IRISH MOVIES

Ireland and Irish America
in the Movies

Movies have been made about Ireland, the Irish and their American cousins for nearly as long as there have been movies to make. "How Molly Malone Made Good", one of the earliest efforts, came to the screen in 1915. A small flood of other silent films followed in the 1920s, including "My Wild Irish Rose" (1922), "Irish Luck" (1925), "The Callahans and the Murphys" (1927) and "Blarney" (1928).

Most of these early releases, like silent-era movies in general, were clearly products of an infant industry undergoing growing pains. The few copies that remain in film archives today are curiosities or grist for scholarly histories. By the 1930s, however, the advent of "talkies" had, by and large, brought with it new actors, better scripts and more sophisticated production techniques.

Though "Irish" films have never been immune to bad directing, bad acting, bad scripts and other ills -- even to the present day -- many have benefited from the best talent available. "The Informer", still a television staple around St. Patrick's Day, marked one of the best early efforts by John Ford, the distinguished Irish-American director, bringing him an Oscar in 1935 -- and a second for its writer, Dudley Nichols.

"The Informer" and a selection of other films made since the 1930s are summarized in this page. Titles that can be rented or bought on videocassette format are indicated with a (V) at the end of an entry.

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THE INFORMER (U.S., RKO, 1935, 91 minutes) Directed by John Ford; nominated for Best Picture; starring Victor McLaglen. A simple minded hanger-on betrays an IRA leader to earn a payoff that will help him emigrate. He finds that he can escape neither the wrath of his former comrades nor the pangs of his own conscience. (V)

BELOVED ENEMY (U.S., Samuel Goldwyn/United Artists, 1936, 90 minutes) Starring Brian Aherne, Merle Oberon, David Niven. Amid the turmoil of the 1921 Irish rebellion, the rebel leader steals the heart of a British officer's fiancee. (V)

THE PLOUGH AND THE STARS (U.S., RKO, 1936, 72 minutes) Directed by John Ford; starring Barbara Stanwyck, Preston Foster, Barry Fitzgerald, Arthur Shields, Una O'Connor, Bonita Granville. Screen version of the Sean O'Casey play but, despite the cast, not a match for the original. In 1916 Dublin, amid "The Troubles," a man's marriage is threatened when he is appointed to command the nationalist forces.

PARNELL (U.S., MGM, 1937, 96 minutes) Starring Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Edmund Gwenn, Donald Crisp. Charles Stewart Parnell, the champion of Irish nationalism during the late 19th century, finds his career tragically destroyed when he becomes romantically involved with a married woman.

ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES (U.S., Warner Brothers, 1938, 97 minutes) Starring James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan. Two boyhood friends grow up and lose track of each other. When they meet again as adults, one has become a priest, the other a gangster. (V)

THE FIGHTING 69TH (U.S., Warner Brothers, 1940, 89 minutes) Starring James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, George Brent, Jeffrey Lynn, Alan Hale, Frank McHugh. Serving with the famous Irish-American regiment in the muddy trenches of World War I France, a cocky recruit surprises his buddies with heroism.

GOING MY WAY (U.S., Paramount, 1940, 130 minutes) Awarded Best Picture; starring Bing Crosby, Barry Fitzgerald, Rise Stevens, Frank McHugh. Bing Crosby plays a young priest sent out to serve a tough New York parish under the watchful eye of its tightwad rector. (V)

LITTLE NELLIE KELLY (U.S., MGM, 1940, 100 minutes) Starring Judy Garland, George Murphy, Arthur Shields. A sentimental saga about the feuds within an Irish-American family in New York. Garland plays mother and daughter, dying in the former role but turning up 18 years later as the daughter. In the latter role, she makes peace between her father and grandfather, who have been estranged. Some "New York cops" give a rousing rendition of "It's a Great Day for the Irish."

THE SULLIVANS (U.S., 20th Century-Fox, 1944, 111 minutes) Alternate title: THE FIGHTING SULLIVANS; starring Anne Baxter, Thomas Mitchell, Selena Royle, and Edward Ryan. For all its homespun sentimentalism, this is a true story about five brothers growing up during the 30s in a working-class neighborhood of an Iowa city. Despite occasional spats among themselves, they are inclined to stick together when any of them is in trouble. When Pearl Harbor jolts the United States into World War II, all five brothers enlist in the navy. All are assigned to the cruiser U.S.S. Juneau.

