Henry O'Neill Filmography

Untamed

Actors: Tyrone Power, Susan Hayward, Richard Egan, John Justin, Agnes Moorehead

Synopsis: Tyrone Power is a Dutchman, and Susan Hayward is an Irish lass. If you believe that, then the rest of Untamed will go down a lot easier. Power is a Boer calvary commander attempting to bring peace to his South African homeland. He has an affair with Hayward, a married woman whose husband is killed Read More

The Sun Shines Bright

Actors: Charles Winninger, Arleen Whelan, John Russell, Stepin Fetchit, Russell Simpson

Synopsis: Director John Ford, notoriously difficult to please, regarded The Sun Shines Bright as his favorite film. Laurence Stalllings' screenplay is based on several short stories by Kentucky humorist Irvin S. Cobb, some of which had previously been cinematized in Ford's 1934 Will Rogers vehicle Judge Priest Read More

Scarlet Angel

Actors: Yvonne De Carlo, Rock Hudson, Richard Denning, Bodil Miller, Whitfield Connor, Amanda Blake

Synopsis: Nineteenth-century saloon gal Roxy McClanahan (Yvonne DeCarlo) manages to inveigle herself into the uppermost rungs of polite New Orleans society. But Roxy has not reckoned with her old friendly nemesis, merchant seaman Frank Truscott (Rock Hudson), whose bankroll Roxy had lifted back in her Read More

Scandal Sheet

Actors: Donna Reed, Broderick Crawford, Rosemary de Camp, Henry O'Neill

Synopsis: The distinctive stamp of action-film director Phil Karlson is very much in evidence in Scandal Sheet. Broderick Crawford plays tabloid editor Mark Chapman, whose burgeoning success is threatened by the arrival of his wife Charlotte (Rosemary DeCamp), whom he deserted 20 years earlier. Hoping to Read More

The Second Woman

Actors: Robert Young, Betsy Drake, Florence Bates, Morris Carnovsky

Synopsis: In the vein of Spellbound and Rebecca comes this 1951 film noir from director James V. Kern. Robert Young stars as Jeff Cohalan, a successful architect who is tormented by the fact that his fiancée was killed in a mysterious car accident on the night before their wedding. Blaming himself for her Read More

The Family Secret

Actors: John Derek, Lee J. Cobb, Jody Lawrance, Erin O'Brien-Moore

Synopsis: A lawyer must make the most difficult decision of his life in this crime drama that begins when the attorney's son inadvertently kills his best friend. No one was around to see what happened and only his family is the wiser. But the death creates a rift in the family. His father wants him to Read More

The People Against O'Hara

Actors: Spencer Tracy, Pat O'Brien, Diana Lynn, John Hodiak, Eduardo Ciannelli

Synopsis: Fish-market worker Johnny O'Hara (James Arness) is named as a suspect when his boss -- with whom he had a dispute the previous day -- is shot to death in an apparent robbery. When he's arrested, his family appeals to their old friend James Curtayne (Spencer Tracy), who was once a renowned criminal Read More

No Man of Her Own

Actors: Barbara Stanwyck, John Lund, Phyllis Thaxter, Lyle Bettger, Jane Cowl

Synopsis: A woman is torn between a comfortable lie and the painful truth in this drama. After she is abandoned by her unfaithful boyfriend Stephen Morely (Lyle Bettger), Helen Ferguson (Barbara Stanwyck) discovers that she's pregnant, and she has no choice but to go home to her family. Shortly after Read More

Convicted

Actors: Glenn Ford, Broderick Crawford, Millard Mitchell, Dorothy Malone, Carl Benton Reid, Ed Begley, Sr.

