Rose d'Irlande

One of the better musical bios. Dennis Morgan is great as the singer/composer Chauncey Olcutt. The supporting cast is very good, especially Andrea King as the glamorous Lillian Russell. The turn of the century atmosphere is the perfect setting. The technicolor is excellent. A simple plot, but the movie just makes you feel good. Morgan was always underrated as an actor and a singer.

The music is wonderful; the cast is a delight; the story is charming (not a word that one hears much today!) - so why is this movie not on home video? Dennis Morgan, to quote Lillian Russell, sings 'beautifully'. This film is a gem and is one of the best musicals made. Ben Blue is hilarious, and Arlene Dahl is stunning as Rose. This movie is a joy to see. If you have never seen it - and I had not until last year - check it out when next it comes on TCM. It is better for you than 99.99999% of the idiocy on TV or at the movies.

"My Wild Irish Rose", attributed to Chauncy Olcott, is one of the most popular, and my favorite, song commonly done by Barbershop quartets. This film is a story of his life, an Irish immigrant in the 1890s with a beautiful tenor voice, determined to make it big on stage. If this film is an accurate account, then he did very well indeed.

Dennis Morgan stars as Olcott, and was 39 when the film was released in 1947, a veteran in the movies. His co-star, Arlene Dahl was 23, in her first film, played his love interest, Rose Donovan, who he supposedly wrote the song for. I don't recall seeing any of her other films, but she sure was beautiful as a 23-year-old.

The movie is just one uplifting 100-minute pleasure to watch. Loaded with songs, and near the end a medley of Irish stage productions, including the title song. Dennis Morgan, with his great smile and great singing voice, is just perfect as Chauncy Olcott. His song to his mother, near the end, after she expressed remorse for not having believed in him, brough tears to my eyes. This is such a fine movie, any rating under "7" should be considered bogus. I give it a strong "8" of 10.

Yes, I give it a 10 because I compare it not only to others of it's kind but also to the dreck one is bombarded with on a daily basis in what's laughably called today's "popular culture." That aside, the film is beautifully cast, as has been stated elsewhere, and gives us a fairly good look at popular theater of the late 18th and early 20th centuries. No small coincidence is that many of the plays that Olcott played in involved a similar plot: Boy meets girl, someone objects, (usually the father or some authority figure) boy struggles, boy wins girl. The was actually known at the time as a "Chauncey Olcott Act." No coincidence, too, that John Ford directed one. He called it, "The Quiet Man." And, "My Wild Irish Rose," is, in itself, a "Chauncey Olcott act." Great stuff, no? Anyway, great songs, great stuff. Enjoy.

PS - After seeing the film I'd like to know more about Bill Scanlan. I found an obit that said he quit "Mauvorneen," as a result of insanity (replaced, as in the film, by Chauncey Olcott) and died in an asylum several years later. But he had been, apparenlty, a very big star in his own right, who wrote songs and plays and had plays written for him.

Anyone know more?

This excellent musical movie, in beautiful Technicolor, is so wonderful it's enough to make every person of Irish descent feel proud. Full of the joy and celebration of all things Irish, a fine cast, with brilliant settings and superb theatrical trappings, lovely Irish music and the superlative Irish tenor voice of star Dennis Morgan, 'tis the luck o' the Irish to have such a marvelous movie to enjoy over and over again! Not just just for St. Patty's Day, mind you, but for all year round.

One of the jewels produced by Jack L. Warner during his heyday as studio boss in Burbank in the 1940s.

Shame on Warner Brothers for not having this fine picture available on home video and DVD!