As a Broadway play, "Abie's Irish Rose" is to non-musical theater historians what "Cats" is to musical theater historians, a popular show that seemed to run forever and now is considered a theatrical history joke. I have been searching for this movie forever, just curious over how bad it would be, and while I can understand the weak reviews, I found parts of it charming, if somewhat cringe-worthy on a sentimental and stereotypical level. For a play as hated as it is, the themes have been spoofed and re-used over and over again, even spawning a sitcom ("Bridget Loves Bernie") and a hysterical line in the musical "On the Twentieth Century" where the character of Oscar Jaffe sings about willing his tickets to this surprising hit to one of his cohorts. Even soap operas have, perhaps, unknowingly gotten in on the "Abie's Irish Rose" spoofing, as a 1983-1984 storyline on "General Hospital" had an Irish restaurant owner (Rose Kelly) falling in love with a Jewish reporter (Jake Meyer) and interference from friends and family creating problems in a relationship that went nowhere. "Ryan's Hope" went into further detail in a storyline involving Pat Ryan learning about Jewish culture from his girlfriend Nancy's traditional Jewish parents who had their reservations but basically didn't interfere with the couple.
For this second movie version of the play by Anne Nichols, the setting has been updated to the end of World War II where a soldier of Jewish heritage (Richard Norris) meets a feisty Irish girl (Joanne Dru) and marries her on the spur of the moment. They have a difficulty returning to his home town of New York City where Norris is spotted by old family friends (George E. Stone and Vera Gordon) who immediately spot the fact that Norris is in love. Norris's traditional Jewish father (Michael Chekhov) is thrilled to meet Dru, whom Norris nervously gives a Jewish name to, and encourages them to marry right away. But when Dru's stereotypical boisterous Irish father (J.M. Kerrigan) arrives, the cat gets out of the bag, and a family feud pits Chekhov and Kerrigan against each other, even though they are soon presented with grandchildren that will obviously either bring them together and end the feud or create more issues.
I found it strange that both fathers were written as widowers, with no female influence on them outside of Gordon's big hearted Jewish neighbor, perhaps the only one who sees that Dru and Norris are very much in love and deserve their chance at happiness in spite of their religious and cultural differences. The updated story has the couple dealing with the overcrowding hotel situation in London, with Eric Blore amusing as the hotel manager. While certainly no classic or groundbreaking as a great play, "Abie's Irish Rose" is funny and even touching at times, even though the situation is quite contrived. Certainly, the stereotypes do have some valid points in their older characters being more traditional and the younger generation being more open to change, even though other plays and musicals (most notably "Fiddler on the Roof") have dealt with mixed marriages more realistically and didn't resort to pathos and sentimentality to structure its story around. This certainly doesn't deserve the "Bomb" rating I've seen in various movie review books, although I wouldn't give it any awards either.
For this second movie version of the play by Anne Nichols, the setting has been updated to the end of World War II where a soldier of Jewish heritage (Richard Norris) meets a feisty Irish girl (Joanne Dru) and marries her on the spur of the moment. They have a difficulty returning to his home town of New York City where Norris is spotted by old family friends (George E. Stone and Vera Gordon) who immediately spot the fact that Norris is in love. Norris's traditional Jewish father (Michael Chekhov) is thrilled to meet Dru, whom Norris nervously gives a Jewish name to, and encourages them to marry right away. But when Dru's stereotypical boisterous Irish father (J.M. Kerrigan) arrives, the cat gets out of the bag, and a family feud pits Chekhov and Kerrigan against each other, even though they are soon presented with grandchildren that will obviously either bring them together and end the feud or create more issues.
I found it strange that both fathers were written as widowers, with no female influence on them outside of Gordon's big hearted Jewish neighbor, perhaps the only one who sees that Dru and Norris are very much in love and deserve their chance at happiness in spite of their religious and cultural differences. The updated story has the couple dealing with the overcrowding hotel situation in London, with Eric Blore amusing as the hotel manager. While certainly no classic or groundbreaking as a great play, "Abie's Irish Rose" is funny and even touching at times, even though the situation is quite contrived. Certainly, the stereotypes do have some valid points in their older characters being more traditional and the younger generation being more open to change, even though other plays and musicals (most notably "Fiddler on the Roof") have dealt with mixed marriages more realistically and didn't resort to pathos and sentimentality to structure its story around. This certainly doesn't deserve the "Bomb" rating I've seen in various movie review books, although I wouldn't give it any awards either.