1928 Film Abie's Irish Rose

Farrell MacDonald">J. Farrell MacDonald. In addition to sequences with audible dialogue or talking sequences, the film features a synchronized musical score and sound effects along with English intertitles. The soundtrack was recorded using the Western Electric sound-on-film system. The film based on the 1922 play Abie's Irish Rose by Anne Nichols. The film was later remade in 1946. In the 1930s, author Nichols revealed that her deal with Paramount brought her $300,000 plus half the film's profits.

Abie's Irish Rose
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Victor Fleming
Written by	Jules Furthman Julian Johnson, Herman Mankiewicz (titles)
Based on	Abie's Irish Rose by Anne Nichols
Produced by	B. P. Schulberg
Starring	Charles "Buddy" Rogers Nancy Carroll Jean Hersholt J. Farrell MacDonald
Cinematography	Harold Rosson
Edited by	Eda Warren
Music by	J. S. Zamecnik
Production company	Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	November 3, 1928 (1928-11-03)
Running time	12 reels (10,471 feet)
Country	United States
Languages	Sound (Part-Talkie) English
Box office	$1.5 million

A Jewish boy, Abie Levy, falls in love with and secretly marries Rosemary Murphy, an Irish Catholic girl, but lies to his family, saying that she's Jewish. The fathers of both bride and groom are at first religiously bigoted toward the other but with the birth of twin grandchildren, their antagonism fades.

• Charles "Buddy" Rogers as Abie Levy
• Nancy Carroll as Rosemary Murphy
• Jean Hersholt as Solomon Levy
• J. Farrell MacDonald as Patrick Murphy
• Bernard Gorcey as Isaac Cohen
• Ida Kramer as Mrs. Isaac Cohen
• Nick Cogley as Father Whalen
• Camillus Pretal as Rabbi Jacob Samuels
• Rosa Rosanova as Sarah

The film featured a theme song entitled "Rosemary" which was composed by J. S. Zamecnik and Anne Nichols. A song entitled "Little Irish Rose," also by the same composers, was also featured on the soundtrack.

Only reels 3–6 and 9–12 survive of this film in a silent incomplete copy. There may also be an incomplete copy of reel 8, unverified. All of the surviving reels of the film are held at The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and the Vitaphone soundtrack discs for the film still exist complete has been restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive. The film entered the public domain on January 1, 2024.

• List of early sound feature films (1926–1929)
• The Cohens and Kellys, a 1926 film with a similar plot
• Nichols v. Universal Pictures Corp.