''Abie's Irish Rose'' is a 1928 early sound (
part-talkie) comedy film directed by
Victor Fleming
Victor Lonzo Fleming (February 23, 1889 – January 6, 1949) was an American film director, cinematographer, and producer. His most popular films were the historical drama ''Gone with the Wind (film), Gone with the Wind'', for which he won an A ...
and starring
Charles "Buddy" Rogers,
Nancy Carroll,
Jean Hersholt, and
J. Farrell MacDonald. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English
intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Western Electric sound-on-film system. The film based on the 1922 play ''
Abie's Irish Rose'' by
Anne Nichols. The film was later
remade in 1946. In the 1930s, author Nichols revealed that her deal with Paramount brought her $300,000 plus half the film's profits.
Plot
A Jewish boy, Abie Levy, falls in love with and secretly marries Rosemary Murphy, an Irish Catholic girl, but lies to his family that she's Jewish. The fathers of both bride and groom are at first religiously bigoted toward the other but with the birth of twin grandchildren, their antagonism fades.
Cast
*
Charles "Buddy" Rogers as Abie Levy
*
Nancy Carroll as Rosemary Murphy
*
Jean Hersholt as Solomon Levy
*
J. Farrell MacDonald as Patrick Murphy
*
Bernard Gorcey
Bernard Gorcey (born Baruch Ugorsky; 9 January 1886 – 11 September 1955) was an American actor. He began in Vaudeville, performed on Broadway, and appeared in multiple shorts and films. He portrayed ice cream shop proprietor Louie Dumbrowski i ...
as Isaac Cohen
*
Ida Kramer as Mrs. Isaac Cohen
*
Nick Cogley as Father Whalen
*Camillus Pretal as Rabbi Jacob Samuels
*
Rosa Rosanova as Sarah
Music
The film featured a theme song entitled "Rosemary" which was composed by J. S. Zamecnik and Anne Nichols. A song entitled "Little Irish Rose," also by the same composers, was also featured on the soundtrack. Both of these songs are sung by Nancy Carroll in the film. An additional song called "Abie" (by the same composers) is also heard on the soundtrack and is sung by Charles Buddy Rogers.
Preservation status
Only reels 3–6 and 9–12 survive of this film in a silent incomplete copy. There may also be an incomplete copy of reel 8, unverified. All of the surviving reels of the film are held at
The Library of Congress in
Washington, D.C., and the
Vitaphone
Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National Pictures, First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone is the last major analog sound-on-disc sys ...
soundtrack discs for the film still exist complete has been restored by the
UCLA Film and Television Archive. The film entered the
public domain on January 1, 2024.
See also
*
List of early sound feature films (1926–1929)
* ''
The Cohens and Kellys'', a 1926 film with a similar plot
* ''
Nichols v. Universal Pictures Corp.''
References
External links
*
*
''Abie's Irish Rose'' at Virtual History
American films based on plays
Films directed by Victor Fleming
American black-and-white films
1928 films
Transitional sound comedy films
American silent feature films
American interfaith romance films
Christian and Jewish interfaith dialogue
1928 comedy films
American comedy films
Films with screenplays by Herman J. Mankiewicz
Films with screenplays by Jules Furthman
Religious comedy films
1920s American films
Silent American comedy films
Part-talkie films
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