Classic Film : Ryan's Daughter (1970)

Rewatched this a couple of days ago. It's been a while since I last saw it. I still can't understand why this was so badly received upon release.

The film looks every inch the epic, has some beautiful location work(that beach looks gorgeous, and the water is a real bright blue.) The score works well for the film and there's some good performances.

Trevor Howard is a highlight as the gruff, yet kindly parish Priest. Sarah Miles is very good as the local girl who want's more out of life.

Robert Mitchum comes across as a bit dull, but that fits with the character he is playing.

I couldn't help but wish that Major Doran had been played by Peter O'Toole, I think Christopher Jones resembles him slightly and it's interesting to think how O'Toole would have played the part. It can't be denied that Jones is a weak point of the film.

Barry Foster is excellent as an Irish revolutionary.

John Mills is unrecognisable as Michael, a bit over the top perhaps but a memorable part of the film.

Evin Cowley steals every scene she is in, as local trouble maker Maureen.


The film is quite moving in places and I just don't get why it's been so disliked.

Any other fans? Anyone who doesn't like it?


Go to bed Frank or this is going to get ugly .

I like it a lot.
Despite some very negative reviews at the time it was a popular film and I believe was extremely profitable.
I see James Mason as more appropriate for the Mitchum role although the latter did well. The always reliable Leo McKern was another who gave a great performance.
It's also one of my favourite big screen experiences - it's so darn beautiful.


"He was a poet, a scholar and a mighty warrior."

I think it was seen as a bit old fashioned, overblown and over long. There was also a feeling that Lean had become unnecessarily extravagant and had given the epic treatment to a small scale story that didn't really warrant it.

I originally approached it with scepticism because of its massive length and iffy reputation, but I think it's a pretty good film and holds up a lot better than many of its contemporaries. You can't honestly say the story needs 4 hours to tell it, but at the same time it holds your interest and is never boring. It looks beautiful, obviously, it's the last David Lean/Freddie Young film and they went to extraordinary lengths - building a whole village in Ireland and sending a crew to South Africa to film the storm scene. (The village was apparently a tourist attraction for a while) Not sure about Mitchum's casting, but I like Mills (yeah he is a bit over the top, but still) and Howard gives probably the best performance. Sarah Miles seems a bit old for her part though, and Jones is a bit wooden. Lean supposedly hadn't realised he had been dubbed when he'd seen him on screen before, which seems a bit of an oversight.

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sending a crew to South Africa to film the storm scene.

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As far as I know it's the scenes on a sunny flat sandy beach that were filmed in South Africa. After all, there's no shortage of violent storms with huge seas in the West of Ireland. The story as I've heard it is that David Lean had a second unit in Ireland for nearly a year, waiting to film the perfect storm. I may be wrong, but the rocky shore in the storm scene certainly looks Irish to me.

Apart from that, Ryan's Daughter is no doubt a beautiful film, a masterpiece of cinematography and acting, with the most glorious scenery in the world (I admit that I'm biased), excellent acting and a magnificent original score. The problem is that pretty much all the characters are unlikable without any redeeming traits. Sarah Miles's performance is outstanding, but what Rosie Ryan does is unthinkable.

I own both a DVD of the film and a CD with the film score. I watched the DVD once (and usually switch the TV off after a few minutes everytime Ryan's Daughter is shown), but the CD is a staple in the car. Possibly my favourite film music ever.

I think that's right about the beach, but I've also read that the storm scene was filmed there. It may be that they were confusing the two though.

Hi farne,

I love that Lean had an entire village built just for the film. To me it looks like a place that had been there for generations. Do you know how long the village remained standing after filming? I always feel sorry for people who build sets like this, all that hard work and then it gets taken down.

The length of the film has never really been an issue for me, to me doesn't seem padded in any way.



Go to bed Frank or this is going to get ugly .

I don't think most of it lasted very long, but the schoolhouse still survives,although in a dilapidated state after 45 years.

I agree about film sets being destroyed. I thought it was a nice idea that they kept Stuart Craig's Harry Potter sets at Leavesden and turned them into a tourist attraction. It's a shame you can't go down to Pinewood and take a stroll around a Ken Adam Bond set as well.

I seem to remember hearing that the desctruction of the Ryan's Daughter village had something to do with land ownership. Sounds as likely as anything.

