Ryan's Daughter (1970) User Reviews

A victim of mistaken expectations

[david-greene5 · 24 August 2004]

It is such a major tragedy that one of the greatest directors in the history of film, David Lean was so savaged by the critics after pouring vast stores of time, energy and devotion into this production. It has long been clear to me why "Ryan's Daughter" was so poorly received. After Lean's previous epics, everyone was certain that, with all the time and money that went into this film, and with its lengthy running time, it would simply have to be a similar type of show. When people bring such expectations to a movie and are confronted with something so daringly different, they often focus on what they didn't see and miss the virtue of the picture they saw. This film is too "slow", too absorbed with the subtle dynamics of the interaction between its characters for a viewer who is burning to see vast battle scenes, mighty parades and mobs of extras caught up in violent historical struggles. The "spectacle" in this film (and spectacle it is indeed) comes from the exquisite widescreen lensing of stunning Irish coastal scenery. The fabulous storm sequence with villagers battling raging surf in their efforts to retrieve floating contraband is, in my opinion, unmatched in all the thousands of movies I have seen. The drama of the central characters' lives and the depiction of the way the eternal conflicts that continue to trouble their nation work to destroy normal existence for them....this all works for me. I guess there are going to be many who just can't buy into the whole thing, but I can only feel sorry for them. To me, Lean did create an epic here, but not the traditional kind that everyone came to see. It is a "feast-for-the-eyes", intimate epic of the tumultuous emotional life of a little village caught in a swirl of hatred, suspicion, prejudice and seething conflict with an occupying army. One of my dearest hopes is that I may live to see a handsome DVD release of this splendid masterpiece before too much more time elapses. It should NEVER be viewed in some pan-and-scan edition on an ordinary TV! Seen this way with all that glorious cinematography cropped and miniaturized, "Ryan's Daughter" could indeed be seen as a failure. I always wonder how many magnificent David Lean films we will never see as a result of the unproductive years that resulted from the crushing effect on the director of the widespread rejection of this wonderful creation. What a travesty!

Human longing for life, bare and simple on the screen

[lfsutherland · 16 December 1999]

I love this movie. Saw it again last night on the big, wide screen at the Astor, from a beautiful new print. There is much to deserve love: the artistry of the film making; unspeakably fine cinematography; superb use of music and sound (hearing nothing but the wind in the trees during the forest scene is breathlessly sensual); and major and minor characters who each in their own way reflect the eternal enigma of human longing for life and transcendence. The film's evocation of human lives caught up in the inexorable forces of nature and history at this particular moment and place is profoundly arresting. There's a timelessness about this movie which makes the criticisms I've heard - about miscasting, stiff acting and the like - melt away into irrelevance, or even shows them to be virtues. I love the way the film maintains narrative integrity but has a foreordained, mythical quality as well: the overwhelming, all-penetrating power of nature and fate seems to make the human doings at once piercingly real and immediate, yet disconnected, almost surreal. But the touches of humour and sharp, immediate visual detail (often wittily drawn from the visual history of paintings and caricatures of village life) save us from any kind of authorial portent or angst: the greatest wonder of this artful work is that there is nothing between us and the story, except perhaps the icy whip of the ocean wind gainst our faces. The range of characters both in kind and in how we experience them is enlivening - from the formidably down to earth Father Collins, to the captivatingly tragic and symbolic figure of Doryan. And Michael the retarded angel is the ultimate figure of grace.

Ryan's Daughter" - A beautiful & haunting Super Panavision 70 masterpiece

[markr-19 · 4 May 2004]

Viewing this $12 Million David Lean directed motion picture in its original 1969/70 release in Super Panavision 70 would have been a glorious event for any true cinema lover. The fact that there is a good quality 70mm print still in existence not only shows how badly this film did in it's initial 70mm roadshow release but gives us hope that we may again get chance to see this work as it was originally intended.

Lean and Robert Bolt (married at the time to female lead, Sarah Miles) loosely based their doomed love story on Gustave Flaubert "Madame Bovary". In bringing it to the screen, Lean uses a beautifully evocative score by Maurice Jarre (superior to their earlier collaborations), then adds rare photographic grandeur with the exquisite 70mm cinematography of `the master" Freddie Young (picking up another Oscar for his remarkable work) making this movie a haunting and startlingly breathtaking experience.

It's a story that encompasses many facets, war, isolation, community, betrayal, religion, sex and infidelity however it is mostly about love, in every sense. The setting is a small isolated coastal village on the west coast of Ireland during the First World War with focus on the British military occupation of the region. Rosie Ryan (Sarah Miles in her Oscar nominated performance), daughter of local publican Tom Ryan (Leo McKern) is a young beautiful girl who sets her cap for the older local unassuming, & quite school teacher (her teacher), the widowed Charles Shaughnessy (played perfectly by Hollywood legend, Robert Mitchum) seeing him as a "worldly and fascinating" man.

Charles and Rose marry but married turns out to be disappointing for Rose, not what she expected at all. Charles turns out to be an ordinary man; dull and uninteresting (even in bed). "There must be more!" Rose tells the village priest (played with gusto & heart by Trevor Howard), "Be careful what you ask for Rose." he tells her, "Because as sure as hell you'll get it " the film then kicks into high gear with the arrival of a young handsome and troubled British officer Randolph Doryan (distantly played Christopher Jones, think Colin Farrell). The scene in Tom Ryan's pub when the young lovers first meet is one of the most tender and erotic love scenes ever filmed and starts an affair that is destined to bring heartache.

The villagers in this small Irish town are insular, bigoted and jealous and above all harboring a hatred for the British. They take pleasure exacting humiliation on the local village idiot, Michael (brilliantly played by John Mills who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar) and later taking revenge on the innocent leaving the cowardly traitor in their midst. A sad ending but with a little hope and of all the intense relationships in this story, the farewell between Rose and Michael is most heartfelt and touching.

A simple and ordinary story, criticizes for its scope and length. So why play put it on such a large canvas (70mm)? Some argue the story is too delicate and simple and should have been a "smaller" movie which is wrong, this would have deleted the impact of the story, anyone seeing this movie in 70mm will most definitely agree, the large scope and length of this work only enhances it's intimacy and reality, seen as it was intended, "Ryan's Daughter" will transfix from start to finish, you can notice this dilution if you see the film in 35mm. One of the last movies shot in the 70mm process it is truly one of the best, taking full advantage of the rugged West Irish (and South African) coastlines, the Super Panavision camera pick up everything down to the grains in the sand on those wonderful beaches and all the emotions and feeling, to assist it is acted superbly by a stellar cast who bring you right into the lives and fate of their isolated and "ordinary" Irish characters.