Synopsis: Convicted stars Glenn Ford as a hotheaded young man convicted of manslaughter. Broderick Crawford plays a sympathetic warden (formerly a tough DA) who tries to help Ford adjust to prison life, eventually giving the lad responsibilities in the warden's office. Ford witnesses the killing of a Read More

The Flying Missile

Actors: Viveca Lindfors, Henry O'Neill, Carl Benton Reid, Joe Sawyer

Synopsis: A submarine commander is determined to use guided missiles on his sub in this war drama. To do so, he defies the edict of the navel bureaucracy and begins testing the prototypes. This results in personal injury and the death of a crewman. So guilty does the commander feel, that he begins to suffer Read More

The Milkman

Actors: Donald O'Connor, Jimmy Durante, Joyce Holden, William Conrad, Piper Laurie

Synopsis: The Milkman is a low-key variation of a theme explored in such slapstick festivals as The Fuller Brush Man and The Yellow Cab Man. Donald O'Connor plays Roger Bradley, who hopes to become a top-flight milkman to please his father (Henry O'Neill), the owner of the milk company. Jimmy Durante Read More

Strange Bargain

Actors: Martha Scott, Jeffrey Lynn, Katherine Emery, Richard Gaines

Synopsis: Jeffrey Lynn plays a bookkeeper who fails in his attempt to get a raise from his employer (Richard Gaines). The boss explains that the company is on the verge of bankruptcy, and that he is planning to kill himself. He offers Lynn $10,000 if Lynn will make the suicide look like murder so that the Read More

Contact Man

Actors: Ray Milland, Audrey Totter, Thomas Mitchell, Geraldine Wall, George Macready

Synopsis: This modern-day "Faust" variation benefits from a superb cast. Thomas Mitchell plays Joseph Foster, an honest judge who wants to become governor. Blocked by corrupt political forces, Foster would practically have to make a deal with the Devil to reach his goal. Enter Nick Beal (Ray Milland), a Read More

The Reckless Moment

Actors: James Mason, Joan Bennett, Geraldine Brooks, Henry O'Neill, Shepperd Strudwick

Synopsis: A blend of melodrama and film noir, The Reckless Moment stars Joan Bennett as Lucia Harper, a suburban housewife whose husband is away on business. Her daughter, Bea (Geraldine Brooks), an aspiring artist, has fallen for Ted Darby (Shepperd Strudwick), a shady older man from Los Angeles who claims Read More

You're My Everything

Actors: Dan Dailey, Anne Baxter, Anne Revere, Shari Robinson, Stanley Ridges

Synopsis: Set in the 1920s and 1930s, 20th Century-Fox's You're My Everything borrows elements from several true-life showbiz stories, include the rise to fame of Fox's own Shirley Temple. Vaudeville hoofer Timothy O'Connor (Dan Dailey) sweeps proper New England gal Hannah Adams (Anne Baxter) off her feet. Read More

Holiday Affair

Actors: Robert Mitchum, Janet Leigh, Wendell Corey, Griff Barnett, Esther Dale

Synopsis: A disarming little trifle, Holiday Affair has in the years since its original release become a Yuletide perennial on television. War widow Janet Leigh hasn't the money to buy the model train that her son Gordon Gebert wants for Christmas. Robert Mitchum overhears the boy's plight, and offers to Read More

The Return of October

Actors: Glenn Ford, Terry Moore, Albert Sharpe, Dame May Whitty, Henry O'Neill

Synopsis: In this whimsical fantasy, a young girl suddenly discovers that her horse is really a reincarnation of her beloved uncle who upon his death bed was heard to say that if could ever come back, he would want to be a race horse that wins the Kentucky Derby. When the girl's relatives learn of her Read More

Leather Gloves

Actors: Cameron Mitchell, Virginia Grey, Jane Nigh, Sam Levene, Henry O'Neill

Synopsis: In this drama, a wanderer is put on a fight card after promising the promoter that he will take a dive. He soon falls in love with a woman, but later discovers that she is in love with his opponent. He then attempts to scare his rival away from prizefighting by beating him up. He then hits the Read More

