Rex O'Malley Movies
Actor Rex O'Malley appeared in a few films during the '30s, notably as a handsome young rake in Camille (1936). He then turned to the stage. During the '50s, he appeared in a couple more films and occasionally on television. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi- 1971
- PG13
In this semi-autobiographical romantic comedy starring Joseph Bologna and Renee Taylor (who also wrote the script together) two lonely hearts find each other in group therapy. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1957
The prestigious CBS dramatic anthology The U.S. Steel Hour digressed from its usual format to present this lively musical adaptation of Oscar Wilde's classic comedy of manners, The Importance of Being Earnest. The story, about two love struck young men who both pretend to bear the name of Earnest to please their respective sweethearts, remains substantially the same. However, the emphasis is shifted away from nominal leading man John Worthing (David Atkinson) and his aristocratic fiancée, Gwendolen Fairfax (Louise Troy), so that the characters of scampish Algernon Moncrieff and impressionable ingénue Cecily Cardew become the major roles. Edward Mulhare (who was at the time occasionally spelling Rex Harrison as star of the Broadway smash My Fair Lady) is seen as Algernon, with Dorothy Collins, an American vocalist best known for her work on Your Hit Parade, top-billed as Cecily. Also in the cast is Martyn Green, who in 1957 was the foremost interpreter of the works of Gilbert & Sullivan, in the somewhat expanded role of Rev. Chasuble. The original songs, by Lee Pockriss and Ann Crosswell, include "Mr. Bunbury," "Perfection,," "My Eternal Devotion," "A Wicked Man," "Metaphorically Speaking," "Lost," and "My Very First Impression." "Who's Earnest?" was originally broadcast live from New York. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dorothy Collins, Edward Mulhare, (more)
- 1953
Taxi stars Dan Dailey as Ed Nielson, a been-there-done-that Manhattan cabbie. Nagged by his mother (Blanche Yurka) to find himself a wife, Ed must also contend with a blood-sucking loan company, demanding huge payments for his cab. His life is further complicated when he falls in love with one of his fares: Mary, a young Irish immigrant (Constance Smith), freshly arrived in New York in search of her husband. The girl discovers that her hubby is a louse, but she's forced to stay with him lest she face deportation. Despite his own problems -- not to mention the huge cab fare that Mary's running up while searching for her husband -- Ed vows to rescue his new love from an ungovernable fate. Though running only 77 minutes, Taxi boasts no fewer than six screenwriting credits. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dan Dailey, Constance Smith, (more)
For his directorial debut, Ray Milland went out on a creative limb, resulting in the first American film since Chaplin's City Lights without any spoken dialogue. The Thief stars Milland as Allan Fields, a nuclear physicist who has sold out to a foreign power. With only a few tinges of conscience, Fields sets about to steal vital scientific secrets and smuggle them out of the country. With the FBI on his trail, he briefly hides out in a rundown tenement house, where he inaugurates a desultory romance with a sluttish woman (Rita Gam, making her auspicious film debut). On the verge of escaping without detection, Fields is forced to commit a murder and things quickly go downhill from there. The novelty of silence (except for natural sound effects) is intriguing at first, though it wears off rather quickly; still, Ray Milland deserves at least a gold star for trying. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ray Milland, Rita Gam, (more)
- 1939
The old David Belasco theatrical warhorse Zaza, which starred Mrs. Leslie Carter way back in 1899, had already been filmed by Pauline Frederick in 1915 and by Gloria Swanson in 1923 when this Claudette Colbert version hit the screens in early 1939. Doing her own singing and dancing, Colbert plays the title character, a saucy fin de siecle Parisian cabaret performer who falls in love with wealthy rogue Dufresne (Herbert Marshall). Quitting show biz to be with Dufresne for all time, Zaza is taken aback to discover that he's already married. Sorrowfully she returns to the stage, singing a farewell to Dufresne before an audience that seems to include everyone in Paris. Bert Lahr steals the show as Zaza's zany but golden-hearted music-hall partner; in fact he's a lot livelier than the near-comatose Herbert Marshall, who seems preoccupied with more important matters throughout the film. Screenwriter Zoe Akins did her best to make the "naughty" Belasco original conform to the stringent censorship standards of 1939. Still, the Hays Office found plenty with which to nitpick: Commenting on Zaza's angry exclamation "Pig! Pig! Pig! Pig! Pig!", the Hays folks demanded "Delete two 'Pigs'." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Claudette Colbert, Herbert Marshall, (more)
Paramount's screwball comedy Midnight is the first collaboration between director Mitchell Leisen and screenwriting duo Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder. The film merges Brackett and Wilder's early emphasis on repartee and masquerade with ex-costume designer Leisen's flair for high style and sophistication. American Eve Peabody (Claudette Colbert), a wily ex-showgirl, must impersonate Hungarian royalty in order to infiltrate the Parisian jet set. Midnight begins during a midnight rainstorm as Eve arrives penniless at Paris' Gare de L'Est, owning only the gold lamé gown on her back. She attracts the attention of Hungarian cab driver, Tibor Czerny (Don Ameche), but walks out on their budding romance; Eve will no longer make the mistake of dating for love rather than money. Instead, she finds shelter from the downpour by crashing a socialite's late-night soirée using a pawnticket and a pseudonym, the Baroness Czerny (the cab driver's surname). There, Eve meets aristocrat Georges Flammarion (John Barrymore), who entices her with a place in society if she agrees to remain disguised as the Baroness and seduce his wife's playboy lover. Meanwhile, Tibor Czerny has not given up his search for Eve. When he locates her whereabouts and discovers the fact that she is using his name, Tibor also travels to the Flammarion estate -- to win back Eve, and to pose as her husband, the Baron. What ensues is quintessential screwball comedy, full of deception, love, quadruple entendre, and outright farce. Midnight remains Leisen's most heralded directorial effort, as well as one of Brackett and Wilder's earliest successes. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, Rovi
- Starring:
- Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, (more)
Greta Garbo enjoyed one of her greatest triumphs in this glossy adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' oft-filmed romantic tragedy. Here, Garbo stars as Marguerite Gauthier, who is born into humble circumstances but in time becomes Dame aux Camille, one of the most glamorous courtesans in Paris. Camille is kept by the wealthy and powerful Baron de Varville (Henry Daniell), but after many years of earning a good living from her beauty without finding true love, Camille's heart is stolen by Armand (Robert Taylor), a handsome but slightly naive young man who doesn't know how she came by her fortune. Armand is just as attracted to Camille as she is to him, and she's prepared to give up the Baron and his stipend to be with Armand. However, Armand's father (Lionel Barrymore) begs Camille to turn away from his son, knowing her scandalous past could ruin his future. Realizing the painful wisdom of this, Camille rejects Armand, who continues to pursue her even as Camille contracts a potentially fatal case of tuberculosis. Remarkably, even though this was one of Garbo's greatest commercial and critical successes, she would make only three more films before her retirement in 1941; Camille, however, would be filmed several more times following this version (most memorably by elegant sexploitation auteur Radley Metzger in 1969's Camille 2000). ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Greta Garbo, Robert Taylor, (more)
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