A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (U.S., 20th Century-Fox, 1945, 128 minutes) Directed by Elia Kazan; starring Dorothy McGuire, Peggy Ann Garner, Ted Donaldson, James Dunn, Joan Blondell. The trials and troubles of a young girl growing up in an Irish-American family in turn-of-the-century Brooklyn. Based on the novel by Betty Smith.

HUNGRY HILL (Britain, GFD/Two Cities, 1946, 92 minutes) Starring Margaret Lockwood, Dennis Price, Cecil Parker, Michael Denison, Siobhan McKenna, Dan O'Herlihy. Three generations of an Irish family are trapped in an ongoing feud.

CAPTAIN BOYCOTT (Britain, GFD/Individual/Universal, 1947, 93 minutes) Starring Stewart Granger, Kathleen Ryan, Alistair Sim, Robert Donat, Cecil Parker, Noel Purcell, Niall MacGinnis. Hard-pressed Irish tenant farmers, squeezed to the limit and threatened with eviction, organize to resist oppressive landlords and their agents.

MY WILD IRISH ROSE (U.S., Warner Brothers, 1947, 101 minutes) Starring Dennis Morgan, Arlene Dahl, Andrea King, Alan Hale, George Tobias. A middling period musical that follows Irish tenor Chauncey Olcott through a roller-coaster relationship with Lillian Russell.

ODD MAN OUT (Britain, GFD/J. Arthur Rank, 1947, 120 minutes) Directed by Carol Reed; starring James Mason, Robert Newton, Kathleen Ryan. An award-winning, moving drama about an Irish rebel, wounded in a hold-up, who must choose between those who might help him escape and others who would turn him over to the police. (V)

THE LUCK OF THE IRISH (U.S., 20th Century-Fox, 1947/48, 99 minutes) Starring Tyrone Power, Cecil Kellaway, Anne Baxter, Lee J. Cobb, Jayne Meadows. A New York journalist visiting Ireland meets a leprechaun, whose efforts to be helpful only complicate his love life.

FIGHTING FATHER DUNNE (U.S., Warner Brothers, 1948, 93 minutes) Starring Pat O'Brien, Darryl Hickman, Una O'Connor. A priest works to help poor boys amid the squalor and violence of an urban slum.

THE FIGHTING O'FLYNN (U.S., United Artists, 1949, 94 minutes) Starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Helena Carter, Richard Greene. In the waning years of the 18th century, an impoverished young adventurer foils Napoleon's plans to invade Ireland.

TOP O' THE MORNING (U.S., Paramount, 1949, 100 minutes) Starring Bing Crosby, Barry Fitzgerald, Anne Blythe, Hume Cronyn. The Blarney Stone disappears, and investigations follow.

THE QUIET MAN (U.S., Republic/Argosy, 1949, 129 minutes) Directed by John Ford; nominated for Best Picture; starring John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Barry Fitzgerald, Victor McLaglen, Ward Bond. A former boxer returns from America to Ireland in search of a peaceful retirement and a wife. A boisterous comedy full of Irish wit and color -- and more than its share of blarney. (V)

CAPTAIN LIGHTFOOT (U.S., Universal, 1955, 92 minutes) Starring Rock Hudson, Barbara Rush, Jeff Morrow, Kathleen Ryan. A rebel struggles against injustice and foreign rule in 19th century Ireland.

THE SEARCH FOR BRIDEY MURPHY (U.S., Paramount, 1956, 84 minutes) Starring Teresa Wright, Louis Hayward, Kenneth Tobey, Richard Anderson. A Colorado businessman, whose hobby is hypnotism, persuades a woman neighbor to let him transport her back into her previous existence as a long-dead Irish peasant. The tension builds when she seems unable to return from her previous life. Based on a true story.

THE RISING OF THE MOON (Ireland, Four Province Productions/Warner Brothers, 1957) Directed by John Ford; starring Maureen Connell, Eileen Crowe, Cyril Cusack. Based on the play of the same name by Lady Gregory.

