Product: Ryan's Daughter (Two-Disc Special Edition) (2006)
Rating: 4.0
Not Lean's best but still worth a watch
No one would argue that David Lean wasn't an exceptionally talented director. For Ryan's Daughter he assembled a talented cast and beautiful location (Ireland) to paint the picture of two lovers torn asunder by social and political forces. Unfortunately, unlike Dr. Zvivago which was a critical and commercial success, Ryan's Daughter was unable to match the intensity or impact of Lean's other films.The fault lies mostly in the direction by Lean - this film would have been served by another pass in the editing room to tighten up and shorten some of the scenes and in the case of the two lovers, slow it down a bit to allow the audience to buy into their intense attraction for each other. I have read that the talented actor who plays Rosy's love interest (Christopher Jones as Major Doryan) was faulted for providing a flat performance - after watching this movie, it is obvious to me he (Christopher Jones) was scapegoated for the lack of more cohesive directing and editing. Jones hit exactly the right note in portraying the Major as a tragic character - shell schocked from his time at the front and both physically and spiritually a broken man. There are two seminal scenes in the film where the Major is stricken by his panic attack flashback to the fronts - these are beautifully and subtley played by Jones - watching him struggle to control himself and beat back the panic it is hard not to feel compassion for him. The character Rosy, played by Sarah Miles, is also hurt by jumps in the story - the scene in the village bar where she meets the Major is rushed and not believable even by today's standards for attraction. Lean would have been better served he he allowed the characters some time to develop a rapport versus exploding into an immediate attraction which seems unlikely based on the social mores of the time and the circumstances of their meeting. I think that Lean himself wasn't sure how to portray their instant attraction so the next time we see the lovers is in a long, drawn out, strange scene of them riding through the forest looking for a place to have a lover's tryst. The scene is akward, slow moving and does nothing to help the audience invest emotionally with them.While it is a flawed film - I rate it 4 starts due to the the acting which is superb, some beautiful camera work and a haunting and memorable score. Sadly, Christopher Jones the young actor who played Major Doryan gave up movies after making this movie and Lean himself didn't make another movie for 14 years. Yes worth a watch but expect some long scenes where you might want to use the remote to speed up a bit and do the editing that Lean and his crew should have done before the movie released!