"Ryan's Daughter" is so misunderstood and ignore as a masterpiece perhaps somewhat long especially for today's audiences, it is never dull how it remains underrated and ignored is a mystery, yet to a lot of discerning movie goers it is superior piece of cinema and surly no one can deny the beauty of this work. The storm sequence alone (without today's CGI enhancements) is awesome, perhaps the best storm scene ever put on celluloid, and how no one died during filming is a miracle.

Savagely panned by the critics, especially the venomous Pauline Kael on it's initial release, so badly it sent David Lean into a self imposed exile (he didn't make another film for fourteen years, the less extravagant, minimally mounted "A Passage to India", which of the two films touches you the most??), perhaps Ms Kael, the critics and the public at large in 1960/70 lacked the sensitivity needed to make this movie a hit, tending to flock to films like "Mash", "The Godfather" and "Easy Rider", unfortunately they missed a fine and beautiful work of art. Believe me as I stated earlier, if you get change to see this work on the big screen now (a rare event), even with a 35mm print, Lean's fine hand and sensitivity is evident in every frame of "Ryan's Daughter", more so than in his other works or those of his contemporaries, faithfully accurate to the period (and lacking the 1960's inspired hair do's and fashion of "Doctor Zhivago") it remains as fresh today as it did in 1970.

It is disappointing to know that it is again being ignored, with no DVD release in sight (are you listening Warner Bros?), how many other Lean movies are waiting for transfer to DVD??? Surely the cinematography and acting alone makes it a worthy candidate for a high quality transfer. If they do plan a DVD release let's hope Warner's uses the Super Panavision 70mm components and the full Roadshow length to create a DVD masterpiece from this ignored cinema masterwork, there should be some great extras out their given the epic nature of the movie, it's director and stars.

Lean's most underrated film

[Ricky_Roma__ · 30 September 2006]

It's not hard to see why the critics disliked Ryan's Daughter so much. Films like Midnight Cowboy and Easy Rider had come along and made lots of money and won lots of plaudits. Therefore Ryan's Daughter, a three-hour, 70mm epic must have seemed like something of a fossil – it certainly wasn't hip or trendy. But while Midnight Cowboy and Easy Rider have dated pretty badly, Ryan's Daughter seems timeless.

That's not to say that Ryan's Daughter is without its faults. The story is wafer-thin, some of the writing (surprisingly for Robert Bolt) is lacklustre and the film runs out of steam before the end. But I'm more than able to forgive the film its faults, as it contains some wonderful scenes and some of the best visuals in cinema.

My fondness for Lean's much maligned film is secured in the first few frames. In a long wide shot we see a cliff with a microscopic figure running towards the edge. Then we see the film's heroine, Rosy Ryan (Sarah Miles), chasing a black umbrella that is floating down towards the sea. It's a breathtaking start with some of the best photography committed to film – the skies, in particular, are gorgeous.

And it's the start of the film that I enjoy the most. At the beginning the film is quite light and it has lots of energy. It also presents you with a central character who is full of hope for the future – I like the way Rosy, skipping along to Maurice Jarre's magnificent score, tosses her trashy romantic book into the sea, thinking that she wont have to live vicariously through other people anymore. And then when this is cut against Charles (Robert Mitchum) arriving on the outskirts of the village by bus, you realise what everything means – Rosy's white knight is arriving.

But the film doesn't stay light and breezy for long. In fact, things go downhill on the wedding night – after expecting great things from her husband and this curious piece of human behaviour called sex, Rosy only gets a minute or so of love from Charles. It's not like it is in the books she read.

After this you're introduced to Major Doryan (Christopher Jones), a shell-shocked English soldier who's been sent to Ireland. Right from the first moment you know he and Rosy are going to get involved. Therefore it's a good decision on Lean's part not to delay the inevitable. And I think the scene in the pub where Rosy and the Major meet and begin their affair is easily the best in the film, and certainly one of my favourites in cinema. It's just so imaginatively done. The photography, the editing and the scoring are perfect.

I also like Rosy and the Major's first sexual encounter. It's done without any dialogue (well, until Rosy has come twice) and again it's impeccably shot. And although I'm sure all the critics scoffed at the nature shots, Lean makes it work. And Lean makes it work because he was a genuine romantic. I mean, the reason why the vast majority of romantic films are risible are because they're not sincere – they feel incredibly cynical. But Lean can film a sex scene with shots of forest canopies and not make it laughable. But the scene also works because of Miles' superb acting. Her face captures all the trepidation and excitement that such an encounter would inspire.

It's actually criminal that Miles didn't win an Oscar for her performance (she was nominated). She makes Rosy, a woman who is cheating on her good-natured husband, both despicable and understandable – it's to Miles' credit that she isn't afraid to show Rosy's ugly side; sometimes she's a petulant brat.

And I also think that Mitchum's performance is underrated. He makes a dull character interesting. But I think it helps if you're familiar with Mitchum's work. I mean, it's strange to see the original Max Cady play a cuckold. And it's even stranger to see him last seconds in the sack and get beaten up.

And although his performance gets a lot of stick, I think Christopher Jones is fine in the film. He certainly looks the part. And although a lot of his dialogue had to be cut because the man was a mess on set, it actually works for the character. I mean, with hardly any dialogue it make his romance with Rosy a lot less banal – it gives it a bit mystery. Plus, what would an English officer and a poor Irish schoolteacher's wife have to talk about? The relationship makes much more sense as a sexual one – Rosy may love her husband but the Major gives her what she's missing.

Another refreshing element of Ryan's Daughter is the portrayal of the English and the Irish. All too often in any film set in Ireland, the locals are universally pure hearted while the English are universally loathsome. Here you have small-minded Irish peasants and English soldiers who are just doing their job. You also have an IRA that kills police officers in cold blood. Yeah, the film may be simplistic, but at least it doesn't have a sentimental, misty-eyed view of the common man.

And how can I talk about Ryan's Daughter and not mention the storm sequence? It's quite a remarkable piece of film and again it features some breathtaking photography – there's one shot where the waves crashing against the cliff seem to be blown backwards and another where the spray is sucked upwards into the sky. Anyone with a pair of eyes should enjoy it.

