Product: Ryan's Daughter (Two-Disc Special Edition) (2006)
Rating: 3.0
Lesser David Lean Effort
I've always been a very big David Lean fan. I think of him as the master of the epic. I enjoyed his early collaborations with Noel Coward and such films as "Brief Encounter" and "In Which We Serve" and I've also enjoyed his more celebrated titles; "Doctor Zhivago", "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Bridge on the River Kwai". But "Ryan's Daughter" is a mixed bag. Perhaps die-hard Lean fans will sing its praises but I want to remain unbiase. This is really a lesser effort from the great director.Rosy Ryan (Sarah Miles in an Oscar nominated role) wants more out of life after getting married to a man she claims to love, Charles Shaughnessy (Robert Mitchum) but does not know what. The town's priest, Father Collins (Trevor Howard) tells her besides the love of a good man, her health, and money there is nothing more to ask for in life. But Rosy won't hear of such nonsense! She knows that there must be something more to life than what she has.Charles is a schoolteacher who's wife has passed away. And at first did not want to get involved with Rosy. He is after all twice her age. He figured Rosy would end up with a man her own age but no. It was Rosy who went after him.The film takes place during the early 1900s as the beginnings of WW1 linger in the air. But here's where the fault on the film lies. In the first 40-45 minutes of the movie it's hard not to pay attention to all the long shots Lean uses as we get shots of characters walking alongside the beach, we see mountains and beautiful landscapes. My objection to all of this is for what purpose is it done? It seems Lean wants to impress us with background more than the story. In his other works, say "Doctor Zhivago" I never felt the background was a distraction, here though Lean seems to want to give the film that big epic feel but it doesn't work.The reason of this may very well be the content of the story. The movie is about a love affair Rosy has with a British officer, (Christopher Jones) after her marriage to Charles and the stir it causes within the town. This story is not strong enough to go on for 4 hours. Lean makes the mistake of not injecting enough of the historical setting to the film. He seems to interested in the landscape setting to pay attention to anything else.While most of the performances are quite good I found I grew to dislike Michael (John Mills), the town's simpleton. What is his purpose in the film? He only gives the film a certain level of comic relief, but it's not needed. And what about the way the town treats him? It almost downright brutal. But his presence just came to annoy me. How odd than to find he won the Academy Award that year for Best Supporting Actor. But honestly what does the Academy know? I don't even bother to watch them anymore.Still despite these imperfections "Ryan's Daughter" managed to hold my attention. The performances by Mitchum and Howard are entertaining even though the movie never really give us the opportunity to know these people. We never really know what exactly happened to Randolph Doryan, the young British soldier. We never really know why Rosy is attracted to him. We never really know why Charles married her in the first place. But I still think many should see this movie. I find it funny so many people think of "Doctor Zhivago" as a lesser film. That movie is a masterpiece one of the greatest epic romances of all time. It's "Ryan's Daughter" that is the lesser film.Bottom-line: Entertaining yet somehow disappointing David Lean film. The movie seems to try to hard to impress us with its landscape but doesn't make much use of the historical setting. Still the performances in the film are worthwhile and for that you should this movie.