The Beginning or the End

Actors: Warner Anderson, Brian Donlevy, Robert Walker, Art Baker, Trevor Bardette, Tom Drake, Audrey Totter, James Bush, Joseph Calleia, Hume Cronyn

Synopsis: Filmed not long after the actual events, The Beginning or the End is a sober, intelligent account of the development and deployment of the Atom Bomb. Step by step, the film details the progress of The Manhattan Project, from its inception in the early stages of the war through the dawn of the Read More

Little Mister Jim

Actors: Butch Jenkins, James Craig, Frances Gifford, Luana Patten, Spring Byington

Synopsis: MGM's newest child star Jackie "Butch" Jenkins--lisp and all--is the title character in this overlong family drama. The setting is a postwar army camp, where returning GIs live in Quonsets with their families. Jenkins' mother dies, whereupon his soldier dad becomes an alcoholic. Both father and Read More

The Virginian

Actors: Joel McCrea, Brian Donlevy, Sonny Tufts, Barbara Britton, Fay Bainter

Synopsis: Owen Wister's 1902 novel was made into a movie several times, most notably in 1929, with Gary Cooper starring. This 1946 remake of the often-filmed saga gave Joel McCrea the title role as the standing-tall cowboy in Wyoming. The Virginian and his best friend Steve (Sonny Tufts) are rivals for the Read More

Bad Bascomb

Actors: Wallace Beery, Margaret O'Brien, Marjorie Main, J. Carrol Naish, Frances Rafferty

Synopsis: Bad Bascomb is an expensive MGM western, tailor-made for the blubbery talents of Wallace Beery. Beery plays the badman of the title, whose heart is softened by a sweet little child (Margaret O'Brien at her most cloying). Just about to make a clean getaway, Beery realizes that the child is in Read More

The Hoodlum Saint

Actors: William Powell, Esther Williams, Angela Lansbury, James Gleason, Lewis Stone

Synopsis: William Powell plays a cynical con man who graduates from penny-ante operations to a big-time charity racket. The scam involves collecting money on behalf of St. Dismas, bringing Powell in close contact with several men of the cloth. As the racket rolls on, Powell is touched by the sincerity of Read More

The Green Years

Actors: Charles Coburn, Tom Drake, Beverly Tyler, Hume Cronyn, Gladys Cooper, Dean Stockwell

Synopsis: The Green Years was an important rung in the career of child actor Dean Stockwell. He stars as a morose young Irish lad, raised by ultra-strict Scottish relatives of his late mother. He is drawn out of his shell by roguish great-grandfather Charles Coburn. In time, Stockwell grows up to be Tom Drake Read More

Three Wise Fools

Actors: Margaret O'Brien, Lionel Barrymore, Edward Arnold, Thomas Mitchell

Synopsis: Even if the film had been released without opening and closing titles, it wouldn't have been hard to identify Three Wise Fools as an MGM production. Margaret O'Brien stars as Sheila O'Monhan, a wide-eyed Irish colleen who insists that she sees leprechauns (as, indeed, does the audience). She Read More

Dangerous Partners

Actors: James Craig, Signe Hasso, Edmund Gwenn, Audrey Totter, Mabel Paige

Synopsis: In this a briefcase containing four wills is found next to the unconscious body of a man. He lies beside a plane crash. Each of the wills is made out to the man. Meanwhile a recent widow and a man work together to get the money her husband died for. They almost get it when they are accosted by the Read More

Keep Your Powder Dry

Actors: Lana Turner, Laraine Day, Susan Peters, Agnes Moorehead, Bill Johnson

Synopsis: A disparate group of women join the Women's Army Corps to fight WW II in this upbeat war-time drama. One of the women is a frivolous debutante who is informed that she will not receive a dime from the family fortune until she can prove herself mature enough not to squander it on nightclubs and Read More