However, as much as I love the film, I do think it splutters towards its conclusion. I certainly don't mind it being three hours long, but the film does seem to run out of ideas towards the end. But that's only a minor complaint. On the whole, I think the film's fantastic.

Sadly forgotten beautiful epic.

[picicici · 22 March 2001]

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.

An outstanding piece of cinema

[raymond-15 · 8/10 · 13 April 2000]

David Lean's production of "Ryan's Daughter"is an outstanding piece of cinematic artistry. It's a romantic drama set in a small village on the Irish coastline. The mood of the villagers is as changeable as the waves that crash upon the shore. David Lean uses the sea for dramatic effect as he alternates between the village people and the sea itself. John Mills as Michael the inquisitive village idiot is superb as we watch him play with a box of explosives. Sarah Miles plays Rosy torn between the love for her Irish schoolteacher husband (Robert Mitchum) and an unbridled passion for a newly arrived British officer (Christopher Jones). Village gossip virtually destroys Rosy's life. Trevor Howard as the local much-respected priest gives a compelling performance as one who tries to keep the peace in a troubled village. The shell-shocked officer with dreadful memories of his time in the trenches in France has a distinct presence on screen. His part requires little dialogue, the emotions being portrayed through eye and body language. Some of the loveliest scenes I thought were those of the high cliffs and broad beaches where Rosy often walked alone with the incoming tide.Unfortunately footprints in the sand can reveal the most intimate secrets! The wild storm in which the locals attempt to salvage boxes of ammunition from a shipwreck in raging seas is one of the most realistic and exciting sequences I have seen. We are reminded constantly in the film that the sea is the dominant player. Photography, sound effects and music blend into a perfect whole. In one word...a winner!

I Know What I Like

[heidi-moore · 24 March 2004]

Despite all the nay-saying, this is one of my favourite films. Every now and again, everything clicks for you in terms of how a film is put together. I never tire of watching this movie. And despite what anyone else thinks about the music, I thought it was some of Maurice Jarre's finest work. Apparently it was some of his own favorite composition work. I hope someday to get over to the West coast of Ireland and see some of the scenery in person. I thought that the acting in the film was some of the most courageous work that some of the actors had ever taken on. The film was just long enough for me. As for the esteemed David Lean, no one---and I mean no one--was ever as good at making mankind seem so small and insignificant when compared to the forces and spaces in nature. He was able to take Freddy Young's cinematography and bring out the best in it. I liked it when I was younger, and I like it even more now. I respect it very much and pity those who are unable to savour it. I admit that very few people will be able digest it in it's entirety. Thank god I'm not one of them. Thank-you Mr. Lean wherever you are.

They don't make them like this any more.

[jackie-107 · 30 September 2004]

The art of David Lean in making film masterpieces from the 1940s to this last epic in 1970 is now a forgotten talent. Lean was the best at producing cinema that really was for the cinema. You can feel the cameras rolling, the scenes moving at a pace moviegoers can absorb and thrill to. Ryan's Daughter belongs with the best of Lean, and has long been underrated. The acting is wonderful - John Mills is outstanding, Leo McKern and Trevor Howard impeccable, Sarah Miles and Robert Mitchum excellent with just the right amount of awkwardness the parts require. Christopher Jones gave just the right amount of weight to the shell-shocked, traumatised World War I survivor of the trenches. The scenery lent itself to panoramic filming and the storm was a fantastic achievement on film for the period.

Unfortunately, Lean's epics don't come over half so well on the small screen. I wish we could see all these films again in the cinema. I saw the revival of Gone With The Wind in 1968 in a big London cinema and it was marvelous. Wouldn't it be wonderful to see Lawrence of Arabia, Dr Zhivago, and Ryan's Daughter again on the big screen?

Long, sweeping and underrated - but easy to see why many don't like it.

[Pedro_H · 7/10 · 5 January 2004]

In 1918 Ireland a school teacher's wife and an army captain have an illicit affair that has far reaching consequences.

The film that cast Robert Mitchum so against type as to be untrue (a cuckold husband!) and whose critical response drove a great director to near two decades of silence has to be viewed; if only as cinema history.

This is a small film blown up to try and be an epic, which it is not and that is the first of its faults. Nevertheless I think it is an important and enjoyable product that I have seen twice, once for the film and once to re-live the unbelievable cinematography and action scenes. The lifeboat scene is one of the greatest pieces of cinema ever, it should feature in film schools.

The problem with adultery is that directors always try and limit blame because they fear alienating the audience. Here we have no reason for it other than lust and selfishness, one person's happiness (if only brief) is only achieved by taking someone else's.

I have long held the view that Mitchum was underrated as an actor and has a wonderful speaking voice. I am glad he has this on his C.V, not that he will be need it anymore. Miles is equally good, although it is not as hard as hard a part to play. John Mills - as the village idiot - won an Oscar for his over-the-top performance that he reports upon faithfully on his autobiography. "They sat me down and gave me the worst haircut they could think of..."

It has been said so many before, but there is no real need for a film with modest intentions to be so long. I actually don't mind because I have a lot of patience with quality material and know there will be some great scenes in any David Lean film. I am just sorry that the main man had such a fragile ego; especially when the industry had rewarded him with so much silverware.

A Vision Splendid

[dmkr · 13 September 2004]

There seems a common thread in most reviews for "Ryan's Daughter", you will read that the film does not work, it not as good as Lean's earlier masterpieces, it's too long, too boring and too "big", ALL NOT TRUE!! I'm sure most of those reviewing this magnificent motion picture have only seen it on a VHS tape or Television screening, which is the only explanation for these strange comments. For those who saw "Ryan's Daughter", in it's original 70mm presentation or even in the recent Australian 35mm screenings, you will understand the intimacy and beauty of this wonderful film. Having enjoyed it's longest run in the world at Sydney's Ascot Cinema (approx 2 years) the Sydney movie goers went back again and again as they fully appreciated this fine movie. Hopefully Warner Bros are preparing a fabulous transfer from the original 70mm elements (a quality 70mm print still exist, thanks to the poor US box office) to give us a quality DVD and make the long, long wait worthwhile. I hope WB can add some better extras than the trailer and short "making of" MGM added to the Laserdisc, it would be good to see the 2004 BBC Documentary "Ryan's Daughter Revisited" with Sarah Miles as featured extra. Also surely MGM must have produced a lot of additional promo material as this was their premium and much anticpated 1970 release. Congratulations to those who love this movie, for those who critise it hopefully one you will get to see "Ryan's Daughter" as it was intended to "get" what Lean was doing and how successful he was at delivering. No one can argue that the cinematography is perhaps the BEST ever.

12 out of 10.

Shell-Shocked...

[Xstal · 7/10 · 15 July 2020]

There's a reason nobody makes films of almost three and a half hours anymore and why using Irish actors for Irish roles is preferred, although John Mills is outstanding but he doesn't have to say a word. Great scenery and the storm during the recovery on the rocks must have been a challenge to film and ever so slightly dangerous. You should see this once if for no other reason than to have an opinion but brew some coffee first.

Nothing short of a masterpiece.

[Spleen · 2 September 2003]

So who's right? Is it a dull, lumbering vehicle with beautiful photography and little else, or is it nothing short of a masterpiece?

Nothing short of a masterpiece.

So what explains the critical shellacking it got back in the 1970s, and the lazy kicks in the ribs it continues to get today? I have only a weak suggestion, scarcely an explanation at all:

It was the zeitgeist. The early 1970s - although the trend really began in the late 1960s - saw the rise of a dreary, kitchen-sink style of film-making which is easiest to recognise by its dingy cinematography (although that's not all here is to it); it was the style in which the young lions of 1970s American cinema (Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and if "THX-1138" is the kind of film people say it is, George Lucas) made their name. It's true that time has not been kind to this style, and that the greatest films of the 1970s (like this one) owe nothing to it, but to be fair, it IS possible to make good films in this style, and a few such were made. The greatest asset of standard 1970s film-making is, as it happens, one also possessed by Lean: the ability to be in deadly earnest, to banish any hint of irony or sarcasm when it's not wanted. But this doesn't change the fact that "Ryan's Daughter" is not only different from what was modish around the time it was made; it ADVERTISES this difference. It might very well have the most beautiful cinematography of any film shot anywhere at any time. What's more, gorgeous photography is part of the essence of the film, not something that one can grime down in one's imagination to reveal a distinctively '70s film, in which the composition of shots doesn't matter, there's no atmosphere to speak of and everybody mumbles half-formed thoughts in ungrammatical sentences. This film, simply and unmistakably, doesn't belong in the era in which it was made.

At any rate the stated reasons for condemning he film don't sound at all convincing. Pauline Kael made a big deal of the fact that she couldn't accept Robert Mitchum as a mild-tempered cuckolded husband, which leads me to conclude that (a) she'd just seen "Cape Fear" the previous night, and (b) her brain was tired that week. In a way I can appreciate her difficulty, since when I saw the film, I wasn't aware that it WAS Robert Mitchum until I saw the end credits, so entirely convincing is he (and everyone else, for that matter). Another thing I've seen written a couple of times is that the film is "over-produced", a charge it's hard to make sense of. So Lean made a better film than, strictly speaking, he had to, in order to be faithful to the script? And this is meant to be a CRITICISM?

The only complaint that has justice on its side is the one directed at Maurice Jarre's score, too relentlessly jaunty at ill-chosen moments, particularly in the early arts of the film, without enough meat on the bones of the tunes to justify the fact that the music is really doing little to help. But even here, criticism is exaggerated. A majority of films released since, say, 1990, and this includes a majority of GOOD films, have musical scores that contribute even less, and are even more ill-judged; with "Ryan's Daughter" far more than with those films, complaining about the music seems petty.

Nothing so beautiful as "Ryan's Daughter" could possibly be other than good; the story is a fine one, simple in shape yet morally complex, and it's honestly told, with each point of view made vivid. The three hours are there to be relished. Lean uses the length of his film to make you wish it were longer still.

a captivating film

[Prosinecki · 31 October 2001]

The wonderfull scenery of Ireland comes alive in this often forgotten film by Lean. It is a story of denied passion and forgiving love.

I was mostly impressed by the performance of Christopher Jones as major Doryan, the officer who has a brief romance with Rose, he is obviously tormented by his experiences in the trenches and finds a bit of relief and shelter in the arms of the innocent Irish lady.

I highly recommend this movie to all who enjoy beautifull landscapes and drama.

Opinions certainly run the proverbial gamut on this one!

[gregcouture · 23 April 2003]

My goodness! So many comments...so many different takes on what was surely David Lean's most arduous labor of cinematic love! I won't add my "two cents" except to say that I thought Robert Mitchum gave one of his all-time best performances (and that includes his remarkable tour-de-force in "Night of the Hunter"); Sarah Miles, whom I usually found rather grating and tiresome, was quite convincing under Lean's tutelage; the cinematography by the esteemed Freddie Young was more than gorgeous; and, once again, Maurice Jarre's music was jarring, something I'd rather have done without. (Sorry!)

When I saw this during its first-run engagement in Beverly Hills, California, I was in the company of my parents and an elderly lady who was on the staff at my place of employment. She was quite a grande dame in her way; had lived quite a colorful life with her paramour in the English colony in Florence, Italy many years before; had vacationed on the Isle of Capri where she had befriended, among other famous people, the beloved British entertainer, Gracie Fields; and, when this film was released, was living alone in a Hollywood apartment within walking distance of our office. I tremendously enjoyed providing her with a bit of getting out-and-about and she was very appreciative of our occasional moviegoing "dates." At intermission in the hushed lobby, surrounded by mostly well-dressed patrons (Those were the days!), in her very properly accented King's English, she loudly proclaimed her admiration for the breasts of Miss Miles (the erotic tryst in the forest having preceded intermission.) I thought my mother, still suffering from an overly prudish Boston (Massachusetts) Irish-American Catholic upbringing, would have liked to disappear under the theater lobby's plush carpeting. My father and I exchanged amused smiles, however, as our worldly companion was off on another subject, probably a story of her fondly remembered sojourn in pre-WWII Italy.

