Ryan's Daughter

Plot synopsis:
Rosy Ryan (Sarah Miles), only daughter of the local publican, widower Tom Ryan (Leo McKern), is bored with life in Kirrary, an isolated village on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. The villagers are nationalists, taunting British soldiers from a nearby army camp. Ryan publicly supports the recently suppressed Easter Rising, but secretly serves the British as an informer.
Rosy falls in love with the village schoolmaster, widower Charles Shaughnessy (Robert Mitchum). She imagines, though he tries to convince her otherwise, that he will somehow add excitement to her life. They marry and settle in the schoolhouse, but he is a quiet man uninterested in physical love.
Major Randolph Doryan (Christopher Jones) arrives to take command of the army camp. After winning a Victoria Cross on the Western Front, he has a crippled leg and is suffering from shell shock. When he visits the pub where Rosy is serving alone, he collapses under a flashback to the trenches and is comforted by her. The two kiss passionately until they are interrupted by the arrival of Ryan and others. Next day, the two ride to a forest for a passionate liaison. Charles becomes suspicious of Rosy, but keeps his thoughts to himself.
Charles takes his schoolchildren to the beach, where he notices Doryan's telltale footprints accompanied by a woman's in the sand. He tracks the prints to a cave and imagines Doryan and Rosy conducting an affair. Local halfwit Michael (John Mills) notices the footprints as well and searches the cave. Finding Doryan's Victoria Cross, he pins it on his lapel and proudly parades through the village, but suffers abuse from the villagers. When Rosy comes riding past, Michael approaches her tenderly. Between Rosy's dismay and Michael's pantomime, the villagers surmise that she is having an affair with Doryan.
One night, during a fierce storm, IRB leader Tim O'Leary (Barry Foster) – who had killed a police constable earlier – and a small band of his men arrive in Ryan's pub seeking help to recover a shipment of German arms being floated from a ship towards the beach. When they leave, Ryan tips off the British. The entire village turns out to help the rebels, with Ryan the most outwardly devoted to the task, wading into the breakers repeatedly to salvage boxes of weapons and explosives. O'Leary is overwhelmed by Ryan's devotion, and the villagers are ebullient. They gleefully free the rebels' loaded truck from the wet sand and follow it up the hill. Doryan, waiting at the top with his troops, captures the men and arms. O'Leary makes a break, but Doryan climbs atop the truck and brings him down with a single rifle shot. Then he suffers a flashback and collapses. Rosy presses through the crowd in concern, outraging the villagers.
Charles tells Rosy that he had let her affair run its course, hoping that the infatuation would pass, but now wants a separation. Rosy says the affair is over, but that night she leaves their bed in her nightdress to meet Doryan. In dismay, Charles wanders in his nightclothes to the beach, where the parish priest Father Collins (Trevor Howard) finds him. The villagers storm into the schoolhouse and seize Rosy, convinced that she informed the British of the arms shipment. Ryan watches in shame and horror as his daughter takes the blame for his actions. The mob shears off her hair and strips off her clothes.
Doryan walks along the beach and gives his cigarette case to Michael. In gratitude, Michael leads Doryan to a cache of arms–-including dynamite–-that was not recovered. After Michael runs off, Doryan commits suicide by detonating the explosives. The next day, Rosy and Charles leave for Dublin, enduring the taunts of the villagers as they go.