This Man's Navy

Actors: Wallace Beery, Tom Drake, James Gleason, Jan Clayton, Selena Royle

Synopsis: Ned Trumpet (Wallace Beery), the chief pilot of a Navy blimp, is given to weaving accounts of the fighting prowess of his non-existent son. His friendship with widow Maude Weaver (Selena Royle) and her son Jess (Tom Drake) in effect sets him up with a real family. Jess enters the service and goes Read More

Anchors Aweigh

Actors: Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson, Gene Kelly, José Iturbi, Dean Stockwell

Synopsis: This mammoth musical is at base the story of two sailors on leave in Hollywood. Brash Joseph Brady (Gene Kelly) has promised his shy pal Clarence Doolittle (Frank Sinatra) that he will introduce Clarence to all the glamorous movie starlets whom he allegedly knows so well. Actually, the only Read More

Two Girls and a Sailor

Actors: Van Johnson, June Allyson, Gloria de Haven, Jimmy Durante, Lena Horne

Synopsis: Two Girls and a Sailor is another of those all-star, no-plot wartime musicals turned out by the bushel basket in the 1940s. Its lack of nuance does not lessen its entertainment value in the least. Gloria DeHaven and June Allyson play a couple of well-meaning sisters who stage their own USO shows Read More

Barbary Coast Gent

Actors: Binnie Barnes, John Carradine, Bruce Kellogg, Frances Rafferty

Synopsis: A con artist heads for the gold fields of Nevada during the 1880s after he is tossed off of San Francisco's Barbary Coast. Once in the state, he poses as an important banker. When he actually does find a gold mine, he is forcibly compelled to divvy up the take with the townsfolk. He doesn't mind Read More

Rationing

Actors: Wallace Beery, Marjorie Main, Donald Meek, Dorothy Morris, Howard Freeman

Synopsis: MGM intended Rationing to be an object lesson as well as a comedy, to teach the moviegoers the importance of rationing products during World War II. Wallace Beery plays a small town butcher who comes under fire from the local citizens for attempting to honor the ration system. Beery finds himself Read More

A Guy Named Joe

Actors: Spencer Tracy, Irene Dunne, Van Johnson, Ward Bond, James Gleason, Lionel Barrymore

Synopsis: Opening in England during the middle of World War II, A Guy Named Joe tells the story of Pete Sandidge (Spencer Tracy), a tough, devil-may-care bomber pilot who's amassed an enviable record in combat, mostly by taking chances that give his C.O. (James Gleason) the shakes, much as he and the top Read More

Lost Angel

Actors: Margaret O'Brien, James Craig, Marsha Hunt, Philip Merivale, Keenan Wynn, Henry O'Neill

Synopsis: Margaret O'Brien, MGM's newest child sensation, was given her first starring vehicle with Lost Angel. O'Brien plays Alpha, who has been groomed to be a genius by a trio of well-meaning but misguided professors (Philip Merivale, Henry O'Neill and Donald Meek). Taking pity on the reluctant prodigy Read More

Nothing But Trouble

Actors: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Mary Boland, Philip Merivale, Henry O'Neill

Synopsis: The second of Laurel & Hardy's two MGM starring films, Nothing But Trouble casts Stan and Ollie as, respectively, an unemployed butler and chef. Despite their inherent ineptitude, there's a wartime servant shortage, so the boys are hired by flighty dowager Mrs. Hawkley (Mary Boland), who hopes to Read More

Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case

Actors: Lionel Barrymore, Van Johnson, Donna Reed, Keye Luke

Synopsis: The third of MGM's Dr. Kildare series to dispense with the services of Dr. Kildare (Lew Ayres), Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case stars crusty old Lionel Barrymore in the title role. The first half of the film concerns Gillespie's efforts to expedite the romance of Army sergeant Orisin (Michael Duane) Read More

The Heavenly Body

Actors: William Powell, Hedy Lamarr, James Craig, Fay Bainter, Henry O'Neill

Synopsis: In this light romantic comedy, William B. Whitley (William Powell) is an astronomer who is very excited about his latest discovery, a comet that has been named after him. However, Whitley has been so busy tracking the course of his comet as its path leads straight into the moon that he's been Read More