All fur coat and no knickers

[ianlouisiana · 6/10 · 8 January 2006]

There is an almost Chaplinesque moment right at the start of "Ryan's Daughter" where O'Shaughnessy the schoolteacher is walking along the beach with his erstwhile pupil Rosie Ryan.He almost loses his footing and his hat and cane take on a life of their own as he tries to regain his balance.For a few brief seconds awe at the scenery,composition,camera - angle and sound recording is suborned by affection and sympathy for the characters before the roller coaster of technical brilliance and visual sumptuousness returns to flatten all before it. This is a film made by a master craftsman,make no mistake,but there is no warmth in it.The eponymous Miss Ryan is little more than an infatuated schoolgirl,O'Shaughnessy a shy lonely widower who feels sorry for her and surely a little guilty at taking advantage of her crush on him. Marriage to him soon brings disillusionment and Rosie starts an affair with a shell-shocked and wounded British officer fresh from the trenches who has recently arrived to take charge of the troops garrisoned near the village - a hotbed of Republicanism.Her father.the local innkeeper,has a history of involvement with The Cause,a photograph of him with a Commandant in Dublin is prominently displayed in the bar. So what we have basically is a "star-crossed lovers" movie with pretensions.There is a "chorus" of village teenagers who seem incapable of independent movement,they flock around the streets like masses of migratory birds,turning first one way then the other as if in response to some unheard command.The crusty old priest (Trevor Howard) and the village idiot(John Mills looking scarily like Wallace of Wallace & Grommit)are the conscience and the scapegoat respectively. When the rebels(or patriots depending on your point of view) come to the village to pick up guns and explosives being supplied by a German ship Rosie's father is called on to help but for some reason that's not very clear betrays them to the British.He allows Rosie to take the blame and she is badly beaten and she and O'Shaughnessy - possibly reconciled - sent into exile. Without the visual and aural bombast a competent enough 90 minutes' worth of story-telling then,but it doesn't have one believable character. Miss Sarah Miles ,presented with a role not dissimilar to her one in "Term of Trial",never convinces that she is anything other than a nice middle-class English girl cast ashore from a shipwreck in the bay and assuming an Irish accent to avoid discovery until she can be rescued. Mr Mitchum is like John Wayne in that other Oirish whims yfest "The Quiet Man" badly miscast but at least has a go at the brogue. Messrs Howard and Mills as befits senior English thesps walk through their parts with magnificent unconcern and at least Mr Mills didn't have any lines to learn,his performance consisting of a splendid array of involuntary bodily movements and grimaces,brilliantly brought off. Christopher Jones plays the British Officer with not only a stiff upper lip but also a stiff upper body and a stiff leg. The film is 36 years old and revisiting the arguments about the lack of Irish actors,the use of unhelpful stereotypes,the "Pint into a Quart pot" theory whilst tempting is ultimately pointless."Ryan's Daughter" is all style and no substance,the work of a virtuoso unable to stop himself from performing his party tricks again and again.

made by a master and perhaps misunderstood

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 21 March 2015]

As often happens with great talent, the public's expectations often bring the artist down with a crash. We saw it with as disparate talents as Tennessee Williams, David O. Selznick, and here we see it with David Lean.

Lean was one of the great filmmakers of the 20th century, capable of doing intimate films like Brief Encounter and huge epics like Lawrence of Arabia. And therein lies the problem. How could the director of Dr. Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia give the public anything less than a masterpiece? Well, even the greats are entitled to take on a challenge, and not everything they do has to be magnificent. Artists should be allowed to grow and expand.

In doing Ryan's Daughter, Lean faced some challenges that were difficult to overcome.

First, let's look at the positives. On the big screen, this must have been overwhelmingly beautiful to watch. The landscapes, the beach, the town, the incredible storm -- a feast for the eyes.

Then there are sublime performances by Robert Mitchum and Sarah Miles as a schoolteacher, Charles, and his wife, Rosy. He's a simple man and not very exciting; she's a young woman with no worldly experience whose life is turned upside down when she falls in love with a British soldier (Christopher Jones) with PTSD. Leo McCrary plays her father, a gruff but weak man, and he's excellent even if he did hate making this movie. He wasn't alone. Robert Mitchum had messages to Lean delivered by Sarah Miles, and Sarah Miles was furious having to act opposite Christopher Jones.

To continue with the cast, most of them are excellent, including Trevor Howard as the local priest and John Mills as the Village Idiot. The latter is the kind of role that wins Oscars, and this one followed the formula, winning one for Mills.

In making this film, Lean was faced with the difficulty of the weather, which at times hung up the filming for as long as four weeks. No matter how good you are, crossing paths with Mother Nature somehow never works. The best part of this film is the storm scene, terrifying in its scope. How Lean filmed it at all is a miracle.

His other problem was Christopher Jones, a total disaster. Lean cast him on the basis of seeing him in another film, but at the time, he didn't realize the actor had been dubbed. He soon learned that not only could Jones not act, but he refused to do the kind of love scenes that Lean had been eager to shoot since his Brief Encounter days, when the code was in place.

Jones would not participate in the love scenes with Miles, which angered her. What angered her further no doubt was the fact that Jones apparently said he wasn't attracted to her. I guess he thought he was attending a college mixer and not there to do a job. Did he think she was attracted to him, and that's why she was willing to do the scenes? They were critical to her character, showing her in a passionate love affair, her awakening as a full woman.

Lean wound up cheating the love scenes and hiring Julian Holloway to dub Jones, after taking most of his lines away from him. Jones should have been embarrassed, but he probably wasn't. I interviewed him some years ago. He was given a lot of opportunities. He blew them.

Set during the Easter Rising of 1916, Ryan's Daughter is a beautiful movie, if overlong and with too sprightly music given the plot. The ending is ambiguous, but I think we can conclude what will happen.

This is a story of betrayal, adultery, cruelty, passion, and love. It's not Lean's greatest. But any Lean film is worth seeing and a lot better than probably 80% of the films out there.

It's Wonderful

[lks0820 · 10/10 · 14 December 2006]

Several years back, when I was a 30-year-old woman, I was feeling quite sad. I was in a video shop in Seoul when I came across Ryan's Daughter. The cover looked good, so I brought it home. Wow, I did I feel catharsis after watching this movie. The only thing that would have been better would have been able to meet the young male soldier in person!

I have never seen such a deeply psychological probing of the female psyche as in this film. At that time, many women suffered under the yoke of a conservative male society. This is well displayed in this film. I am greatly impressed by the way Director David Lean sensitively explored the sexuality of the lead female character. The mix of the effects of war and love are well expressed.

This is my favourite movie, and I when my daughter turns 30, I will undoubtedly recommend it to her. Thank you, David Lean.

Ryan's Daughter: almost great!

