Why so much hype?

hyped garbage

Excellent but underrated film

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

What a treat to hear the songs composed so long ago and still familiar today - I particularly enjoyed the sweet story, too. The staging of 1890s Irish tribute plays seemed lush and I guess true to history - the backdrops and dancing really entertained. William Scanlan, portrayed by William Frawley, turned out to be the most unexpected bit of the story and his acting rang true. A comic bit of Scanlan's voice being provided by Morgan, as he drifted about backstage to 'project' through the scenery to the audience really made me LOL. Lots of fun to be had here and it's a fun show, even without Jack Carson! Extra nod to George O'Brien, a RL physical culture buff who portrayed Duke Muldoon, an historical physical culture buff.

WE WEREN'T FAMILIAR with the name of Irish-American tenor and song writer extraordinaire, Chancellor 'Chauncy' Olcott until a very short time ago. We had caught a portion of the film last year, but did not view the opening credits, nor did we see much more than the earliest of scenes. We certainly weren't aware that this Dennis Morgan starring vehicle was a biography.Hollywood HAS ALWAYS liked to do biopics about various prominent figures in show biz history and no one did love it more so than Warner Brothers. Perhaps the head honchos at that studio were attempting to catch lightning in a bottle for a second time in doing his title of MY WILD IRISH ROSE. Being that Chauncy Olcott was a contemporary of George M. Cohan's, they figured that they might have another YANKEE DOODLE DANDY on their hands.ALTHOUGH THE MOVIE was well received and did get some Oscar nominations, it dell just a little short of any such expectations.IN ADDITION TO the expected scenes of recreations of theatrical shows of the 1890's, the obligatory montages of train travels to various hamlets and the inclusion of the popular music of the period, the movie does score on some other levels.LOOKING AT ITS historical references, it does manage to include some real characters of the times. Both Lillian Russell (Andrea King) and William Scanlon (William Frawley) were well know singers of the era. The character of "Duke" Muldoon (George O'Brien) was also right out of the history books; as wrestling champion William Muldoon was an outstanding and accomplished grappler and American Heavyweight Champion. HE WAS A CONTEMPORARY and friend of "the Boston Strong Boy", Heavyweight Boxing Champion, John L. Sullivan; as well as being a physical culture trainer and exponent, who treated his body as a temple. Muldoon was the President of the New York State Athletic Commission for many years.IN CLOSING WE must mention that Dennis Morgan did bear a striking resemblance to some photos we've seen of a young Chauncy Olcott. Ironically, even though that Mr. Morgan was a singer, his voice was dubbed by one other; that being Dennis Day, who was both a tenor and of Irish descent.

Dennis Morgan took his pleasing tenor voice and in My Wild Irish Rose created the image of Irish entertainer Chauncey Olcott for generations to come. I doubt there are too many people who actually saw Chauncey Olcott perform in one of those tearful plays about the Auld Sod and they're not revived too often.But Olcott as performer and credited songwriter endures, no St. Patrick's Day would be complete without some of Olcott identified songs like When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, Mother Machree, and A Little Bit Of Heaven and of course the title song. These are a staple for St. Patrick's celebration in America. Remember these classics are of American origin, they were written for the musical plays Olcott starred in, but have endured so that they've become pure Irish out of love.Note in the film that Olcott is identified as a performer and that is more correct than to say he wrote these numbers. Back in the day before the founding the American Society for Composers, Authors, and Publishers it was common for songwriters to give copyright credit to a performer to cut him in on royalties for the sale of sheet music which was the venue by which popularity was measured. Al Jolson was the performer who most frequently used that practice.The film messes somewhat with the facts, but does get the basic story of Olcott's life down with him marrying Arlene Dahl a hometown girl from Buffalo. Olcott did in fact get his first theatrical break as the leading man for Lillian Russell played here by Andrea King. And he did succeed William J. Scanlon as the most popular singer of Irish ballads and Scanlon is played by William Frawley. I'm reasonably sure no one is around who saw Scanlon perform. Morgan was never in better voice than for this film. The musical numbers are staged well if not in the opulent style of Busby Berkeley. All in all My Wild Irish Rose is an enduring classic, no St. Patrick's Day would be complete without it.

"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.