Brian AherneFilmography

The Cavern

Actors: Rosanna Schiaffino, John Saxon

Synopsis: This claustrophobic WW II war drama chronicles the five months which six soldiers and one woman spent trapped within a deep cave in the Italian mountains. Two soldiers die while trying to escape. The survivors try to keep sane, but keep grating upon each other. The pressure reaches a fever pitch Read More

The Waltz King

Synopsis: This biopic from Walt Disney studios chronicles the life and times of Johann Strauss, Jr. as he tries to prove himself as talented as his overbearing father. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Sword of Lancelot

Actors: Cornel Wilde, Jean Wallace, Brian Aherne, George Baker, Archie Duncan, John Longden

Synopsis: Cornel Wilde co-produces, directs, and stars with his wife Jean Wallace in this uneven version of fabled King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Wilde, a skilled fencer, is Lancelot and appropriately enough, Wallace is his lady-love Guinevere. This time around, their traditionally chaste Read More

Susan Slade

Actors: Troy Donahue, Connie Stevens, Dorothy McGuire, Lloyd Nolan, Brian Aherne, Bert Convy

Synopsis: A complicated soap opera, Susan Slade features Connie Stevens as the title character, a naïve 17-year-old who is at a mountain resort in Alaska when she falls in love with a climber (Grant Williams). They have an affair, and she ends up pregnant, but her lover falls off Mount McKinley and dies. Read More

The Twilight Zone: The Trouble with Templeton

Actors: Brian Aherne, Pippa Scott, Charles S. Carlson, Sydney Pollack, Larry Blake

Synopsis: The past and present collide with poignant results in this handsomely mounted Twilight Zone episode. Brian Aherne stars as aging Broadway matinee idol Booth Templeton, who is unable to give his full attention to his latest play because of his obsession with the past in general and his late wife Read More

The Best of Everything

Actors: Hope Lange, Stephen Boyd, Suzy Parker, Martha Hyer, Diane Baker

Synopsis: A star-studded cast enlivens this glossy '50s soap opera, based on a novel by Rona Jaffe. The action unfolds at the Gotham-based Fabian Publishing, where numerous women work as typists under the aegis of power-wielding, shark-like editor Amanda Farrow (Joan Crawford). Farrow has achieved wealth Read More

The Swan

Actors: Grace Kelly, Alec Guinness, Louis Jourdan, Agnes Moorehead, Jesse Royce Landis

Synopsis: Frances Howard starred as Princess Alexandria in the 1925 silent version of Ferenc Molnar's play The Swan; Lillian Gish assumed the role in the 1930 talkie version. The third and final adaptation starred Grace Kelly, who had one slight advantage over her predecessors; she would soon become a real Read More

Prince Valiant

Actors: James Mason, Janet Leigh, Robert Wagner, Debra Paget, Sterling Hayden

Synopsis: Hal Foster's Sunday-comics saga of a young Viking prince in the service of King Arthur is brought to the screen in CinemaScope and Technicolor in Prince Valiant. Despite the fact that he sports a dutch bob that makes him look like actress Phyllis Kirk, Robert Wagner is quite virile and convincing Read More

A Bullet Is Waiting

Actors: Jean Simmons, Rory Calhoun, Stephen McNally, Brian Aherne

Synopsis: A young woman (Jean Simmons) manages a remote California sheep ranch with her father (Brian Aherne). A plane carrying a sheriff (Stephen McNally) and a man indicted for manslaughter (Rory Calhoun) crashes nearby. Both men are cared for by the girl, who doesn't know at first which is the cop and Read More

I Confess

Actors: Montgomery Clift, Anne Baxter, Karl Malden, Brian Aherne, O.E. Hasse

Synopsis: Based on the turn-of-the-century play Our Two Consciences by Paul Anthelme, Hitchcock's I Confess is set in Quebec. Montgomery Clift plays a priest who hears the confession of church sexton O.E. Hasse. "I...killed...a man" whispers Hasse in tight closeup--and, bound by the laws of the Read More

Titanic

Actors: Clifton Webb, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Wagner, Audrey Dalton, Thelma Ritter

Synopsis: 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 Read More

Smart Woman

Actors: Iris Adrian, Brian Aherne, Constance Bennett, Willie Best, Lee Bonnell

Synopsis: In this courtroom drama, two opposing lawyers lead a double life. In the courtroom they are ruthless toward each other, but once the day is over they become passionate lovers. Unfortunately their newest case may well threaten their relationship as the defense attorney is defending a corrupt Read More