The answer is that Ryan's Daughter (1970) is an overblown, pretentious production that tries to make an epic story out of a tawdry tale of infidelity. Yes, it is beautiful to look at as long as one pays no attention to the weakness of the script.

jj

Ryan's Daughter is Lean in his epic years where the wide screen, the color, the vistas, the colorful settings and sets threaten (and sometimes do) overwhelm the story Lean is trying to tell. I much prefer the films from his smaller, intense British filmography. In the review of "Ryan's Daughter" that, according to lore, sent Lean into a 14 year long retirement from film making, Pauline Kael dismissed him as a technician a man interested only in the technology at his disposal who gives scant regard to the emotional core of his tale. To a certain extent this is true and it echoes some of the thoughts I was having the last time I watched, my thumb poised over the fast forward scan button, sorely tempted to rush ahead past all of the empty spectacle. But after it was over and some days passed, it was the small story, the personal story, that I retained. Many of the scenes and performances remained with me. The David Lean of Brief Encounter, The Sound Barrier, and Hobson's Choice had shone through. Even some things I had scoffed at while watching like John Mills embarrassing performance as a challenged adult (the village idiot) ended by moving and astonishing me. I could go on like this one sentence heaping scorn, the next praising. Sometimes, as with Mill's performance, doing both at once.

mf

Trust me. I'm The Doctor.

Hi Mike,

I think it is such a shame that Lean paid attention to the critics and left filmmaking for so long. I've never seen the point of film critics, I will decide for myself whether I like or dislike a film or series. A group of people could watch the same film and all react differently to it, why put so much stock in what a critic says?

I totally agree that the characters and their situation is what lingers in the mind after viewing. As with many of Lean's epics(for me at least)he perfectly balances epic visuals with a very human story.





Go to bed Frank or this is going to get ugly .

Supposedly, Lean was very hurt by Kael's blistering review of the movie. Which is odd, since this is just the kind of move Kael usually didn't like. I don't think she liked Dr. Zhivago that much either.

Myself, its not my kind of movie either. It seems like "Madame Bovary" cast in 1916 Ireland. It certainly looked great. The casting of Mitchum was odd. I never for a moment believed his character, it was always just "Big Bob" playing an Irishman.

I wonder if the movie would've gotten more praise if Lean had shot a small budget picture with an entirely Irish/English cast.

It wasn't just the review. A group of US critics including Kael and Schickel ganged up on him at a critics lunch in NY and tore into him over it. He obviously had a serious crisis of confidence after that and started to think they might be right. This is a brief interview clip where Lean talks about it:

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I wonder if the movie would've gotten more praise if Lean had shot a small budget picture with an entirely Irish/English cast.

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Probably. I think that was one of the criticisms, that he hadn't found the right sense of scale for this particular story and had gone overboard and turned it into an epic.

Thanks for posting that Lean video. Fascinating. Well, we're all different.

I'm just a nobody but if Kael or Shickel we're to rise up from the grave or the old folks home and tell me I was wrong about film X - I'd say "Who the H*** are you?".

Now here's David Lean, winner of numerous Awards, made millions of $$$, and its obvious from the Youtube clip that he was STILL a bit shaken by criticism after 14 years.

I'd have loved to see John Ford or Orsen Welles' reaction to the same the treatment.

I think this film did get a bad rap. It's not one of Lean's best, but Miles was great, along with Mills and Howard. Mitchum was fine. Jones was weak. Location - excellent!

This is also a favourite film of mine. A few years ago I wrote an extensive review on it here on Imdb because I wanted to do it some justice. Indeed this beautiful film was torn to pieces by critics when it first came out and it was a massive commercial flop. David Lean felt so devastated that he didn't make another film in 14 years, and that would be his last because he was too old by then.
I first watched "Ryan's" on TV back in 1995 and I loved it. I've got now an excellent DVD edition with great extras that help you to enjoy it even more.
A great cast, stunning locations and a breath-taking cinematography. I love "Oliver Twist", "Summertime", "Lawrence" and "Zhivago", but to me "Ryan's" is Lean at his best.

Hi, Maddy. I'm not a fan of Ryan's Daughter, but it's been some time since I've seen it, and I have it in my queue to re-watch on the advice of a friend.

I found it overly long and poorly paced; the story itself is problematic and doesn't feel authentic. Epic stories about individuals are hard to pull off, and none of the characters seem to justify the scope of the picture. Jones is truly awful, and I thought the normally excellent John Mills was terrible (can't forgive this performance winning an Oscar over the charming Chief Dan George.)

The movie is, of course, gorgeous to look at, Miss Miles is fetching, and Mitchum is pretty solid cast against type. When it works, it's quite good, but there just isn't enough there.

I too enjoyed a re-watch earlier this year - first time on widescreen TV - one film that definitely benefits from a big screen.

FWIW I think it did well in UK due to solid word of mouth - although I don't think it got the critical drubbing here that it got in States

I have never liked Miles much but she was fine here - but I thought Mitchum did very well too.

