''Smiling Irish Eyes'' (1929) is a

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 from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone was the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one ...

American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...

musical film with

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films running through a special ...

sequences. The film is now considered a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy ...

. However, the

discs still exist.SilentEra entry
/ref>

Plot

Rory O'More leaves his sweetheart Kathleen O'Connor back in the old country while he travels to America to establish himself. He is a musician, and hopes to make it big. Kathleen grows tired of waiting and travels to America, only to find him on stage performing "their" song and kissing another woman. Kathleen returns to Ireland, followed by Rory, who explains everything. In the end they wed and return to America.

Cast

* Colleen Moore as Kathleen O'Connor * James Hall as Rory O'More *

Robert Homans Robert Edward Homans (November 8, 1877 – July 28, 1947) was an American actor who entered films in 1923 after a lengthy stage career. Life and career Robert Homans was born November 8, 1877, in Malden, Massachusetts. Although he studied ...

as Shamus O'Connor *

Claude Gillingwater Claude Benton Gillingwater (August 2, 1870 – November 1, 1939) was an American stage and screen actor. He first appeared on the stage then in more than 90 films between 1918 and 1939, including the Academy Award-nominated ''A Tale of Two ...

as Michael O'Connor * Tom O'Brien as Black Barney *

Robert Emmett O'Connor Robert Emmett O'Connor (March 18, 1885 – September 4, 1962) was an Irish-American actor. He appeared in more than 200 films between 1919 and 1950. He is probably best remembered as the warmhearted bootlegger Paddy Ryan in '' The Public En ...

as Sir Timothy * Aggie Herring as Granny O'More * Betty Francisco as Frankie West * Julanne Johnston as Goldie Devore * Edward Earle - Ralph Prescott *

Fred Kelsey Frederick Alvin Kelsey (August 20, 1884 – September 2, 1961) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. Kelsey directed one- and two-reel films for Universal Film Manufacturing Company. He appeared in more than 400 films bet ...

as County Fair Manager *Barney Gilmore as County Fair Manager's Assistant * Charles McHugh as County Fair Manager's Assistant *Madam Bosocki as Fortune Teller *

George 'Gabby' Hayes George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd President ...

as Taxi Driver * Anne Schaefer - Landlady *John Beck as Sir Timothy's Butler *

Oscar Apfel Oscar C. Apfel (January 17, 1878 – March 21, 1938) was an American film actor, director, screenwriter and producer. He appeared in more than 160 films between 1913 and 1939, and also directed 94 films between 1911 and 1927. Biography Apf ...

as Max North *

Otto Lederer Otto Lederer (April 17, 1886 – September 3, 1965) was a Czech-American film actor. He appeared in 120 films between 1912 and 1933, most notably '' The Jazz Singer'', the first full-length film to have sound sequences, and the Laurel and ...

as Izzy Levi * William H. Strauss as Moe Levi *David Thursby as Scotch Barker *Dan Crimmins as The Trouble Maker

Background

''Smiling Irish Eyes'' was Colleen Moore's first

musical Musical is the adjective of music Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact def ...

role, and only her second

sound film A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed befo ...

. Produced by her husband at the time, John McCormick (1893-1961), the film featured Moore as Kathleen O'Connor, an Irish woman who follows her musician sweetheart Rory O'More (James Hall) to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. This film is similar to an earlier film Moore made for

Samuel Goldwyn Samuel Goldwyn (born Szmuel Gelbfisz; yi, שמואל געלבפֿיש; August 27, 1882 (claimed) January 31, 1974), also known as Samuel Goldfish, was a Polish-born American film producer. He was best known for being the founding contributor a ...

, ''Come On Over'' (1922), directed by Rupert Hughes. As in ''Smiling Irish Eyes'', Colleen played an Irish girl whose betrothed crosses the ocean to start a new life in America before sending for her. In both films, the boyfriends do not send for her right away, in both she travels to America only to find the boyfriend seemingly besotted by another girl. In both, cases this is a misunderstanding. In ''Come On Over,'' Colleen's character reluctantly remains in America where she learns that her boyfriend is actually helping the father of the "other woman" quit drinking. In ''Smiling Irish Eyes'', Colleen's character returns to Ireland, followed by the boyfriend, who convinces her back in Ireland that it was a misunderstanding. They marry and return to America. Following this film, Moore made another film directed by Seiter, '' Footlights and Fools'' (1929). This latter film also had Technicolor sequences, and is now considered a lost film, although the Vitaphone discs survive.

Soundtrack

* "Old Killarney Fair" :by Herman Ruby and Norman Spencer :Sung by Colleen Moore * "Then I'll Ride Home with You" :by Herman Ruby and Norman Spencer :Sung by Colleen Moore * "A Wee Bit o' Love" :by Herman Ruby and Norman Spencer :Sung by Coleen Moore * "Smiling Irish Eyes" :by Herman Ruby and Ray Perkins :Sung by Colleen Moore and James Hall

References

*Jeff Codori (2012), ''Colleen Moore; A Biography of the Silent Film Star''
McFarland Publishing
(Print , EBook ).

External links