Mother Machree

For the 1910 song, see Mother Machree (song).

Mother Machree is a 1928 American synchronized sound drama film directed by John Ford that is based on the 1924 work The Story of Mother Machree by Rida Johnson Young about a poor Irish immigrant in America. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score, singing and sound effects using the sound-on-film movietone process. Rida Johnson Young had invented Mother Machree in the stage show Barry of Ballymoore in 1910. John Wayne has a minor role in the film.^[1]

Mother Machree
Film poster
Directed by	John Ford (uncredited)
Written by	Rida Johnson Young
Produced by	John Ford
Starring	Belle Bennett Neil Hamilton
Cinematography	Chester A. Lyons
Edited by	Harry H. Caldwell Katherine Hilliker
Distributed by	Fox Film Corporation
Release date	January 22, 1928 (1928-01-22)
Running time	75 minutes
Country	United States
Languages	Sound (Synchronized) (English intertitles)
Budget	$750,000 (estimated)

Plot

Cast

• Belle Bennett as Mother Machree (Ellen McHugh)
• Neil Hamilton as Brian McHugh, aka Brian van Studdiford
• Victor McLaglen as The Giant of Kilkenny (Terence O'Dowd)
• Constance Howard as Edith Cutting
• Philippe De Lacy as Brian McHugh (as a child)
• Ted McNamara as The Harper of Wexford
• Billy Platt as The Dwarf of Munster (Pips) (billed as William Platt)
• Eulalie Jensen as Rachel van Studdiford
• Pat Somerset as Bobby de Puyster
• John Wayne (bit player)

Music

The film featured a theme song titled "Mother Machree", composed by Chauncey Olcott, Ernest Ball and Rida Johnson Young.

Production

The production of the film was a protracted one; the film was originally announced by Fox publicity in June 1926, with filming slated for September. In November, it was announced that it would premiere on December 12, 1926, tying in with the marketing campaign of the music and discs of the title song. However, its release was ultimately delayed because Fox had plans to release it with a Movietone synchronised music score and sound-effects track.

Release

In May 1927, Mother Machree was privately previewed at a Fox sales convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, along with Sunrise and 7th Heaven (1927), as a showcase of the new Movietone process, and that September, a silent version was previewed at the Astoria Theatre in London. By the beginning of 1928, the delays were amounting to approximately $750,000 because its release was deferred owing to the release schedule of the Fox Movietone features. On January 22, 1928, the film premiered at the Globe Theatre in New York.^[2]

The film is also notable for containing the first synchronous sound sequence using the Movietone process in a feature film,^{[citation needed]} a short scene featuring Brian McHugh (Neil Hamilton) singing the title song "Mother Machree", which featured in the original stage show.

Preservation

Only four reels out of seven of this movie survive. Incomplete prints exist (reels one, two and five) in the Library of Congress film archive; and in the UCLA Film and Television Archive film archive (reels two, five and seven); reels three, four and six are presumed lost.^[3][1]

See also

• List of American films of 1928
• List of early sound feature films (1926–1929)
• Lost film

References

1. "Progressive Silent Film List: Mother Machree". Silent Era. Retrieved March 1, 2008.
2. Gallagher, Tag (1986). John Ford: The Man and His Films. California, USA: University of California Press. pp. 518. ISBN 0-520-05097-5.
3. Library of Congress / FIAF American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: Mother Machree

External links

• Mother Machree at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• Mother Machree at IMDb
• Mother Machree is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive