Parisians. Many of Hugo's subplots have been dispensed with, the better to concentrate on the grotesquely deformed Quasimodo (Charles Laughton), bell-ringer of Notre Dame Cathedral, and his puppylike loyalty towards imperiled gypsy dancer Esmerelda (Maureen O'Hara, in her first American film appearance). The schism between the haves and have-nots in the walled city of Paris is illustrated in broad, visually dynamic strokes by director William Dieterle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Laughton, Cedric Hardwicke, (more)
Alfred Hitchcock directed this disappointing misfire, memorable solely for the fact is that it is the final film from Hitchcock's early British period before he left for the Hollywood studio system and David O. Selznick. In the England of the 1800s, a group of ruthless smugglers, led by Sir Humphrey Pengallon (Charles Laughton), prey on ships by blacking out warning signals. When the ships crash on the rocks, the nefarious group loots the remains and kills the sailors. The plot kicks in when the beautiful orphan Mary Yelland (Maureen O'Hara) goes to visit her uncle Joss Merlyn (Leslie Banks) at a creepy hotel called the Jamaica Inn, the home of the gang of smugglers. Mary doesn't realize that Uncle Joss is one of them. Meanwhile, Lloyd's of London sends one of their ablest men, Jem Trahearne (Robert Newton), to investigate the recurring shipwrecks. Jem checks in to the Jamaica Inn, and when the coven of smugglers finds out who he is, they capture him and attempt to kill him. But Mary comes to his rescue and saves him. Through the inn, the smugglers try to recapture Jem -- along with Mary. Thrown together by dire circumstances, the two fall in love. Meanwhile, all the shenanigans occurring at the Jamaica Inn appear to be driving Pengallon insane. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Hara, (more)
- 1938
This British musical comedy was designed as a vehicle for popular 1930s bandleader Ambrose, here cast as "himself". The plot, which was the handiwork of no fewer than four scenarists, is the old one about the pretty but unappreciated slavey (Evelyn Dall) who is suddenly and spectacularly thrust into high society, much to the discomfort of her evil guardian. In other words, it's Cinderella in modern dress. But never mind all that: the film's real attraction is its unending parade of specialty performers. American jazz singer Harry Richman may be a bit hard to take for contemporary audiences (he wasn't exactly everyone's favorite in 1938!), but celebrity impressionist Florence Desmond is as delightful as ever as the film's nominal villain. Far better produced than most British "revue" pictures of the era, Kicking the Moon Around did excellent business, but Ambrose didn't care much for moviemaking and returned to the nightclub and music-hall circuit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Evelyn Dall
