Product: Ryan's Daughter (Two-Disc Special Edition) (2006)
Rating: 5.0
Beautifully filmed epic of Romance and Violence
"Ryan's Daughter" was a unique David Lean offering, for it had no story prior to its original screenplay. It does offer something that is quite different. It is an epic that is really very small in scope. Set against the Irish/British turbulence that exists even into today, the film tells the story of a very young woman who marries the wrong man (a schoolteacher played by Robert Mitchum, who lacks any real sexual awareness) and then falls in love with the wrong man (A British Sergeant who is stationed in her home town). Ultimately she is found out and disgraced and she has no choice but to leave town. Her father is an informer in the film, and John Mills (in an Oscar-winning performance) plays a mute, crippled human being who catches on all too soon to what Ryan's daughter is up to. Sarah Miles deservedly received an Oscar nomination for her performance. She is sensuous, young, forthright, fragile and ultimately heart-wrenching in her final scenes. Robert Mitchum surprises in a very low-keyed role as her husband, and Christopher Jones is very fine as the soldier who has seen too much of war's devastation. We witness it several times throughout the film. Maurice Jarre's music is sensuos and then militaristic -- and all highly original. Lean's palette is as beautiful as ever. It is a long film, but one that I intend to re-view several times for its subtleties. And just where is the DVD, MGM? I hope they intend to release it.