[shinock · 7/10 · 12 February 2008]

The reputation of this film seems to ebb and flow like the waves of the Atlantic ocean which so dominates the scenery. A vast budget and a shoot lasting more than a year, combined with director David Leans reputation for delivering huge money making blockbusters, resulted in what were probably unachievable expectations for this film. Lean, previously so successful in creating incredible panoramic images on film, seemed to have taken on too great a challenge with this undertaking. The story was indeed interesting, affecting and at times very touching and human, while the cast lead by a towering Robert Mitchum was, as in all David Lean productions, second to none. However, everything, story, cast and master director,were all dwarfed and ultimately swallowed up by the shear power and grandeur of the landscape. It was difficult at times to not to be both distracted and disinterested in the intrigues of the lives of the characters, when the wild fury of the Atlantic was unleashed in all it's majesty or when, as Trevor Howard remarked as the first sign of the approaching storm appeared over the top of the mountain, "it was if the Lord himself was coming" or words to that effect. Perhaps in a film of great battles, where the clamor of the fighting could compete with the thunder of the storm and the turrets of medieval castles could distract us momentarily from the towering battlements of the mountains, the lives of the characters could become more relevant. To see the major fault in Ryan's Daughter we have to look back briefly to David Lean's two previous epic's, Laurence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago and to the locations in which the stories are set. In Laurence of Arabia the desert is hot, still, tree less and despite it's undeniable stark beauty, it is also largely featureless. In such a setting as when the Arab appears out of the sun, every small movement is apparent, every nuance of the actor is noticed, we are drawn in close to the characters, we can see the sweat on their brow. Similarly in Doctor Zhivago, the landscape although beautiful,is almost in a state of frozen sterility and the only place we the audience can find warmth is in the faces and lives of the characters. In Ryan's Daughter however, the elements of nature are in constant motion, changing, threatening, overbearing, unassailable. Even Mitchum if he were at his most powerful and brooding could not shine in such a setting. For me personally, the one great scene in the film was when Major Dorian decided to commit suicide. It was David Lean at his best. It was evening, the sun was sinking, the tide was ebbing and the breezes of the day had died away. For the first time since the beginning of the film, the elemental forces of nature which had been vying for our attention became stilled. It was as if they like us were holding their breath and watching,quietly waiting to see what Major Dorian would do. The strange stillness even reached into the teacher's house and was only broken when the force of the explosion which killed Dorian rattled the cutlery. Soon after this at the very end of the film, with Major Dorian dead and with the teacher and Rosy possibly having a new start, the scene was one of freshness with the countryside damp, lush and clean after overnight rain. A great film? well, Freddy Young's photography was certainly great and he deserved his Oscar, but Young's expertise played no small part in this films failure to draw the viewer in and become involved with the characters.Young, at the behest of Lean, gave a virtuoso performance of his art and, as we have seen his efforts while extraordinarily beautiful to look at, left the actors trying to compete against nature at it's rawest and most volatile and, left the film as a whole fatally flawed...As a matter of interest,I live near to where Ryan's Daughter was filmed and many of my older friends and two of my uncles worked as extra's for the duration of the film. Every time I watch this film I can recognize the faces of so many old friends who have now passed on.Perhaps a short note about the actors and their relationship with the locals during filming might be of interest. Leo Mc Kern who played Ryan, was liked by the local people and the extra's on the film although he suffered from bouts of frustration and perhaps even depression, from the difficult conditions and prolonged shoot, and it was no surprise that after the film was finished he took a year off and toured Australia in a camper van with his family to recover! Trevor Howard who played the priest was a terribly bad tempered and sour man who was disliked by all who came in contact with him whether they were working on the film or not. John Mills however was a gentleman to his core, who mixed freely with the extra's and local people and is very fondly remembered by all. Robert Mitchum was... well Robert Mitchum. In truth Mitchum was a man who, from the very start was sullen and withdrawn, and this increased as the shoot went completely out of control. A true story my uncle told me about Mitchum might not be widely known so I'll repeat it here. One day David Lean was setting up the extra's for a scene and it went on for hour after hour. Suddenly Mitchum exploded. He ran in front of David Lean and turning his back, he dropped his trousers and exposed his behind to the camera. Referring to the extra's, he roared at Lean,"you've photographed every damn bum in Ireland now photograph mine".

A Masterpiece

[sprach-1 · 10/10 · 2 August 2006]

The first time I saw "Ryan's Daughter", it did not register as strongly as Lean's other films. Though I found it visually impressive, the seemingly slight story seemed overblown and laborious. However, since then, with each successive viewing, I have come to the conclusion that not only is this the work of a superb artist at the height of his powers, but ultimately one of the great love "poems" the cinema has given us. A work of staggering beauty and sensitivity, a work of art of such extraordinary dimension and power, superlatives seem redundant and insulting. Instead it has to be felt, deep in the heart of the viewer, and as such, become part of the soul. A work of genius and a masterpiece. Thank you, David Lean and co.

Sweeping, Flawed Epic Sadly Maligned But Eminently Worthwhile for Lean's Cinematic Mastery

[EUyeshima · 7/10 · 13 April 2006]

It's no surprise to me that David Lean's penultimate film, 1970's "Ryan's Daughter", is the last of his epic films to receive the deluxe DVD treatment since it is likely the most maligned and misunderstood. However, the 2006 two-disc package really shows a genuinely affecting, WWI-era romantic melodrama set against the stormy western coast of Ireland. Calling it a sweeping epic does not really do justice to the splendid visuals that Lean and his favorite cameraman Freddie Young present here (Ireland's Dingle peninsula looks stunning), yet at its core is an intimate love triangle that raises the ire of the village given the political frictions between Britain and Ireland. It seems a shame that the film was so lambasted when it was released since expectations were set so high after Lean's previous three films, all three widescreen masterworks - 1957's "The Bridge on the River Kwai", 1962's "Lawrence of Arabia" and 1965's "Doctor Zhivago".

Written by Robert Bolt (who also wrote "Lawrence" and "Zhivago") as a Celtic variation on Flaubert's "Madame Bovary", the plot is focused on Rosy, the spoiled, headstrong daughter of Thomas Ryan, the local publican. She seeks a more cultured life and sets her sights on Charles Shaughnessy, the educated schoolmaster. Rosy makes the naive presumption that Charles' worldliness represents great passion but finds out otherwise on their wedding night. Enter Major Randolph Doryan, the young, shell-shocked British soldier assigned to take command of the local army detachment. Doryan and Rosy enter into a passionate affair, but it's a matter of time before Charles and the rest of the village find out. Meanwhile, a band of Irish rebels led by Tim O'Leary are intent on retrieving a shipment of German arms in order to take umbrage against the unwelcome British occupiers. The two plot strands merge, and tragic consequences ensue.

