Pat O'Moore Movies
Irish stage actor Patrick O'Moore began his film career in 1934, playing a few leads in English films before settling in Hollywood. A close friend of actor Humphrey Bogart, O'Moore was seen to good advantage in such Bogart features as Sahara (1943) and Conflict (1945). Otherwise, most of his film roles were unbilled bits as clerks, constables, government officials, and military men. He kept active into the 1980s, playing small parts in such TV productions as QB VII and theatrical features as The Sword and the Sorcerer. Patrick O'Moore was at one time married to Broadway musical-comedy star Zelma O'Neal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1982
Former "Batman" Adam West appears in this episode as retired circus aerialist Edgar Garibaldi. While dating Edgar, Laverne (Penny Marshall) is flattered by his attentions, until discovering that she bears a startling resemblance to his ex-partner. Guilt-ridden since his partner's tragic trapeze accident, Garibaldi begins acting very, very strangely around Laverne--convincing our heroine that she is destined to be murdered! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
Christopher Plummer has all the best dialogue in the hokey made-for-TVer Desperate Voyage. Plummer plays a modern-day pirate who hijacks private yachts, steals the valuables on board, and, weeping crocodile tears, sends the passengers to Davy Jones' Locker. His captives on this voyage are Cliff Potts, Christine Belford, Lara Parker and Nicholas Pryor, none of whom have any intention of being tossed into the briny. Much was made of the fact that Desperate Voyage was filmed entirely at sea, with no studio work. Those who didn't suffer from "mal de mer" were able to watch this film from start to finish when it debuted November 29, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
Television newsman Harry Walsh (Leslie Nielsen) holds fast to the maxim "seeing is believing" in this political/medical thriller, with science-fiction overtones. Harry saw a well-known U.S. Senator (Bradford Dillman) have a car accident, and took video coverage on the scene. When he arrives at the hospital to follow up on the story, he is told that no such person is, or ever was there. Since the senator is a presidential hopeful, this is a very important story, and Harry keeps at it. His TV station, which ran a report on the accident, retracts the story with an apology when the senator's office calls with the story that the senator is on a fishing trip. Harry doesn't believe it. In a parallel story, the senator wakes up in a hospital with all sorts of transplanted organs, etc., when he should simply be dead. He discovers that his survival is part of a worldwide medical blackmail scheme involving world political leaders. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1967
- Add How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying to QueueAdd How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying to top of Queue
Robert Morse recreated his Tony-winning stage role in this 1967 film version of Frank Loesser's Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical. A humble window washer at the New York offices of World Wide Wickets, J. Pierpont Finch applies the lessons he's learned from a book called How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying to wangle his way to the top of the executive heap. Though advised by the mailroom supervisor (Sammy Smith) to keep a low profile and play things "The Company Way," Finch follows his own skewed set of rules, endearing himself to bombastic company president J. B. Biggely (Rudy Vallee) by posing as a graduate of Grand Old Ivy, Biggely's alma mater. As he climbs to the top, Finch manages to dispose of an over-amorous rival by arranging a tryst between that rival and curvaceous secretary Hedy LaRue (Maureen Arthur)--who happens to be Biggely's live-in girlfriend. Finch also gets rid of the troublesome Mr. Ovington (Murray Matheson) by exposing the latter as an alumnus of Old Ivy's hated rival university. Graduating to vice-president, Finch feels secure enough to sing the show's one genuine love song "I Believe In You"--to himself! Actually, he's really in love with true-blue secretary Rosemary (Michele Lee), but won't admit to this until he suffers a career setback. Most of Loesser's songs survived the transition from stage to screen, with the exception of "Paris Original," which is heard merely as background music. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Morse, Michele Lee, (more)
- 1964
A jaunty harmonica-music score by Tommy Morgan was the main redeeming feature of this otherwise pedestrian Twilight Zone episode. John Dehner stars as Jared Garrity, a frontier con artist who convinces the citizens of a sleepy western town that he possesses the ability to bring the dead back to life. After a few examples of his power, the townsfolk are convinced -- and are willing to pay through the nose to make sure that certain people remain dead. An amusing but predictable twist caps this episode, which was scripted by Rod Serling from a short story by Mike Korologos and first aired May 8, 1964. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Dehner, J. Pat O'Malley, (more)