Angel on the Amazon

Actors: George Brent, Vera Ralston, Brian Aherne, Constance Bennett, Fortunio Bonanova

Synopsis: Angel on the Amazon gives the viewer a pretty good notion of what Lost Horizon or She might have looked like had they been produced by Republic Pictures. Vera Ralston stars as huntress Christine Ridgeway, who embarks on one of her many hunting expeditions in the company of her husband Anthony Brian Aherne Read More

The Locket

Actors: Laraine Day, Brian Aherne, Robert Mitchum, Gene Raymond, Ricardo Cortez, Sharyn Moffett

Synopsis: Setting something of a record for flashbacks within flashbacks, The Locket recounts the mental disintegration of bride-to-be Laraine Day. As a child, Day was accused of stealing a locket at a fancy party. She has spent her life getting even for this false accusation by becoming a kleptomaniac and Read More

Forever and a Day

Actors: Merle Oberon, Brian Aherne, Gladys Cooper, Ida Lupino, C. Aubrey Smith, Claude Rains, Robert Cummings, Anna Neagle, Roland Young

Synopsis: The 80-star cast of Forever and a Day would certainly not have been feasible had not most of the actors and production people turned over their salaries to British war relief -- a point driven home during the lengthy opening credits by an unseen narrator. The true star of the film is a stately old Read More

What a Woman!

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Brian Aherne, Willard Parker, Alan Dinehart, Edward Fielding

Synopsis: In his book on "screwball" comedies, the late William K. Everson described What a Woman as "indistinguishable from a dozen other big-business comedies, but a pleasant and zany time-killer." Once again, Rosalind Russell is cast as a high-pressure female executive, in this instance liteary agent Read More

First Comes Courage

Actors: Merle Oberon, Brian Aherne, Carl Esmond, Fritz Leiber, Erville Alderson

Synopsis: With Dorothy Arzner in the director's chair, it's no wonder that First Comes Courage has a more feminist slant than most WWII "underground" films. Merle Oberon plays Nicole Larsen, a member of the Norwegian resistance. To obtain important war information, Nicole romances Nazi major Paul Dichter Carl Esmond Read More

A Night to Remember

Actors: Loretta Young, Brian Aherne, Jeff Donnell, Sidney Toler

Synopsis: Brian Aherne stars as a successful murder-mystery novelist; his wife, Loretta Young, wishes Aherne would switch to writing love stories (Young doesn't have a very realistic grasp on the literary marketplace, but we'll let that pass). Young sweet-talks Aherne into vacating their apartment and Read More

My Sister Eileen

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Brian Aherne, Janet Blair, George Tobias, Richard Quine, June Havoc, Allyn Joslyn

Synopsis: Rosalind Russell plays aspiring Ohio journalist Ruth Sherwood, who heads for New York to seek her fortune, accompanied by her sister, Eileen (Janet Blair), an aspiring actress. The girls take a basement apartment in Greenwich Village, which becomes a gathering place for several oddball characters Read More

The Man Who Lost Himself

Actors: Brian Aherne, Kay Francis, Henry Stephenson, S.Z. Sakall

Synopsis: In this humorous adventure, a Puerto Rican explorer shares a drink with his oddball millionaire double. For a lark, they decide to pull a switcheroo and exchange places. Unfortunately, the millionaire is killed in a car accident. His poor grieving wife, doesn't realize that the dead man is the Read More

Skylark

Actors: Claudette Colbert, Ray Milland, Brian Aherne, Binnie Barnes, Walter Abel

Synopsis: Claudette Colbert and Ray Milland, stars of the 1940 hit Arise, My Love, were immediately reteamed for Skylark. Adapted from the play by Samson Rafaelson, the film stars Colbert as the wife of a neglectful businessman Milland (her role had been played on Broadway by Gertrude Lawrence). Brian Aherne Read More

Smilin' Through

Actors: Jeanette MacDonald, Brian Aherne, Gene Raymond, Ian Hunter, Frances Robinson

Synopsis: Adapted from the warhorse stage tearjerker by Jane Cowl and Jane Murfin, this 1941 film version of Smilin' Through is even hokier than two earlier movie adaptations, but it works beautifully thanks to the sensitive direction of Frank Borzage. Brian Aherne dominates the proceedings as the aged Sir Read More

My Son, My Son

Actors: Madeleine Carroll, Brian Aherne, Louis Hayward, Laraine Day, Henry Hull

Synopsis: Adapted from the novel by Howard Spring, My Son My Son stars Brian Aherne as a self-made success determined to give his son the lavish upbringing he himself was denied. Not surprisingly, the son (Louis Hayward) grows up spoiled rotten, causing grief and pain to everyone who loves him. The limit Read More

Vigil in the Night

Actors: Carole Lombard, Brian Aherne, Anne Shirley, Julien Mitchell, Robert Coote

Synopsis: A dedicated nurse in a British hospital takes a nervous rookie under her wing. When the new nurse messes up and causes a patient's death, she protects her and loses her job. She eventually finds work at another bigger and more rundown hospital and there falls in love with a handsome young doctor. Read More

The Lady in Question

Actors: Glenn Ford, Rita Hayworth, Brian Aherne, Irene Rich, George Coulouris

Synopsis: Columbia's The Lady in Question is a remake of the French Gribouille, a Raimu vehicle from 1939. Brian Aherne plays Andre Morestan, the seeming contently paterfamilias of a bourgeois Parisian family. Summoned for jury duty, Morestan at first believes that accused murderess Natalie Rougin (Rita Hayworth Read More

Hired Wife

Actors: Rosalind Russell, Brian Aherne, Virginia Bruce, Robert Benchley, John Carroll

Synopsis: Rosalind Russell and Brian Aherne go through their customary farcical paces in the formula romantic comedy Hired Wife. Russell plays Kendal Browning, the superefficient secretary of business executive Stephen Dexter (Brian Aherne). When Dexter is legally obliged to put his business and its assets Read More

Captain Fury

Actors: Brian Aherne, Victor McLaglen, Paul Lukas, June Lang, John Carradine

Synopsis: This exciting adventure is set in the rugged Australian outback back when the continent was used as a giant penal colony for criminals of the British empire, and tells the story of a fugitive leader and his band who like Robin of old try to prevent a greedy governor from stealing rancher's land. Read More

Juarez

Actors: Paul Muni, Bette Davis, Brian Aherne, Claude Rains, John Garfield

Synopsis: Juarez was originally designed to concentrate almost exclusively on the tragedy of Hapsburg Emperor Maximillian, whose attempts to establish a puppet government in Mexico on behalf of Napoleon III ended in disaster and death. But when Paul Muni decided that he wanted to play Read More

Merrily We Live

Actors: Constance Bennett, Brian Aherne, Billie Burke, Alan Mowbray, Patsy Kelly

Synopsis: Merrily We Live is a blatant imitation of My Man Godfrey, courtesy of producer Hal Roach. This time Brian Aherne is the gentleman vagabond whom flighty society matron Billie Burke hires as a butler. Aherne's down-to-earth attitude jars against the high-toned phoniness of Burke's wealthy household Read More

The Great Garrick

Actors: Brian Aherne, Olivia de Havilland, Edward Everett Horton, Melville Cooper, Lionel Atwill, Lana Turner

Synopsis: Director James Whale, well known for his witty horror films, tackled comedy head-on in this period piece, set in the 18th Century. David Garrick (Brian Aherne) is a gifted but supremely arrogant British actor whose fame is exceeded only by his ego. After finishing a starring run at London's Drury Read More

Beloved Enemy

Actors: Merle Oberon, Brian Aherne, Karen Morley, Jerome Cowan, David Niven

Synopsis: This lavishly appointed Sam Goldwyn soap opera is set in Ireland during "the troubles." Irish rebel leader Dennis Reardon (Brian Aherne) falls in love with Lady Helen Drummond (Merle Oberon), the aristocratic daughter of British diplomat Lord Athleigh (Henry Stephenson). Reardon's underground Read More

I Live My Life

Actors: Joan Crawford, Brian Aherne, Frank Morgan, Aline MacMahon, Eric Blore

Synopsis: Feeling stifled by her wealthy existence, flighty heiress Kay (Joan Crawford) falls in love with poor archaeologist Terry (Brian Aherne). The couple seems happiest when they're yelling at one another, indicating perhaps that screenwriter Joseph L. Mankiewicz was none too fond of either character. Read More

Sylvia Scarlett

Actors: Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Brian Aherne, Edmund Gwenn, Natalie Paley