Agree great scenery and score

One to watch after the Sunday Roast with a box of chocs and maybe a glass of port on the go.


Tell mama, Tell mama all.

This is one of those films that I long to see but won't watch it unless I can find it on the big screen.

I keep holding out hope.




Mice work in mysterious ways.
No, dear. That's God.

Hi diz,

I also really want to see this (and Lawrence of Arabia)at the cinema, sadly I have yet to have the opportunity. This looks great on DVD though. Some films are certainly meant for the big screen, I have no doubt that this is one of them.



Go to bed Frank or this is going to get ugly .

I've been fortunate enough to have seen Lawrence on the big screen more than once. Once you have you realize that it's the only way to watch it.

I don't have big screen TV. If I did I might consider watching Ryan's Daughter that way.




Mice work in mysterious ways.
No, dear. That's God.

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This is one of those films that I long to see but won't watch it unless I can find it on the big screen.

I keep holding out hope.

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Ryan's Daughter is not a popular movie. You'll be dead before they ever show it again at theatres.




Just a guy in Texas who loves movies.

Fortunately I don't live in a small town. There are revival houses and art houses in which older films are screened all the time.




Mice work in mysterious ways.
No, dear. That's God.

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Fortunately I don't live in a small town. There are revival houses and art houses in which older films are screened all the time.

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It's a really beautiful picture on even a 46' TV - though of course the bigger the better.



Just a guy in Texas who loves movies.

I have fond memories of watching this on TCM Europe on my cabin TV (how David Lean intended, no doubtnot!) while working on a cruise ship in the Baltic during the summer of 2003. I knew of it because I knew it had won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Not as maudlin as I assumed, from what others had said about it. It's a very fine film.

Payback's a bitch and her stripper name is Karma

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It can't be denied that Jones is a weak point of the film.

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His handsomeness is one of the reasons why I've always loved it. You can see why Sarah Miles would fall for him so intensely. His face explains her passion.



Just a guy in Texas who loves movies.

It's a superb film from start to finish. Lush, elegiac, beautifully produced and acted. Madame Bovary via the Troubles. Mitchum is excellent, cast against type for maximum effect.

Best Picture*
Best Director*
Best ActressSarah Miles
Best Supporting ActorJohn Mills*
Best Supporting ActorTrevor Howard
Best Art Direction*
Best Cinematography*
Best Music Score
Best Sound*
Best Original Screenplay

10 nominations, 6 wins

"What do you mean I have no signature?"

I enjoyed it very much - a near masterpiece isn't so bad! If there are flaws, they are probably in either the casting or characterizations from Mitchum and Jones. My review:

Desire in Ireland
9/10
Author: wes-connors from Los Angeles
30 August 2010

In 1916 Ireland, lovely young Sarah Miles (as Rose Ryan) marries middle-aged Robert Mitchum (as Charles Shaughnessy), her former schoolteacher. Alas, he proves to be a dud in bed, and Ms. Miles finds passionate love with shell-shocked, but still very sexy Christopher Jones (as Randolph Doryan), a handsome British soldier. There are some subplots, and the War of course, but "Ryan's Daughter" is mainly Ms. Miles' affair. Her "scarlet letter"-type sex life eventually becomes the talk of the town.

Miles receives priestly advice from Trevor Howard (as Father Collins), who has the some predisposition regarding adultery. One citizen not talking is rotten-toothed mute John Mills (as Michael), who won a well-deserved "Best Supporting Actor" Oscar for his hermit crab. That "Academy Award" and the one presented to cinematographer Freddie Young are defining examples of noting the particular strengths of a film. They could have added another win, for the nominated-as-"Best Actress" Miles.

Miles' leading men received some criticism. Mr. Mitchum's total lack of sexual interest in Miles is inexplicable, considering the running time available for some further explanation. But, Mitchum does what he can with the role. And, Mr. Jones' relative silence wasn't his fault. Even dubbed, Jones acts the role perfectly. His limited verbosity actually highlights parallels with Mills' crippled, mute character. Besides, the story is really more about Miles' character (written for her by husband Robert Bolt).

With "Ryan's Daughter", director David Lean corrects the haze of inauthenticity which marred the setting of "Doctor Zhivago" (1965). Ireland and the sets are gorgeous, and the inclement weather looks real. Apparently, after "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962), few suits had the clout to tell Mr. Lean when enough was enough. "Ryan's Daughter" should have been a lot more "Mona Lisa", and a little less "Sistine Chapel". There is a film masterpiece locked up in "Ryan's Daughter", struggling to get out.

********* Ryan's Daughter (11/9/70) David Lean ~ Sarah Miles, Robert Mitchum, Christopher Jones, John Mills