One year after his financially successful Promises Promises with Jayne Mansfield, director Tommy Noonan released another nudie comedy with Three Nuts in Search of a Bolt. This time, it is Mamie Van Doren who gets to show various parts of her anatomy as she plays a stripper who collaborates with two other "nuts" seeking psychiatric help. Her partners in the fiasco are a used car salesman Paul Gilbert who gets a thrill from cheating customers and a male model John Cronin who dislikes women. Unable to afford the doctor's fees, the three set out to find a proper patient to represent each of them for the price of one. After they convince the perfect sucker, (Noonan), to play out each of their personalities, Doctor Myra Von (Ziva Rodann) inadvertently televises the sessions to several other doctors--worldwide. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mamie van Doren, Tommy Noonan, (more)
Jayne Mansfield bares almost all (and became the first Hollywood actress to do so) in this nearly universally panned sex comedy from the early 1960s. In the story, poor Sandy is desperate to get pregnant. Unfortunately, her husband, a television script writer, is too wound up over his high stress job to make love to her at night even though he too, wants a child. To help him loosen up, they go on a relaxing cruise and meet another couple. The foursome hit it off and begin drinking heavily. They soon exchange partners and retire to their rooms. Later both wives show up pregnant, but now the question remains: which baby belongs to which father? ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jayne Mansfield, Marie McDonald, (more)
- 1959
This is an out-dated, feeble World War II comedy about a new army recruit who ends up alone with his Master Sergeant and a striking model on a deserted island, deserted except for two enemy soldiers. When Tommy Noonan (playing himself) insists on being drafted, the local boot camp has been all but shut down. In order to train him, Master Sergeant Marshall (Peter Marshall) and a few others hang around, but in the meantime Marshall's fiancee, actress Lili Marlene (Julie Newmar), arrives at the boot camp with her press agent to take advantage of the publicity surrounding Noonan's induction. She joins Noonan and Marshall when they board a ship destined for Japan, and then ends up in the drink with them when all three fall overboard. The trio make it to an island and comparative safety, until they discover that two Japanese soldiers (played by Noonan and Marshall) have also landed. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claude Stroud, Norman Leavitt, (more)
- 1958
This melodrama tells the tale of a great battle between the French Foreign Legion and the rebellious Arab tribe, the Tuaregs, who fight it out upon the blistering Sahara sands. Just before the Legionnaires embark upon their dangerous mission, the commander discovers that he is being cuckolded by his lieutenant. Because the mission is urgent, there is no time to fight over the commander's wife. Unfortunately, as they travel, the tension between the two mounts and they begin squabbling over how to plan the attack. Their inability to work together results in tragedy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Keith, Barbara Hale, (more)
- 1958
A brave cowboy/ex-con hits the dusty trail as the leader of a major cattle drive in this western. He is offered the job by the very townspeople his gang terrorized a few years before. They are also the same people who put him in the slammer, and even though he accepts the task, he secretly plots his revenge. He gets it by proving himself courageous and honest. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joel McCrea, Gloria Talbott, (more)
- 1958
Phyllis Coates, TV's erstwhile Lois Lane, essays one of her largest film roles in Blood Arrow. Coates is cast as a devout Mormon girl whose mission is to transport smallpox vaccine to her friends and neighbors. Unfortunately, this requires her to journey through hostile Indian territory. Appointing themselves as the girl's unofficial protectors are Indian scout Scott Brady, trapper Don Haggerty and (reluctantly) gambler Paul Richards. Any resemblance to Stagecoach and The Outcasts of Poker Flat were probably intentional. Incidentally, Don Haggerty was the father of Dan Haggerty, star of TV's The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Scott Brady, Paul Richards, (more)
- 1958
This is the very last entry in the long-running Bowery Boys saga. This time the gang gets involved with English diamond smugglers after they are hired to safely escort a valuable poodle on a Transatlantic voyage. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Copper Sky was directed by Charles Marquis Warren, one of the prime movers of TV's Gunsmoke. The scene is a small western town that has been decimated by an Apache raid. The only survivor is drifter Jeff Morrow, who was locked up in jail at the time of the massacre. Before long, Boston schoolmarm Coleen Gray arrives in town, only to discover that there's no one left alive for her to teach. Releasing Morrow, Gray joins him in an arduous journey to the nearest white settlement--clear across the desert. Given the fact that Morrow is a heavy drinker with a bad attitude andGray is straight-laced and remonstrative, it doesn't take a film historian to figure out that Copper Sky is yet another variation on The African Queen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Morrow, Coleen Gray, (more)