Synopsis: This big-budget 1936 RKO Studios picture lost money, perhaps due to a cool box-office reception to the idea of leading lady Katharine Hepburn in drag, and a rare-for-its-day screen kiss between two women. Edmund Gwenn plays the title character's father Henry, who is obsessed with gambling. His Read More

The Fountain

Actors: Ann Harding, Brian Aherne, Paul Lukas, Jean Hersholt, Ralph Forbes

Synopsis: In this wartime drama, set during WW I, the adoring wife of a German officer soon finds herself falling for a handsome British soldier while her husband is off to fight the war. Her husband returns. Not only has he inhaled poison gas, he has also lost an arm. His guilt-ridden wife tries to help Read More

What Every Woman Knows

Actors: Helen Hayes, Brian Aherne, Madge Evans, Lucile Watson, Dudley Digges

Synopsis: Legendary "improvisational" director Gregory La Cava elected to stick to the script for his film version of the James M. Barrie play What Every Woman Knows. Helen Hayes repeats her stage role as a Victorian Scotswoman of far-reaching ambition. Using her supposedly frail feminine wiles, Hayes Read More

I Was a Spy

Actors: Madeleine Carroll, Conrad Veidt, Edmund Gwenn, Herbert Marshall, Donald Calthrop, Gerald du Maurier

Synopsis: This story of espionage in World War I is based on a true story. Marthe McKenna (Madeleine Carroll) is a nurse from Belgium who uses her beauty and charm to serve her native land during the war. McKenna is able to ferret out secret information from German officers and pass it along to Allied Read More

The Constant Nymph

Actors: Brian Aherne, Victoria Hopper, Peggy Blythe, Jane Baxter, Jane Cornell, Lyn Harding

Synopsis: Previously filmed in 1928, the sentimental Margaret Kennedy novel The Constant Nymph was sumptuously remade by Gaumont Productions in 1933. Victoria Hopper plays the title character, a Belgian gamine named Tessa. The girl falls hopelessly in love with world-famous composer Lewis Dodd (Brian Read More

Song of Songs

Actors: Marlene Dietrich, Brian Aherne, Lionel Atwill, Alison Skipworth, Hardie Albright

Synopsis: Song of Songs was the first Marlene Dietrich vehicle not directed by Dietrich's "Svengali," Josef von Sternberg. The star plays a zaftig German peasant girl who becomes a nude model (anything to get her out of those ill-fitting 1890s costumes!) She falls in love with a struggling sculptor (Brian Aherne Read More

Madame Guillotine

Synopsis: This romance takes place during the French Revolution. The lovers are an aristocratic woman and a populist lawyer. At first she rejects him, but then marries him at the onset of the uprising. When her husband volunteers to be guillotined in her stead, the woman reveals her social standing and Read More

The W Plan

Actors: Brian Aherne, Madeleine Carroll, Gibb McLaughlin, Gordon Harker, Cameron Carr

Synopsis: The time is WWI. British guerilla fighter Col. Duncan Grant (Brian Aherne) makes his way behind enemy lines to foil the Germans' plans to destroy those towns presently controlled by the Allied Expeditionary Forces. The Germans have planted a series of mines throughout the countryside, in a pattern Read More

Underground

Actors: Elissa Landi, Brian Aherne, Norah Baring, Cyril McLaglen

Synopsis: Anthony Asquith's second film, Underground is a silent film that tells the triangular story of a young shop girl named Nell (Elissa Landi) and the two men who find themselves in love with her. One of these is Bill (Brian Aherne), a porter for London's underground; the other is Bert (Cyril Read More

Shooting Stars

Actors: Annette Benson, Brian Aherne, Donald Calthrop

Synopsis: Written by Anthony Asquith, Shooting Stars is motivated by the sexual misconduct of unprincipled movie star Mae Feather, played by Annette Benson. Though married to her leading man Julian Gordon (Brian Aherne), Mae develops a craving for charismatic slapstick comedian Andy Wilks (Donald Calthrop). Read More

Safety First

The Eleventh Commandment

Synopsis: The Eleventh Commandment is apparently "Thou Shalt Not Get Caught." Marian Barchester (Lillian Hall Davis) is in danger of being blackmailed for past dalliance. Her actress-sister Ruth (Fay Compton) comes to Marian's rescue. In Lady Windemere's Fan fashion, Ruth pretends she had the affair Read More