Best Foot Forward

Actors: Lucille Ball, Tommy Dix, William Gaxton, Virginia Weidler, Nancy Walker, June Allyson, Gloria de Haven

Synopsis: Five original cast members of the hit Broadway musical Best Foot Forward appear in this Technicolor MGM screen adaptation. Set at a small town military prep school, the story gets under way when movie star Lucille Ball (played by movie star Lucille Ball) pays a visit to the campus for publicity Read More

The Human Comedy

Actors: Mickey Rooney, Frank Morgan, Fay Bainter, James Craig, Marsha Hunt, Ray Collins, Van Johnson

Synopsis: Author William Saroyan's corn-shucking brand of sentimentality works wonders in this 1943 filmization of his novel. Narrator Ray Collins is dead before the film begins; thus he is able to provide an all-seeing overview of the tiny community of Ithaca, California. The principal character, played by Mickey Rooney Read More

Girl Crazy

Actors: Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, June Allyson, Nancy Walker, Gil Stratton, Robert E. Strickland, Rags Ragland

Synopsis: This second film version of the George and Ira Gershwin's Broadway hit Girl Crazy stars reigning MGM musical prince and princess Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. The 1932 version of Girl Crazy de-emphasized the main plot, building up the comic subplot involving a timorous temporary sheriff and a Read More

Whistling in Brooklyn

Actors: Red Skelton, Ann Rutherford, Jean Rogers, Ray Collins

Synopsis: The last of three films starring Red Skelton as ace radio detective Wally "The Fox" Benton, Whistling in Brooklyn opens with Fox and girl friend Carol Lambert (Ann Rutherford) making final preparations for a trip to Niagara Falls, where they intend to get married. Of course, they've made these Read More

Air Raid Wardens

Synopsis: Set in wartime (WW II), this film finds the fat guy, skinny guy comedy duo not much good at any attempted professions; they can't even enlist in the war effort. None of the services want them. But they do become air raid wardens, at least for a while, until their misadventures continue. They get Read More

White Cargo

Actors: Hedy Lamarr, Walter Pidgeon, Frank Morgan, Richard Carlson, Reginald Owen

Synopsis: The once-notorious theatrical chestnut White Cargo was toned down for public consumption in this 1942 MGM-ized adaptation (the property had been previously filmed in England in 1929). More sullen than sexy, Hedy Lamarr stars as Tondelayo, the libidinous African native girl who nearly drives Read More

Born to Sing

Actors: Virginia Weidler, Ray McDonald, Leo Gorcey, Rags Ragland, Douglas McPhail

Synopsis: This happy musical chronicles the exploits of a suicidal composer who is desolate after someone swiped his newest musical comedy. He is saved by three young people who join up with the writer's daughter and put on the production. With the help of a pugnacious cab driver, they manage to draw their Read More

This Time for Keeps

Actors: Ann Rutherford, Robert Sterling, Guy Kibbee, Irene Rich, Virginia Weidler

Synopsis: This Time for Keeps is a followup to 1940's Keeping Company, with Ann Rutherford repeating her role from the earlier film. Rutherford is cast as newlywed Katherine White, at present undergoing a rocky "period of adjustment" with her husband Lee (Robert Sterling, replacing the original film's John Read More

Stand by for Action

Actors: Robert Taylor, Brian Donlevy, Marilyn Maxwell

Synopsis: Rear Admiral Stephen Thomas' (Charles Laughton) spoken tribute to "the finest Naval officer I knew" provides the framework for the wartime flag-waver Stand By For Action. Robert Taylor stars as Gregg Masterman, a flippant socialite who comes to realize his obligation to his country when he is Read More

Tortilla Flat

Actors: Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr, John Garfield, Frank Morgan, Akim Tamiroff