- 1957
Western writer/director Charles Marquis Warren makes one of his periodic excursions into horror with The Unknown Terror. Filmed in Mexico, the story focuses on three American adventurers (John Howard, Mala Powers and Paul Richards) who search for a missing explorer. They stumble across the Cave of Death, the forbidden domain of a mad scientist (Gerald Milton) who has developed a "killer fungus." Before long, one of the trio has fallen victim to the homicidal mold. It is up to the survivors to escape the scientist's clutches and warn the rest of the world of the now-known terror that festers in the wilds of Mexico. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mala Powers, Paul Richards, (more)
- 1957
Trooper Hook is played by Joel McCrea, but top billing goes to Barbara Stanwyck in this multilayered western. McCrea plays a Cavalry officer sent to rescue Stanwyck, who had been captured by Indians years earlier. Upon reaching the Indian village, McCrea discovers that Stanwyck, forced into marrying the chief, has a young son (Terry Lawrence) whom she refuses to desert. After intensive persuasion, Stanwyck permits McCrea to bring herself and her son back to her white husband, John Dehner--who refuses to have anything to do with the child. But after Dehner's death, both Stanwyck and her son find happiness with McCrea. Trooper Hook was written and directed by Charles Marquis Warren, an old western hand who was responsible for many of the best hour-long Gunsmoke TV episodes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joel McCrea, Barbara Stanwyck, (more)
- 1957
Ride a Violent Mile is an economically produced western with a Civil War background. Penny Edwards stars as Susan, a Union spy who poses as a dance-hall girl in a Confederate-friendly frontier town. Susan hopes to prevent the Mexican government from casting its lot with the South, and to do that she must halt a Confederate cattle drive. Enlisting the aid of boyfriend Jeff (John Agar), our heroine does her best to scare off the cattle. The heavy of the piece is sheriff Marshal Thorne (John Pickard), who turns out to be a secret operative for the Johnny Rebs. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Agar, Penny Edwards, (more)
- 1956
After closing down his film studio, producer Robert L. Lippert took charge of Regal Films, a subsidiary of 20th Century-Fox designed to turn out low-budget, non-CinemaScope productions. One of the first of these films was the modest western The Black Whip. Colleen Gray, Angie Dickinson, Adele Mara and Dorothy Schuyler play four women of questionable morals who conspire to help a notorious outlaw escape the law. The ladies are ushered into a stagecoach by the village elders and ordered to get out of town and stay out. En route to their next destination, the ladies' coach breaks down at a way station managed by Hugh Marlowe. As Marlowe repairs the wheels, an outlaw gang rides up, demanding that the girls be handed over to them. By this time, the ladies have no use for the bad guys, but Marlowe is too mild-mannered to intervene. He finally outfoxes the villains by using brains instead of brawn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugh Marlowe, Coleen Gray, (more)
- 1956
An epidemic of unkown origin forces Matt (James Arness) to set up an makeshift hospital in the jail, with Kitty (Amanda Blake) and her girls taking care of the stricken patients. Racing against time, Doc (Milburn Stone) must pinpoint the source of the epidemic, but he may not be up to the task. Ultimately, Chester (Dennis Weaver) puts his own life on the line to save his fellow townsmen--and at the same time, the pompous Mr. Matthews (Patrick O'Moore) learns a lesson in tolerance when he is quarantined along with his "inferiors." Featured in the supporting cast is Howard McNear, who played Doc Adams in the original radio broadcast of The Pest Hole, first heard on April 14, 1954. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1955
Fired by editor Perry White (John Hamilton), disgraced reporter Clark Kent (George Reeves) joins a gang of diamond thieves. Unbeknownst to fellow reporters Lois (Noel Neill) and Jimmy (Jack Larson), Clark's criminal career is but a sham, a scheme cooked up between Kent and White to trap the real crooks and turn them over to the law. Even so, Clark is forced to prove his loyalty to the gang by "eliminating" Lois and Jimmy, binding the hapless duo to a chair which is then set afire! Isn't it about time for Clark to sneak into that closet and change into Superman? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