THE LAST HURRAH (U.S., Columbia, 1958, 125 minutes) Directed by John Ford; starring Spencer Tracy, Jeffrey Hunter, Diane Foster, Pat O'Brien, Basil Rathbone, Donald Crisp. As Frank Skeffington, the veteran Irish-American political boss of a New England town, Spencer Tracy takes to the campaign trail in a final reelection bid. Humorous touches and a variety of well-acted characters complement Tracy's performance. (V)

DARBY O'GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE (U.S., Disney, 1959) Sean Connery, Albert Sharpe, Janet Munro, Jimmy O'Dea. A blend of animation with real characters and sets. An Irish storyteller and estate caretaker on the verge of losing his job falls down a well into the realm of the little people. There he ultimately wins the right to have three wishes granted. Blarney, but charming family favorite, with excellent special effects. (V)

SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL (Ireland, United Artists/Troy/Pennebaker, 1959, 110 minutes) Starring James Cagney, Glynis Johns, Don Murray, Dana Wynter, Michael Redgrave, Sybil Thorndike, Cyril Cusack, Richard Harris. A surgeon in 1921 Dublin leads a double life as a secret leader of the IRA and grows attached to violence for its own sake rather than as a means to an end.

THE NIGHT FIGHTERS (Allied Artists, 1960, 90 minutes) Original title: A TERRIBLE BEAUTY. Starring Robert Mitchum, Anne Heywood, Dan O'Herlihy, Cyril Cusack, Richard Harris. As World War II erupts, the IRA revives its activities in a northern Irish village.

STUDS LONIGAN (U.S., 1960, 95 minutes) Starring Christopher Knight, Frank Gorshin. A young Irish-American drifter, dissatisified and without great prospects, grows up amid the fast-paced, sometimes violent surroundings of 1920s Chicago. Based on the trilogy by James T. Farrell. (V)

THE GIRL WITH GREEN EYES (Britain, United Artists, 1963, 91 minutes) Starring Rita Tushingham, Peter Finch, Lynn Redgrave. Incisive drama of a relationship between a naive Dublin shopgirl and a worldly writer. Good location scenes strengthen the film.

YOUNG CASSITY (Britain, MGM/Sextant, 1965, 110 minutes) Starring Rod Taylor, Maggie Smith, Edith Evans, Flora Robson, Michael Redgrave, Julie Christie, Jack McGowran, Sian Phillips, T. P. McKenna. The early Dublin years of Irish playwright Sean O'Casey, from his days as a laborer to the opening of his play "The Plough and the Stars" at the Abbey Theatre. Provides an evocative picture of the Irish capital at the turn of the century.

THE FIGHTING PRINCE OF DONEGAL (Britain, Walt Disney, 1966, 104 minutes) Starring Peter McEnery, Susan Hampshire, Tom Adams, Gordon Jackson, Andrew Keir. An Irish chieftain fights the encroachments of Elizabeth I's lieutenants in the 16th century. (V)

ULYSSES (Britain, Walter Reade, 1967, 132 minutes) Starring Maurice Roeves, Milo O'Shea, Barbara Jefford, T. P. McKenna. Based on James Joyce's classic novel, this film follows a young poet and a Jewish journalist through 24 hours of adventures in Dublin. It was considered extreme at the time for its off-color language. (V)

FINIAN'S RAINBOW (U.S., Warner Brother's/Seven Arts, 1968, 140 minutes) Starring Fred Astaire, Petula Clark, Tommy Steele Keenan Wynn. A leprechaun attempts to find and bring back a pot of gold taken to America by an old Irishman and his daughter. (V)

THE MOLLY MAGUIRES (U.S., Paramount/Tamm, 1970, 123 minutes) Starring Sean Connery, Richard Harris, Samantha Eggar, Frank Finlay, Anthony Zerbe. A detective infiltrates a secret society, dedicated to fighting the oppressive system imposed on Pennsylvania coal miners in the 1870s, and exposes its leaders. Based on a true story, many of whose participants were Irish-American. (V)

QUACKSER FORTUNE HAS A COUSIN IN THE BRONX (U.S., UMC Pictures, 1970, 90 minutes) Starring Gene Wilder, Margot Kidder, Eileen Colgan, Seamus Ford. An Irish fertilizer salesman strikes up an acquaintance with an American exchange student, who finds she is attracted to this uneducated, but not ignorant, man. (V)

RYAN'S DAUGHTER (Britain, MGM/Faraway, 1970, 194 minutes) Starring Sarah Miles, Robert Mitchum, John Mills, Trevor Howard, Leo McKern. In 1916 Ireland, a rural schoolmaster's wife falls in love with a British major and is ostracized for betraying her country.