Synopsis: Like the John Steinbeck novel on which it is based, Tortilla Flat is not so much a movie as a series of warm-hearted anecdotes, all linked to a small California fishing village populated by poor but happy immigrants. The focus is upon Pilon (Spencer Tracy), a good-natured, charismatic freeloader Read More

The Bugle Sounds

Actors: Wallace Beery, Marjorie Main, George Bancroft, Henry O'Neill

Synopsis: By 1941, Wallace Beery was pretty much confined to playing two characters: The reprobate with the heart of gold, or the old-line martinet who resents the incursions of progress. In The Bugle Sounds, Beery opted for characterization #2, playing entrenched Cavalry sergeant Hap Doan. Accustomed to Read More

The Trial of Mary Dugan

Actors: Laraine Day, Robert Young, Tom Conway, Frieda Inescort, John Litel

Synopsis: MGM's The Trial of Mary Dugan was based on the popular stage play by Bayard Vellier, previously filmed as a Norma Shearer vehicle in 1929. This time, Laraine Day is cast as Mary Dugan, a young stenographer who is falsely accused of murdering her philandering employer Edgar Wayne (Tom Conway). In Read More

The Get-Away

Actors: Robert Sterling, Charles Winninger, Donna Reed, Henry O'Neill, Dan Dailey

Synopsis: The Get-Away is a remake of 1935's Public Hero Number One, using generous amounts of stock footage from the earlier film. Robert Sterling, Donna Reed and Dan Dailey (billed as Dan Dailey Jr.) fill the roles originally played by Chester Morris, Jean Arthur and Joseph Calleia. In order to get the Read More

Down in San Diego

Actors: Ray McDonald, Bonita Granville, Dan Dailey, Leo Gorcey, Charles Smith

Synopsis: Down in San Diego was previewed as Young Americans, which is why prints still exist bearing both titles. The film is essentially a gussied-up MGM version of an "East Side Kids" pictures, even unto casting Leo Gorcey in a major role. A gang of teenagers with too much time on their hands decide to Read More

Keeping Company

Actors: Frank Morgan, Ann Rutherford, John Shelton, Irene Rich, Gene Lockhart

Synopsis: In addition to his supporting-player duties at MGM, Frank Morgan could always be counted upon to star in the studio's B-picture product. In Keeping Company, Morgan plays real estate broker Harry C. Thomas, blessed (or saddled) with three growing daughters. Mary (Ann Rutherford), oldest of the Read More

Billy the Kid

Actors: Robert Taylor, Brian Donlevy, Ian Hunter, Mary Howard, Gene Lockhart

Synopsis: The famous outlaw rides again in this fictionalized western that chronicles Billy's turn from criminal to fine upstanding citizen. The film received an Oscar nomination for its color cinematography. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Johnny Eager

Actors: Robert Taylor, Lana Turner, Edward Arnold, Van Heflin, Robert Sterling

Synopsis: Robert Taylor toughened up his image considerably with this gangster movie, which was unusual both in its plot and origins, having come from MGM, which was generally not known for its crime movies. Taylor plays a parolee who is pretending to follow the straight-and-narrow as a hardworking cabbie Read More

Men of Boys Town

Actors: Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Lee J. Cobb, Larry Nunn, Bobs Watson, Darryl Hickman

Synopsis: In this sequel to the 1938 boxoffice hit Boys Town, Spencer Tracy repeats his Oscar-winning role of Father Flanagan, with Mickey Rooney likewise reprising his characterization of reformed hoodlum Whitey Marsh. Still operating on the theory that "No boy is bad, if given a chance", Father Flanagan Read More

Whistling in the Dark

Actors: Red Skelton, Conrad Veidt, Ann Rutherford, Virginia Grey, Rags Ragland

Synopsis: Though based on a stage play by Laurence Gross and Edward Childs Carpenter (previously filmed as an Ernest Truex vehicle in 1933), MGM's Whistling in the Dark was clearly inspired by the success of Paramount's Bob Hope comedy-mystery The Ghost Breakers. In his first film starring role, Red Skelton Read More