John Wayne plays anti-Nazi Prussian sea captain Karl Erlich in Sea Chase, one of the many film commentaries released post WWII. Though staunchly opposed to the Nazi regime, Karl (Wayne) feels it would nevertheless be unpatriotic should he refuse to save his ship from destruction. His ship--an old, rusty 5,000 ton freighter named the Ergenstrasse--is being pursued by a British warship on his journey from Australia back to Germany. Captain Erlich does everything he can to save his ship and his crew, but the process is long and dangerous, particularly without a plentiful supply of fuel and provisions. Erlich must face obstacles ranging from horrendous sea storms and shark attacks to false murder accusations, and it seems his only devotee is Elsa (Lana Turner), a beautiful German spy. Despite nearly falling to the determined English ship and a mutiny attempt by his own crew, Captain Erlich manages to survive what was anything but a routine trip back to his home country. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Wayne, Lana Turner, (more)
- 1954
The Bowery Boys go to Africa in this entry in the long-running series. They embark upon their adventure after they discover that one of them has the ability to smell diamonds. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1954
This Kiplingesque adventure yarn stars Richard Egan as a captain in the British lancers. Together with his regiment, Egan is assigned to put down an Arab rebellion in Afghanistan, stirred up by rival tribal leaders Raymond Burr and Donald Randolph. When not defending the British Empire from collapsing, Egan vies with fellow officer Patric Knowles for the hand of lovely Dawn Addams. The story comes to a head when Egan pretends to join the rebels, the better to defeat them from within. The rampant jingoism of Khyber Patrol may be a bit hard to swallow; it's best to assess the film on its considerable merits as an outdoor actioner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Egan, Dawn Addams, (more)
- 1953
Historically important as one of the first 3-D feature film- the first was the 1922 film Power of Love- Bwana Devil is an otherwise amateurish film, redeemed somewhat by good performances and a reasonably interesting script (by director Arch Oboler). The thinnish story is built around some authentic African footage lensed by Oboler in 1948. Based on fact, the plot concerns two ferocious lions, whose man-eating propensities halted progress on the building of an East African railroad. Robert Stack, Nigel Bruce and Barbara Britton appear in the dramatized sequences, which look like they were filmed for an entirely different movie. The main attraction of Bwana Devil, then and now, is its gimmicky 3-D photography, replete with thrown spears and leaping lions assaulting the camera. Industry reaction to Bwana Devil resulted in the now-famous advertising blurb "What do you want? A good picture, or a lion in your lap?" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Stack, Barbara Britton, (more)
- 1953
Esther Williams stars in this button-cute musical about a health-conscious family of swimmers who fall in with con man Windy Weebe (Jack Carson). The Higgins family decides to swim the English Channel in order to raise money to purchase a prize bull for their Arkansas farm. As she practices for the English Channel swim, Katie Higgins (Esther Williams) gets lost in the fog and is rescued by wealthy wine merchant Andre Lanet (Fernando Lamas), and she falls for him hard. The film is distinguished by a climactic English Channel swim and an animated underwater cartoon sequence with Williams and animated MGM contract players Tom and Jerry reprising the Arthur Schwartz and Johnny Mercer tune "In My Wildest Dreams." ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Esther Williams, Fernando Lamas, (more)
The 1912 sinking of the luxury liner Titanic is used as a backdrop for a several fictional subplots, chief of which involves snooty socialite Clifton Webb and his wife Barbara Stanwyck. Stanwyck has booked passage on the ill-fated passenger ship with her daughter (Audrey Dalton) and son (Harper Carter), leaving Webb far behind. Webb manages to board the ship at the last minute, and discovers that Stanwyck plans to divorce him; she further informs him that he is not the father of their son. When the Titanic sideswipes an iceberg and begins its slow descent in the Atlantic, the women and children are put on the lifeboats while the men stay behind to face death (except for cowardly cardsharp Allyn Joslyn, who disguises himself as a woman). The formerly class-conscious Webb acts with conspicuous bravery, seeing to it that several steerage passengers are ushered to safety. He is reunited with his son, who has given up his lifeboat seat to an elderly woman. All misunderstandings swept aside, Webb and his son face their final moments on earth together. In the film's best moment, a miniature recreation of the Titanic is seen sinking beneath the waves as the survivors watch from their lifeboats in numb horror. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clifton Webb, Barbara Stanwyck, (more)
