Irish Old Films
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12 titles
- DirectorRobert J. FlahertyStarsColman 'Tiger' KingMaggie DirraneMichael DirraneIn this blend of documentary and fictional narrative from pioneering filmmaker Robert Flaherty, the everyday trials of life on Ireland's unforgiving Aran Islands are captured with attention to naturalistic beauty and historical detail.
- DirectorPat Collins
- DirectorTerry GeorgeStarsAnthony BrophyConleth HillPacky LeeThe story of Joe and Paddy, whose childhood friendship is shattered by the troubles in Northern Ireland. Twenty five years later they are reunited.
- DirectorJim SheridanStarsRichard HarrisJohn HurtSean BeanWhen a field (which has been farmed by the McCabe family for generations) goes up for auction, the patriarch of the McCabe family will stop at nothing to prevent a rich American from buying it.
- DirectorJames B. BrownGeorge C. StoneyStarsMichael BalconArthur Calder-MarshallRobert J. FlahertyAmerican documentary film-maker George C. Stoney visits the Aran Islands to try and unravel some of the myths surrounding a film that had engrossed him as a youngster - Robert Flaherty's famous documentary "Man of Aran" released in 1934. With the help of Harry Watt, an equally famous British documentary film-maker, Stoney revisits the islands that Flaherty helped make famous, conversing with actual participants in the film including Maggie Dirrane, one of the three principal stars. Stoney and Watt re-evaluate some of the mystique surrounding the shooting of the film and consider how it was to affect the lives of the Islanders themselves. Stoney and Watt seem to concur that "Man of Aran" was not so much a documentary as a visual poem. This was Flaherty's personal and romantic vision of how life SHOULD be lived on the island, ignoring the harsher realities that might question the validity of such romanticism. One old man recalls the poverty and harshness of life at the time Flaherty made his film, questioning Flaherty's motives for ignoring what he could see with his own eyes. He contends that the film "made very little" of the poor and suggested that Flaherty failed to recognize that "even the poor have their pride". Stoney investigates the positives and negatives wrought by the film, how it's legacy could still be felt in the Aran Islands of the late 1970's. The Islanders themselves appear to be divided over Flaherty's portrayal and some express concern that increased tourism, for example, will somehow destroy or damage their cherished way of life. Others are diametrically opposed to this viewpoint, welcoming increased tourism as helping towards the creation of employment on the island. Still, whatever the myriad viewpoints, there is an over-riding sense of Flaherty's presence throughout this documentary, even in this more modern age, and Stoney himself is able to declare that just being here has it's own rewards, retracing the footsteps of a legend in documentary film-making. As he states himself - "The sheen and texture of myth is all about me".
- DirectorJohn FordStarsVictor McLaglenHeather AngelPreston FosterIn 1922, an Irish rebel informs on his friend, then feels doom closing in.
- DirectorJonathan LewisStarsBrendan GleesonPatrick CondrenIan BannenIn 1921, the Anglo-Irish Treaty between the unrecognised Irish Republic and the British government is concluded after high-stakes negotiations.
- DirectorPat O'ConnorStarsHelen MirrenJohn LynchDonal McCannA young man fraught with guilt longs to defect from the Irish Republican Army (IRA). He is drawn to the widow of a slain Protestant policeman but must hide his secret that he was involved in her husband's murder and evade the authorities.
- DirectorRichard O'ConnellStarsPaul BarnettKevin P. KearnsKevin Barry ArttThis, but his sordid past in form of his gangster older brother keeps biting him on heels.
- DirectorStephen FrearsStarsAnthony BorrowsIan HartClaire HackettA family falls into poverty during the Depression.
- DirectorFabián BielinskyStarsRicardo DarínGastón PaulsGraciela TenenbaumTwo con artists try to swindle a stamp collector by selling him a sheet of counterfeit rare stamps (the "nine queens").
- DirectorCarol ReedStarsJames MasonRobert NewtonCyril CusackA wounded Irish nationalist leader attempts to evade police following a failed robbery in Belfast.