BARRY LYNDON (Britain, Stanley Kubrick/Warner Brothers, 1975, 184 minutes) Directed by Stanley Kubrick; starring Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson, Partick Magee, Hardy Kruger. Thackeray's satirical novel brought to life in one of the most visually stunning movies ever made. A roguish Irish peasant rises from obscurity to wealth and position during the period of the Seven Years War between England and France. (V)

HENNESSY (Britain, 1975, 103 minutes) Starring Rod Steiger, Lee Remick, Eric Porter, Richard Johnson. A Northern Irish Catholic whose politics are neutral becomes unbalanced after his wife and child, innocent onlookersat a street riot, are accidently killed by British gunfire. Vowing revenge, he sets about a plan to assassinate the Queen of England and members of her government.

THE OUTSIDER (1978/1979) Starring Sterling Hayden, Graig Wasson. A young American Vietnam veteran joins the IRA.

CAL (1984, 104 minutes) Starring John Lynch, Helen Mirren. The librarian-widow of a Protestant policeman and a young IRA activist fall in love amid the violence of present-day Northern Ireland. The film won praise for its superior acting and its intelligent handling of a problematic subject. (V) (a personal note: this is one of my two favorite movies -- the other is Michael Collins. John Lynch and Helen Mirren worked together again in "Some Mother's Son" - LaRae)

DANNY BOY (Ireland, Motion Picture Company of Ireland, 1984, 92 minutes) Originally released in Ireland in 1982 under the title, ANGEL. Starring Stephen Rea. A deaf-mute girl is murdered by extortionists, and a musician finds himself up against the rackets as he sets about trying to track down the murderers before they find out he is on to them. The story is set in south Armagh, and while one might presume that "the bad guys" are the IRA, this isn't clear from the film, which is a first-rate thriller though not a political one. (V)

A QUIET DAY IN BELFAST (Warner Brothers/Goldcrest, 1984, 92 minutes) Starring Margot Kidder, Barry Foster. A realistic, tension-filled story set amid the urban war being waged between British soldiers and IRA members in the Northern Irish capital. Centered around the colorful everyday drama of a betting parlor, the action moves the opposing sides to a brutal, bloody Climax. (V)

HEAVEN HELP US (U.S., 1095, 102 minutes) Starring Donald Sutherland, John Heard. An irreverent but entertaining comedy about the coming-of-age antics of three boys in a predominantly Irish-American Catholic high school in Brooklyn during the sixties. Though some scenes are overplayed, many will find the film nostalgic. (V)

JAMES JOYCE'S WOMEN (Ireland, The Rejoycing Co., 1985, 91 minutes) Starring Fionnula Flanagan, Timothy O'Grady, Chris O'Neill. This highly rated film presents dramatic portraits of James Joyce's wife and three of this characters, including Molly Bloom. (V)

NO SURRENDER (1985, 100 minutes) Starring Michael Angelis, Ray McAnally. Two groups of old-age pensioners, one Orange, the other Green, find themselves booked into the same Liverpool night spot to celebrate New Year's Eve. The resulting confrontation is frequently hilarious.

DA (U.S., Fillmdallas Pictures, 1987, 102 minutes) Directed by Matt Clark; starring Bernard Hughes, Martin Sheen, William Hickey. After his father dies, a middle-aged man goes throught his belongings. His father's ghost appears to talk to him about life, death and their own relationship while both were alive. Based on a play by Hugh Leonard. (V)

THE DEAD (Britain, Vestron Pictures/Zenith, 1987, 82 minutes.) Directed by John Huston (this was his last film); starring Anjelica Huston, Donal McCann, Dan O'Herlihy. The screen version of James Joyce's memorable short story from "The Dubliners," set in turn-of-the-century Dublin.

A PRAYER FOR THE DYING (U.S., Peter Snell/Samuel Goldwyn Co., 1987, 104 minutes) Starring Bob Hoskins, Mickey Rourke, Alan Bates. An IRA hit man has second thoughts about his violent life only to find that both his fellow nationalists and the police have claims on him. A gripping political drama adapted from the book by Jack Higgins. (V)