Irish Eyes Are Smiling
Irish Eyes Are Smiling is a 1944 American musical film directed by Gregory Ratoff . Monty Woolley , June Haver and Dick Haymes are cast in the leading roles .
The script is based on a story by EA Ellington, which goes back loosely to the life of the composer Ernest R. Ball (1878–1972), who achieved great popularity with his sentimental ballads .
Alfred Newman was nominated for an Oscar for his film music .
action
The lyricist and composer Ernest R. Ball was dismissed from the Cleveland Conservatory of Music in 1911, because his sentimental ballads, most of which he wrote, were not believed. Ball then goes to a burlesque , an entertainment theater that is close to vaudeville , hoping to find the singer Belle La Tour there, for whom he wrote his songs. Ball does not find this in Belle's dressing room, but a little singer and dancer named Mary “Irish” O'Neill, who easily gives him a left hook. While Ball is recovering from this surprising attack, he starts a conversation with Mary, who now encourages him to perform his ballads. When Belle arrives, she reacts not very pleased and orders not only Ball but also Mary to leave. Finding each other on the street, Ernest and Mary discover unexpected similarities, both are orphans and both dream of building a successful career in New York. Ernest falls head over heels in love with the young lady and asks her to postpone her trip to New York until he has enough money to accompany her. However, Mary insists on leaving the next morning.
Ball is determined to raise the money for New York and tries to sell one of his songs in a variety theater. The boxer Stanley Ketchel is moved to tears by Ball's ballads and stands up for the composer. Its manager Edgar Brawley believes, however, that the song was stolen. Ball, turned away in his initial disappointment, returns angrily during Stanley's show and faces his offer that any man who could beat him would be paid $ 25 per round. The fact that Ball actually gets $ 75 is thanks to the generosity of the boxer, who deliberately refrained from striking too hard. Ball can now travel to New York too.
Despite his best efforts, Ball cannot find Mary in New York. So he first takes a job at Leo Betz's music publishing house. There he is sent by Leo to a night club to offer the vaudeville singer Lucille Lacey a composition. Ball surprisingly meets Edgar Brawley there, who laughs at him again. Without thinking further, Ball then begins to perform one of his own compositions, which Lucille is extremely impressed with. She decides to take the young man under her wing and perform his songs on her show. Within a year, Ernest Ball is so well known that his songs are performed across the country.
Although Lucille shows an interest in Ball, his love still belongs to Mary, whom he has since found again. She receives the cloakroom in a posh restaurant and is ashamed of this job and can hardly believe that Ernest still loves her. Eventually, however, the composer manages to get Mary to quit her job and go with him. While Ernest is waiting for Mary a few days later, he overhears Edgar making a bet with Lucille and his friend Al Jackson. Edgar is betting $ 25,000 that he can turn the next woman to leave the lounge into a comedy star. Edgar makes Mary the woman Edgar has to choose. Mary believes that Edgar and his high society friends are just making fun of them and runs away. However, Al insists that Edgar must redeem his bet.
Lucille, still hoping to win Ernest over, secretly ensures that Mary is employed at a small theater outside of town. Al, however, who finds Mary, promises her a job in a theater in Cuba. Just as Mary is about to prepare for this trip, she is found by Ernest, who asks her to return to him. However, Mary is convinced that Lucille and Ernest are a couple and refuses to believe him. Only after the ship has set off does the drunk Al reveals to Mary that Ernest has always loved her. Mary then returns to New York aboard the pilot boat. However, there she no longer finds Ernest. Edgar comforts her and puts on a new show with Mary in the lead role. In it he advertises Ernest Ball's latest song When Irish Eyes Are Smiling . When Ernest learns about this, he believes Edgar stole his composition and hurries back to New York. After the last curtain of the extremely successful performance has fallen, Mary and Ernest hug each other backstage and Mary jokingly threatens Ernest with a black eye if he doesn't kiss her immediately. And although Edgar won his bet, he has to find out with a little anger in his stomach from Al, who has happily returned from Cuba, that he is actually the winner, because Al benefits from the success of the show, as he now also benefits from financial success as a financier is involved.
production
Production notes
The working title of the film was When Irish Eyes Are Smiling (When Irish eyes are smiling) . The shooting lasted from February 21 to mid-April 1944, further recordings were added at the end of May / beginning of June 1944. The artistic direction lay with Lyle R. Wheeler and Joseph C. Wright , the production design with Thomas Little , Al Orenbach. René Hubert was responsible for the costumes, Roger Heman senior and George Leverett for the tone . The special effects came from Fred Sersen .
occupation
According to the Hollywood Reporter , Vivian Blaine was originally supposed to play one of the main roles. A press release from the studio stated that Gregory Ratoff had been chosen to direct because of his knowledge of Irish folklore. The Metropolitan -Opernsänger blanche thebom and Leonard Warren made her debut on the big screen.