There are certainly moments of excessive, florid abandon in the film, especially when Lean focuses on the illicit lovers. The director goes all out in making the lovemaking scenes between Rosy and Doryan combustible, first in the pub amid Doryan's traumatic flashbacks of exploding bombs and then in a lengthy and surprisingly carnal scene in a wooded enclave. Their mutual rapture is at turns moving and titillating. The other drawback is that unlike "Zhivago" or "Lawrence", Lean does not really integrate the political backdrop of the story fully into the triangle plot. Rather, he uses it more as a plot device to give the story a greater historical resonance. At the same time, some sequences highlight Lean's brilliance as a film auteur, for example, when Charles gradually discovers the reality of his wife's indiscretion on the beach or the aftermath of the town pillaging when Rosy is brutalized for her alleged role in helping the British. From a technical standpoint, Lean's pure cinematic mastery can be best seen in the storm sequence, when the town bands together to get the boxes of artillery. Maurice Jarre's music is memorable, as his haunting theme plays constantly throughout.

The performances are variable, though all the key players provide strong moments. Sarah Miles handles the difficult role of Rosy with dexterity, especially as she runs the risk of alienating the viewer with her extramarital deception. In what has to be the most atypical role of his lengthy career, Robert Mitchum is a revelation as Charles. His natural tough-guy veneer has been completely subverted to play a passive, accepting man whose love for Rosy remains unsullied by the harsh reality of her adulterous behavior. It's a masterful performance because with a minimum of fuss, Mitchum taps into the depth of despair experienced by the cuckold husband. Looking pained and obviously cast for his James Dean-like demeanor and look, Christopher Jones portrays Doryan with brooding stares and a minimum of dialogue. Lean does what he can to camouflage Jones' comparatively stoic performance, but the result still provides a sagging imbalance to the love triangle. A heavily made up John Mills plays the mute gargoyle-like Michael as a series of tics and befuddled looks. Leo McKern effectively plays Ryan for the weak-willed hypocrite that his character is, and his emotional abandonment of his daughter is quite affecting. As Father Collins, Trevor Howard has a wild-eyed look about him at times, but he passionately provides the moral compass for the story.

As the movie runs for three hours and fifteen minutes (actually shorter than "Lawrence" and the same as "Zhivago"), the film is on two discs separated by an intermission. In fact, like any epic, there is orchestral music for the overture, intermission (which ends part 1), entr'acte (which begins part 2) and ending. The print quality is superior and the sound even better. The commentary track has several participants who take turns commenting on the scenes. DVD producer Laurent Bouzereau smartly introduces each speaker in order to avoid confusion, and the differing perspectives can be quite interesting. Disc 2 has a solid, hour-long 2006 documentary, "The Making of Ryan's Daughter" divided into three chapters, as well as a couple of production shorts made at the time of filming.

Mr. Ryan You've Got a Lovely Daughter

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 10 September 2008]

Playing the title role in Ryan's Daughter is the beautiful, lusty, and spirited Sarah Miles who craves romance and a little bit of orgasm on the side. Unfortunately who she gets it from ain't her new husband, Robert Mitchum, the village school teacher on the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland where the film is located and was shot.

Miles is a young girl with romantic notions and brought up in a strict Catholic environment where decent young ladies don't speak of such things. When the middle aged Mitchum proves to be a dud in the sack, Sarah's sure there's more out there than this in marriage. Sad to say she finds it in the person of a British major posted to Ireland after suffering shell shock in France during World War I.

As we all know while talk of sex is forbidden, talk of politics abounds, a little too much talk. Ireland is getting ready for revolution and the Germans would like to help it along. When Irish Republican commandant Barry Foster is betrayed when trying to land a shipment of German weapons for the Irish rebels, he's captured and taken along with a lot of the men from the village. They will all be hung and Sarah's looking real good for the role of informer.

Ryan's Daughter is a good film though it hardly compares with other David Lean masterpieces like Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, or The Bridge On the River Kwai. I'm not sure Lean knew exactly what he was trying to say in all this. Yet Lean got some noteworthy performances from this film, including an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for John Mills playing the village idiot. Quite a change for that most erudite of players.

Miles was sexy and at the same time conveyed a nice picture of romantic naiveté. The film as the title suggests is really about her and she centers the action well.

Robert Mitchum was also the recipient of offbeat casting, but I'm guessing that David Lean knew about Mitchum's uncanny ability to pick up all manner of speech. But he does show quite some depth as actor playing the middle-aged school teacher. It's not a performance you'd expect from one of Hollywood's sex symbols.

I think the most interesting part and least written about is that of Trevor Howard as the village priest. That's not a profession held in respect in many quarters these days and certainly Sarah Miles seeking advice on matters sexual from Howard does show how ludicrous that is. Yet Howard is not a fool, he is every bit the moral leader of the community. He stands up for Sarah when most of the town wants to do her harm.

His role is also historically correct in showing that during the years before the Easter Rebellion the Catholic Church had dropped its historic opposition to rebellion to one of at least benevolent neutrality. Howard's role with the rebels is quite accurate.

Though it's message is unclear, Ryan's Daughter is a beautifully photographed film with some outstanding performances and belongs in the second tier of David Lean's work.

Lean's finest work

[JuguAbraham · 9/10 · 14 September 2003]

More than 30 years after the movie was made, "Ryan's Daughter" needs to be compared with his other important works--'Lawrence of Arabia', 'Dr Zhivago', 'Bridge on the River Kwai' and 'A Passage to India'.

Visually the three finest are "Ryan's Daughter," "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Dr Zhivago."

Aurally--music and sound--the finest two are "Ryan's Daughter" and "Dr Zhivago"

If performances make a movie, four of the movies were outstanding "Ryan's Daughter", "Dr Zhivago," "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Bridge on the River Kwai."

Yet why is "Ryan's Daughter" not considered the finest? There is no hero, there is no heroine--it is a film of anti-heroes. It is a film that focuses on the ugly side of human reality where everyone is a loser--husband, wife, lover, priest, soldier, revolutionary, and even the traitor. It provides a realism that we glimpsed in patches in 'Dr Zhivago' and 'A passage to India' -- a realism that almost eluded us in "Lawrence of Arabia"

The film's strengths lie in two aspects that were most criticized some thirty years ago--its music and its screenplay.

