It's a great day for the Irish Shannon family when young colleen Kathleen O'Connor arrives in New York from their homeland and moves in with them. She has two instant admirers: Old boyfriend Terry (Charles Delaney), a simple plumber, and Dan Moriarity (Robert Elliott), a political big wig who makes his affections to her known. At a big society party thrown by Moriarity, Terry is co-erced into fixing the plumbing (an obvious set-up by Dan to get him out of the way), leading Dan to propose to Kathleen and demand an immediate answer. As her family and the other guests sing Irish folk songs, Kathleen must make her decision, leading her to wonder if Moriarity's wealth and power is really worth all the trouble when compared to her noble plumber.
A corny bit of Irish blarney, this tale as old as time is as creaky as early talkies come. However, O'Neil gives a sincere performance and is never cloying in her sweetness. The music is only incidental and at under an hour, this speeds by. It has a pretty impressive set for a poverty row studio feature. I can see this not being for everyone, but if you have one ounce of romance in your heart, you can't possibly not be touched. O'Neil's Kathleen is no different than any other musical heroine of the early 30's, probably closest to Marilyn Miller's "Sally". It's an Irish Cinderella tale where the prince may not be worth all the trouble and the had working boy next door is more the prize.
A corny bit of Irish blarney, this tale as old as time is as creaky as early talkies come. However, O'Neil gives a sincere performance and is never cloying in her sweetness. The music is only incidental and at under an hour, this speeds by. It has a pretty impressive set for a poverty row studio feature. I can see this not being for everyone, but if you have one ounce of romance in your heart, you can't possibly not be touched. O'Neil's Kathleen is no different than any other musical heroine of the early 30's, probably closest to Marilyn Miller's "Sally". It's an Irish Cinderella tale where the prince may not be worth all the trouble and the had working boy next door is more the prize.