Music in the film
-
Bessie in a Bustle by James V. Monaco and Mack Gordon
Lecture: June Haver and Chor -
The Irish Washerwoman , traditionally,
played during the opening credits and occasionally in the film -
I'll Forget You by Ernest Ball and Annelu Burns
Lecture: Dick Haymes -
Dear Little Boy of Mine by Ernest Ball and J. Keirn Brennan
Lecture: Dick Haymes and in the finale by Blanche Theborn -
Let the Rest of the World Go By by Ernest Ball and J. Keirn Brennan
Lecture: Dick Haymes and vocal quartet as well as by Beverly Whitney accompanied by a women's choir,
further by Harry Seymour and in the finale by Dick Haymes and June Haver -
A Little Bit of Heaven (Shure They Call It Ireland) by Ernest Ball and J. Keirn Brennan
Lecture: Leonard Warren as well as in the finale by a vocal quartet -
Turn Back the Universe (and Give Me Yesterday) by Ernest Ball and J. Keirn Brennan
Lecture: Monty Woolley -
When Irish Eyes Are Smiling by Ernest Ball and Chauncey Olcott and George Graff
Lecture: Dick Haymes, also often played during the film and by Dick Haymes in the finale -
Mother Machree by Ernest Ball and Chauncey Olcott and Rida Johnson Young
sung by a choir during the opening scene, and sung by Blanche Thebom and in the finale -
Be My Little Baby Bumble Bee by Henry I. Marshall and Stanley Murphy
Lecture: Veda Ann Borg and choir girls in the burlesque theater -
I Don't Want a Million Dollars by James V. Monaco and Mack Gordon
Lecture: Dick Haymes -
Strut, Miss Lizzie from Turner Layton and Henry Creamer
Lecture: June Haver -
Garryowen , traditional way
played during the opening of the film -
Sobre las olas (Over the Waves) played by Juventino Rosas
during the scene in Belle La Tours cloakroom -
William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini
played during the "fight" in Belle La Tour's dressing room -
Hello! Ma Baby played by Joseph E. Howard and Ida Emerson
when Ernest Ball is hired by Betz -
Love Me, and the World Is Mine by Ernest Ball and Dave Reed junior
Lecture: Leonard Warren in the final -
Auld Lang Syne , played traditionally
when the ship departs for Cuba
history
Ernest R. Ball (1878–1927) studied at the Cleveland Conservatory before moving to New York to work in a variety theater and as a composer for a music publisher. He was very successful with his melodies, including writing for several Broadway musicals. Ball was married twice. He had three children with his first wife.
publication
Premiere had Irish Eyes Are Smiling on October 19, 1944 in Los Angeles. The film opened in New York on November 7, 1944. It was first seen in Australia and Portugal in 1945, in Mexico and Sweden in 1946 and in Finland in 1951. It was also published in Argentina, Brazil and Greece.
reception
Reviews
In his evaluation in the New York Times, Bosley Crowther came to the conclusion that Betty Grable was apparently not indispensable for the lavish musical adaptations by Twentieth Century-Fox . In fact, Miss Grable had found a formidable rival for roles that required a modest level of musical talent but an excess of specific blonde physicality in a lady named June Haver. Even if she lacks a lot as a singer and dancer, she is indeed doing a good job. Concerning Dick Hayme's personification of the composer, Crowther said that he was not a young man whose appearance or acting virtuosity would put him at risk of great success.
The Movie & Video Guide pointed out that the film had a "sympathetic cast" and contained "familiar songs".
Halliwell's Film Guide found: "Music-film biography according to Scheme F., nicely staged."
Award
- Nomination for Alfred Newman in the category “Best Score in a Musical Film” .
The Oscar went to Carmen Dragon and Morris Stoloff and the film The Goddess Dances .
Aftermath
The Screen Guild Theater broadcast a 30-minute radio adaptation of the film on March 11, 1946, in which June Haver and Dick Haymes reinterpreted their roles in the film. Lux Radio Theater presented a radio program on March 15, 1948, in which Dick Haymes , but this time with Jeanne Crain , could be heard in the main part.
Web links
- Irish Eyes Are Smiling at the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Irish Eyes Are Smiling at Turner Classic Movies (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Irish Eyes Are Smiling (1944) see notes at TCM - Turner Classic Movies (English)
- ↑ Irish Eyes Are Smiling (1944) original print info at TCM (English)
- ↑ Bosley Crowther : "Irish Eyes Are Smiling," a Tuneful Technicolored Show, With Dick Haymes and June Haver In: The New York Times . November 8, 1944 (English). Retrieved January 22, 2019.
- ^ Leonard Maltin : Movie & Video Guide, 1996 edition, p. 646.
- ^ Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide, Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 521.