Hear Maurice Jarre's score today and you will realize the notes hark back to Lean's previous work (mostly Zhivago and little of Lawrence) with the comical allusions to the village fool's gait. Jarre's score in "Ryan's daughter" may not have the universal appeal of Lara's theme in Zhivago, but a close study of the score will unfold riches to the aural senses when compared to the simplistic Lara's theme.

Bolt's original screenplay is as rewarding to study as "Jude the Obscure" to a student of Thomas Hardy or "Titus Andronicus" to a Shakespeare student. Bolt (and Lean, of course) provides food for thought--who is good and who is bad, who is ugly and who is beautiful, who is crippled and who is whole...

It is easier to make lovely, heroic epics such as "Lawrence" or "Zhivago" than to make a film on losers and moral and physical cripples such as "Ryan's Daughter." I think this is Lean's and Bolt's finest work. It is also Robert Mitchum's finest work as it was in the case of Christopher Jones, Leo McKern and Trevor Howard. John Mills stood out among the fine performers because his character was spectacular.

I am a great admirer of most of Lean's films and having seen the film thrice, I rate it as his best and perhaps his most complex yet mature work.

Sweeping epic that deserved so much better from the critics

[Slime-3 · 8 May 2002]

David Lean, master of the epic production suffered terribly from the reviews this wonderful film attracted on it's initial release. A storm of bad notices shocked the great movie maker into a 15 year sabatical from the screen. But why? This is superb film! Why was it panned so terribly? Why did the critics who loved LAWRENCE OF ARABIA make such an effort to rubbish RYAN'S DAUGHTER? Was it easier to pan the movie than disect the political situation it portrayed? A situation that was uncomfortably close to what was going on in Northern Ireland at the time? Maybe. Thirty years down the road perhaps we can look back on the movie more objectively. Times have changed, the movie remains the same.What we now find is actually an absorbing love triangle that delicately walks a tightrope between the two sides of the 'Troubles' finding it's heroes and villains on both(sometimes in the same character)and making no judgements overall. Bar owner's daughter, Rosy Ryan, marries her former teacher in a wild and remote corner of Ireland. The passion she anticipates fails to ignite and the arrival of a wounded war-hero at the nearby British army camp sparks a passionate and strongly taboo affair. This is a devoutely catholic land where according to the British commander, every woman is "either married or virgin" and where the British soldiers are an occupyng force, deeply resented.Throw in the arrival of gun runners and the powder keg situation explodes to the backdrop of an awesome Atlantic storm. The storm sequence is part of movie legend for the time and cost of it's filming. The crew were sent storm chasing along the west coast of Ireland for months to capture the incredible power and spectacle that you see on screen. If you watch it for no other reason, you simply have to watch RYAN'S DAUGHTER for the storm! And it's all genuine action with no computer graphics or special effects. The story works well, the screenplay by Robert Bolt (Miles' husband at the time) is perhaps his best and Lean's command of majestic landscape is ideally suited to the breathtakingly beautiful Irish coastline. The cliffs, beaches, moors and mountains lift location to the level of co-star, and when the cast is headed by such big-hitters as Robert Mitchum and Trevor Howard, that is saying something. Needless to say the cinematography is top drawer, simply beautiful.The acting likewise. Sarah Miles plays Rosy with an endearing mix of passion and vulnerability,her situation is very believable and if she is in many respects an anti-hero, you have to feel a little sorry for the girl in some ways. Mitchum is cast against type as her scholarly, gentle giant of a husband and his accent is surprisingly good to non-Irish ears.Anyone used to his normal tough-guy roles will be in for a surprise. Trevor Howard plays the hard-man local priest with warmth and sincerity, the voice of reason and compassion amid the chaos. John Mills won an oscar for his endearing portrayal of the mute,brain damaged Michael, but was it worth the award for supporting actor? Perhaps the jury remains out. Despite the comedy, pathos and warmth, one is left feeling this may have been a consolation oscar for not winning with a breathtaking performance in KING RAT some years before. Mills is such a classy actor that if he had never received an Oscar it would have been a travesty, but maybe for this non-speaking role, it was a little surprising? Christopher Jones, as the wounded British Officer is perhaps the source of most of the films bad reviews, it's most controversial piece of casting. He certainly doesn't over-act at any point and many found his performance wooden. But look into the character, deeply traumatised by war,withdrawn, alone in a hostile land and the product of the rigidly restrictive, class concious Edwardian society of the era and you realise he is actually perfect. And this English reviewer didn't realise untill he later read of it, that Jones is an American playing an Englishman! My hat off to you sir, you were certainly convincing! Many others in the cast produce fine work, notably Leo McKern as the tormented Ryan. OK it's a lengthy film and there are one or two scenes that go on for a little too long - Rosy's woodland orgasms being the prime example, but on the whole this is a terrific, dramatic, beautiful, sweeping epic that the contemporary critics had no business trying to destroy as they did. How many Lean films did we never see as a result of their efforts?

Just to ignore the critics and enjoy a wonderful movie.

Whatever happened to Christopher Jones?

[domr-1 · 29 September 2004]

Having watched this film for the first time after years of resisting it I have nothing really to add to those comments already posted.. except what has happened to Christopher Jones??? I was utterly gobsmacked by his performance - ghostly, restrained, yearning, deeply troubled, erotic - he encompassed it all in his portrayal of Major Doryan. I asked myself - why have I never this gorgeous British actor in anything else? Because - it turns out he is American!!!! Astounding. Great waste to cinema that he hung up his acting boots for many years after making Ryan's Daughter. I really felt that he was THE charisma in this film (anyone noticed his resemblance and similar screen presence to James Dean?) - his quiet imperceptible style contrasting strongly (and nicely) with some of the burlesque pantomime characters and characterisations of some of the other protagonists.

Anyway - that's all I have to say,. I am now in love with Major Doryan myself!!! A little trite but I don't think anyone else has mentioned Chris Jones performance nearly enough, so I thought I would chip in.

Hauntingly beautiful .....to the eyes AND to the ears

[dave-2345 · 10/10 · 14 February 2006]

Despite being a great fan of science-fiction/action (indeed my 'Top 10' film list would contain 7 or 8 from this genre) it is THIS film that is my No.1 favourite all-time movie.

Ryan's Daughter isn't a Dr Zhivago, or a Bridge on the River Kwai, granted...but it's still a majestic, epic film.

Beautifully filmed in a glorious location, with magical music, and a love story that is silent & subdued yet so powerful at the same time. How can anyone not be moved by it?

I find the cinematography & score combine to make it absolutely haunting. And I WILL visit the setting ONE day...