Mother Machree is a 1928 American synchronized sounddrama 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-filmmovietone 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]
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]
