Ryan's Daughter (1970/I)

Director:

David Lean

Writer:

Robert Bolt (writer)

Release Date:

17 December 1970 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

A story of love...set against the violence of rebellion

Plot:

World War I seems far away from Ireland's Dingle peninsula when Rosy Ryan Shaughnessy goes horseback...

Plot Keywords:

Father | Village | Pub | Gun | Officer

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 8 wins & 19 nominations

Cast

Robert Mitchum	...	Charles Shaughnessy
Trevor Howard	...	Father Collins
Christopher Jones	...	Randolph Doryan
John Mills	...	Michael
Leo McKern	...	Thomas Ryan
Sarah Miles	...	Rosy Ryan
Barry Foster	...	Tim O'Leary
Marie Kean	...	Mrs. McCardle
Arthur O'Sullivan	...	Mr. McCardle
Evin Crowley	...	Maureen
Douglas Sheldon	...	Driver
Gerald Sim	...	Captain
Barry Jackson	...	Corporal
Des Keogh	...	Lanky private
Niall Toibin	...	O'Keefe

Also Known As:

Michael's Day (UK) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for a sex scene.

Runtime:

195 min (general release version) | 206 min (roadshow/DVD version)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Mono (35 mm optical prints) | 4-Track Stereo (35 mm magnetic prints)

Certification:

UK:15 (video rating) | UK:AA (original rating) | Australia:PG | Singapore:M18 | Iceland:16 | West Germany:16 (f) | USA:R (re-rating) (1996) | New Zealand:M (special edition) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:11 | USA:GP (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Bridges of Ross, County Clare, Ireland

Company:

Faraway Productions

Trivia:

John Mills was the first actor cast in the film; he happened to be vacationing in Rome when Lean and Bolt began developing the project. Lean (who lived in Venice at the time) met Mills in Rome and offered him the role of the village idiot; Mills accepted, though he remarked that he felt the role was "typecasting".

Goofs:

Anachronisms: As he is driving Major Doryan to the camp, the corporal asks him if he had been in the Second Battle of the Marne. The Second Battle of the Marne was fought in July and August of 1918 near the end of WWI while events in Ryan's Daughter are set in 1916 not long after the Easter Rising.

Quotes:

Charles Shaughnessy: You're awful young.
Rosy Ryan: Aye, and that's a hanging matter, isn't it?
Charles Shaughnessy: No, it's -
[puts hand on Rosy's shoulder; uneasy pause]
Charles Shaughnessy: No, it's not a hanging matter to be young... but maybe it should be for an old man to take the youth away from a young girl. Especially a man like me and a girl like you. Rose, you were meant for the wide world, not this place, not this. Me - I was born for it.
Rosy Ryan: You... don't want me, then?
Charles Shaughnessy: Don't want...
[the two embrace]

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Private Screenings: Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell" (1996)

Sadly forgotten beautiful epic.

It's one of the most underrated, but one of the most beautiful epic that ever put on screen. It's directed by David Lean, who made 'The Bridge on the River Kwai', 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'Doctor Zhivago' before and this film ranks up with his previous works. I can only write about this film in superlatives. Foremost the photography - another excellent work by Freddie Young - honoured with an Academy Award, and the acting by John Mills, who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his outstanding performance as the dumb fisherman. But I would have awarded Sarah Miles (she's "just" nominated for the Best Actress Oscar). Robert Mitchum has never been better, he fills the widow village teacher's character with life. Also great performances by the supporting cast - the aged Trevor Howard as the priest, and Ryan, the two-faced village pub owner, who risks his daughter's life when the villagers abusing her. It's one of the most disgusting character I've ever seen. Robert Bolt's original screenplay is also one of the most complex story I've ever seen. It' as good as the screenplay of 'Doctor Zhivago' which was honoured with an Academy Award and also written by Robert Bolt. This is a film about an outstanding love at an unbearable period of history between an English officer and an Irish woman. It's about sensitivity, courage, hope, admiring and collaborating. The story is so complex, that it's almost impossible to summarize in few words, so I would like to draw the attention to some WONDERFUL scenes: the love scene between the two young lovers, full of symbols and sensitively photographed. It's the most poetic love scene ever. The other beautiful scene is when Robert Mitchum finds his wife's and her lover's footsteps in the beach sand, follows them, imagines what could have happened between the two lovers and becomes sure, that his wife has got another man in her life. And finally of course the storm scene, when the villagers try to save the weapons from the stormy sea. This enormously powerful scene with those poetic scenes above are my favourites in the movie, but the whole movie is full of wonderful scenes and the 3 hours long film remains a religious experience until the last minute.

Last but not least I have to mention the score which can be explained perfectly in 4 words: made by Maurice Jarre. Could be jungle, desert, Russian winter or wild Irish landscapes David Lean always knew how to use these locations to tell his stories. It's pity, that he didn't make any movies until 1984, because of the bad critics. Waste of talent and genius.