Pat O’Brien

  • Harold D. Schuster – Marine Raiders (1944)

    Harold D. Schuster1941-1950DramaUSAWar

    Synopsis:
    A U.S. Marine major tries to keep his captain on the right track through combat on Guadalcanal, training new recruits in San Diego, and a relationship with a WAAAF while on leave in Australia.Read More »

  • James Flood – Off the Record (1939)

    1931-1940CrimeDramaJames FloodUSA

    Two newspaper reporters, Thomas “Breezy” Elliott and Jane Morgan, inadvertently send a boy named Mickey Fallon to reform school after they write an expose of the illegal slot-machine racket the boy was a spotter for. Guilt-ridden, Jane convinces Breezy that they should marry in order to adopt Mickey so they can get him out of reform school.Read More »

  • Tay Garnett – Slightly Honorable (1940)

    Tay Garnett1931-1940MysteryUSA

    Story:
    The successful producer-director combination of Walter Wanger and Tay Garnett served up another winner with Slightly Honorable. Adapted from F. G. Presnell’s novel Send Another Coffin, the story concerns the efforts made by corrupt politician Cushing (Edward Arnold) to frame honest attorney John Webb (Pat O’Brien) for the murder of Alma Brehmer (Claire Dodd). In concert with his diligent and apparently slow-witted assistant Rus Sampson (Broderick Crawford), Webb hopes to squelch Cushing’s plan by locating the real murderer-who turns out to be a lot closer to Webb than he’d ever imagined. Ruth Terry has one of her best screen roles as a birdbrained nightclub hoofer who helps Webb clear himself. – Hal Erikson, All Movie GuideRead More »

  • Robert Florey – Johnny One-Eye (1950)

    1941-1950CrimeRobert FloreyUSA

    Johnny One-Eye was adapted from one of Damon Runyon’s lesser-known stories. Pat O’Brien and Wayne Morris star as Martin Martin and Dane Cory respectively, former partners in crime who have long since split up. When a new district attorney puts the heat on, Cory, anxious to save his own hide, accuses Martin of an unsolved murder. Holed up in abandoned house, Martin is befriended by a little girl (Gayle Reed) and her dog. It so happens that the girl is the daughter of the crusading DA, and thereby hangs the rest of this tale. Produced by Benedict Bogeaus, Johnny One-Eye co-stars Bogeaus’ wife Dolores Moran as a moll named Lily White. The film represented the last directorial assignment of Robert Florey, who retired shortly afterward. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie GuideRead More »

  • Ted Tetzlaff – A Dangerous Profession (1949)

    USA1941-1950Film NoirTed Tetzlaff

    Ex-policeman Vince Kane is a partner with Joe Farley as bail bond brokers, but retains his ties and friendship with the police and Detective Nick Ferrone. Ferrone picks up Claude Brackette, a brokerage clerk, as a suspect in the securities robbery in which a policeman was killed, and Kane goes with him when the detective searches Brackett’s apartment, and Kane finds that Brackett’s wife, Lucy, is his former sweetheart. She insists her husband is innocent and pleads with Kane to get him out on bail but she has only $4,000 of the $25,000 needed. A mysterious emissary puts up $12,000 and Kanes, over Farley’s protest, makes up the rest from the company’s money. Brackett is murdered after his release.Read More »

  • Edward Buzzell – Virtue (1932)

    1931-1940ClassicsDramaEdward BuzzellUSA

    A relationship gradually develops between a savvy New York street girl and a good-hearted cab driver–who first meet when she stiffs him for the fare–but other matters keep getting in their way, including financial problems and a murder.Read More »

  • John Sturges – The People Against O’Hara (1951)

    1951-1960CrimeFilm NoirJohn SturgesUSA

    Synopsis:
    Jim Curtayne, formerly a successful criminal defense attorney and currently a recovering alcoholic, has turned to civil law because of his problems with the bottle, daughter Ginny delays marrying in order to keep her dad on the straight and narrow, but when the son of neighborhood friends is accused of murder, he is lured into returning to criminal law. Complications arise as the initially overconfident Curtayne experiences lapses inn memory and judgment as well as an uncooperative client. He finds himself well over his head as he tries to reclaim his self-confidence and professional standing.Read More »

  • Anatole Litvak – Castle on the Hudson (1940)

    1931-1940Anatole LitvakCrimeDramaUSA

    Mobster Tommy Gordon isn’t worried about being sentenced to Sing Sing prison because his political pals have promised him a quick parole. A troublesome prisoner, he finally concedes that his friends have deserted him, and he makes an effort to reform. When his girlfriend Kay is injured in an accident, Warden Long gives Tommy a pass to go see her. But trouble erupts when Tommy encounters the man responsible for his imprisonment.

    Remake of the 1933 film 20,000 Years in Sing SingRead More »

  • Joseph Losey – The Boy with Green Hair (1948)

    1941-1950ClassicsDramaJoseph LoseyUSA

    ”A strange movie that remains in the memory years after you’ve seen it. It’s silly, sentimental and has a ridiculous premise, but also lasting power. Stockwell is a 12-year-old sent to live in the country with his singing-waiter grandfather O’Brien after his parents are killed in the Blitz. The shock of this turns Stockwell’s hair green, leading the townsfolk to vilify him and forcing the child to understand that a different appearance can be hard, but can make you strong. It’s a fable on racism and the horror of war for children.” – Channel4 comRead More »

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