"Song o' My Heart", starring John McCormack

Past his prime at this point in his life, but the great tenor should be seen as well as heard. This movie is a delightful snapshot of a time & place long ago.

Fox Film Corporation 1930
John McCormack ... Sean
Alice Joyce ... Mary

Maureen O'Sullivan ... Eileen
Tommy Clifford ... Tad
John Garrick ... Fergus
Effie Ellsler ... Mona
J.M. Kerrigan ... Peter
J. Farrell MacDonald ... Rafferty (as Farrell MacDonald)
Emily Fitzroy ... Aunt Elizabeth
Edwin Schneider ... Vincent
Andrés de Segurola ... Guido
Edward Martindel ... Fullerton

rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Wally Albright ... Boy (uncredited)
Raymond Borzage ... Boy (uncredited)
Mary Gordon ... Irish Woman (uncredited)
Aggie Herring ... Irish Woman (uncredited)


Directed by
Frank Borzage

Writing credits
Tom Barry (story)

Sonya Levien (scenario and dialogue)

MOVIE INFO

Forty-five-year-old Irish tenor John McCormack made his screen debut in Song o' My Heart. Fans of McCormack would have been satisfied if their idol had simply sung his way through the film's 85 minutes, but Fox Studios insisted on a plotline. The star plays Sean O'Callaghan, a world-renowned singer who gives up his career when his sweetheart Mary O'Brien (Alice Joyce) is forced to marry another. Years later, Mary is deserted by her husband and eventually dies of grief. Still carrying a torch for his lost love, Sean assumes the task of looking after Mary's two children. The kids are played by 11-year-old Tommy Clifford and 19-year-old Maureen O'Sullivan, the latter also making her first film appearance. Lensed partly on location in Ireland, the film provides plenty of opportunity for good old-fashioned blarney, as well as moments of honest sentiment, as when McCormick sings his signature tune "Little Boy Blue" (one of eleven musical highlights). It's hardly a coincidence that Song o' My Heart was released just before St. Patrick's Day, 1930. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi