Merle Oberon Movies
Born in India to an Indian mother and an Indo-Irish father, Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson spent an impoverished childhood in the subcontinent, before coming to England in 1928 where, among other things, she worked as a dance hostess before starting to pick up bit parts in movies in the early '30s, beginning with Alf's Button (1930). It was Hungarian-born film mogul Alexander Korda who first spotted Oberon's screen potential, and began giving her parts in his pictures, building her up toward stardom with role such as Anne Boleyn in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933). Although she was an actress of very limited range, Oberon acquitted herself well in movies such as The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934), as Sir Percy Blakeney's wife, and her exotic good looks made her extremely appealing. She was cast opposite Laurence Olivier in the 1938 comedy The Divorce of Lady X, which was shot in Technicolor and showed Oberon off to even better advantage. Seeking to build her up as an international star, Korda sold half of Oberon's contract to Samuel Goldwyn in America, who cast her as Cathy in Wuthering Heights (1939). She moved to America with the outbreak of war, and also married Korda (1939-1945), but despite some success in That Uncertain Feeling, The Lodger, and A Song to Remember, her star quickly began to fade, and the Korda vehicle Lydia (1941), a slow-moving melodrama that had her aging 50 years, didn't help her career at all. Even a good acting performance in the Hitchcock-like chiller Dark Waters (1944) failed to register with the public. Oberon re-emerged only occasionally after the early '50s, until 1973 when she starred in, produced, and co-edited Interval, a strange romantic drama that costarred her future husband Robert Wolders, that failed to find good reviews or an audience. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide- 1931
In this comedy, a struggling artist who wants to die puts out a contract on himself, but then receives a large inheritance and doesn't want to die anymore. ~ Steve Huey, All Movie Guide
- 1931
The marriage between Larry and Vera Maitland (Carl Harbourd and Dorothy Bartlam) may be over before it begins when Larry falls for glamorous actress Gwenda Farrell (Madeleine Carroll). Rather than storm out of the house in high dudgeon, Vera opts for a more civilized approach. She visits Gwenda in her dressing room, whereupon the two ladies talk over their mutual attraction for Larry. Vera and Gwenda become close buddies, obliging the sheepish Larry to return to his wife. The "money scene" in Fascination shows the two heroines kissing and making up, which tended to make audiences in 1931 a tad uncomfortable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Madeleine Carroll, Dorothy Bartlam, (more)
- 1930
In this comedy, a business magnate goes to Monte Carlo for a vacation. There his pal encourages him to begin a flirtation with a lovely young woman. Later he returns home. There he learns that the girl is secretly married to a friend's nephew. Fortunately, the fellow is saved when the woman claims that his pal was really her lover. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1930
Previously filmed in 1920, W. A. Darlington's comedy-fantasy Alf's Button was remade as a talkie ten years later. Tubby Endlin stars as WWI "Tommy" Alf Higgins, who learns to his delight and amazement that a button on his jacket was fashioned from Aladdin's lamp. Rubbing the button for luck, Alf summons forth a genie named Eustace (Humberston Wright), who grants him the traditional three wishes. The film makes occasional side-trips to the land of Arabian Nights, these scenes photographed in the pleasing pastels of Pathe color. The material may have been old hat by 1930, but Alf's Button reportedly clocked 203 laughs at its London premiere. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alf Goddard