Tags: atmospheric, melodrama

Review:
There is much to deserve love: the artistry of the film making; unspeakably fine cinematography; superb use of music and sound (hearing nothing but the wind in the trees during the forest scene is breathlessly sensual); and major and minor characters who each in their own way reflect the eternal enigma of human longing for life and transcendence.
Sarah Miles plays Rosy torn between the love for her Irish schoolteacher husband (Robert Mitchum) and an unbridled passion for a newly arrived British officer (Christopher Jones).
In 1918 Ireland a school teacher's wife and an army captain have an illicit affair that has far reaching consequences.The film that cast Robert Mitchum so against type as to be untrue (a cuckold husband!) and whose critical response drove a great director to near two decades of silence has to be viewed; if only as cinema history.This is a small film blown up to try and be an epic, which it is not and that is the first of its faults.
The relationship makes much more sense as a sexual one  Rosy may love her husband but the Major gives her what she's missing.Another refreshing element of Ryan's Daughter is the portrayal of the English and the Irish.
The acting is wonderful - John Mills is outstanding, Leo McKern and Trevor Howard impeccable, Sarah Miles and Robert Mitchum excellent with just the right amount of awkwardness the parts require.
There seems a common thread in most reviews for "Ryan's Daughter", you will read that the film does not work, it not as good as Lean's earlier masterpieces, it's too long, too boring and too "big", ALL NOT TRUE!!
It is a story of denied passion  and forgiving love.I was mostly impressed by the performance of Christopher Jones as major Doryan, the officer who has a brief romance with Rose, he is obviously tormented by his experiences in the trenches and finds a bit of relief and shelter in the arms of the innocent Irish lady.I highly recommend this movie to all who enjoy beautifull landscapes and drama..
It seems a shame that the film was so lambasted when it was released since expectations were set so high after Lean's previous three films, all three widescreen masterworks - 1957's "The Bridge on the River Kwai", 1962's "Lawrence of Arabia" and 1965's "Doctor Zhivago".Written by Robert Bolt (who also wrote "Lawrence" and "Zhivago") as a Celtic variation on Flaubert's "Madame Bovary", the plot is focused on Rosy, the spoiled, headstrong daughter of Thomas Ryan, the local publican.
As Father Collins, Trevor Howard has a wild-eyed look about him at times, but he passionately provides the moral compass for the story.As the movie runs for three hours and fifteen minutes (actually shorter than "Lawrence" and the same as "Zhivago"), the film is on two discs separated by an intermission.
I won't add my "two cents" except to say that I thought Robert Mitchum gave one of his all-time best performances (and that includes his remarkable tour-de-force in "Night of the Hunter"); Sarah Miles, whom I usually found rather grating and tiresome, was quite convincing under Lean's tutelage; the cinematography by the esteemed Freddie Young was more than gorgeous; and, once again, Maurice Jarre's music was jarring, something I'd rather have done without.
The story was indeed interesting, affecting and at times very touching and human, while the cast lead by a towering Robert Mitchum was, as in all David Lean productions, second to none.
To see the major fault in Ryan's Daughter we have to look back briefly to David Lean's two previous epic's, Laurence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago and to the locations in which the stories are set.
well, Freddy Young's photography was certainly great and he deserved his Oscar, but Young's expertise played no small part in this films failure to draw the viewer in and become involved with the characters.Young, at the behest of Lean, gave a virtuoso performance of his art and, as we have seen his efforts while extraordinarily beautiful to look at, left the actors trying to compete against nature at it's rawest and most volatile and, left the film as a whole fatally flawed...As a matter of interest,I live near to where Ryan's Daughter was filmed and many of my older friends and two of my uncles worked as extra's for the duration of the film.
Robert Mitchum had messages to Lean delivered by Sarah Miles, and Sarah Miles was furious having to act opposite Christopher Jones.To continue with the cast, most of them are excellent, including Trevor Howard as the local priest and John Mills as the Village Idiot.
Bolt (and Lean, of course) provides food for thought--who is good and who is bad, who is ugly and who is beautiful, who is crippled and who is whole...It is easier to make lovely, heroic epics such as "Lawrence" or "Zhivago" than to make a film on losers and moral and physical cripples such as "Ryan's Daughter." I think this is Lean's and Bolt's finest work.
David Lean is not quite at his best here like he was with Lawrence of Arabia, Bridge on the River Kwai, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist and Brief Encounter, but Ryan's Daughter is a very good (though flawed film).
And while the score from Maurice Jarre has its moments like the main theme, the tavern scene and the beach hallucination and is not bad music at all on its own, it is for me the weakest of his collaborations with Lean and doesn't fit within the film, sounding too inappropriately jaunty often (especially Michael's theme) in a film that would have benefited better with a lusher, more Celtic touch.However, Ryan's Daughter is a beautiful-looking film, with grand settings, rich use of colours and Freddie Young's sweeping Oscar-winning cinematography (especially in the storm scene).
The story works well, the screenplay by Robert Bolt (Miles' husband at the time) is perhaps his best and Lean's command of majestic landscape is ideally suited to the breathtakingly beautiful Irish coastline.
And all those metaphorical wildlife shots during the Miles/Jones sex scene look like a film student's attempt at being arty – not what you would expect from a director of Lean's experience and calibre.
Up to my knowledge, only "The Quiet Man" is equal to "Ryan's Daughter" in showing the splendor of Ireland.The story is interesting, well-written and well-told: a love affair of an Irish young woman with an English officer, with the Irish rebellions during World War I on the background.
In my opinion, the weaknesses of the movie are due to the choice of the cast and the sketch of some characters.Robert Mitchum is totally unsuited for the role of the meek school-teacher Charles, with his feeble inclination to carnal love (Mitchum, with his grit, his bull-shoulders, and all!), his silent sufferings during his wife's adulterine affair, his final hysterical breakdown.John Mills plays Michael, the idiot of the village.
This Movie l'd watched for first time in beginning of 90'on TV...maybe the last part but now on DVD restoration l watched in complete way...and David Lean looks like the same...Genius!!!Even three hours long the movie never boring you all time is interesting,firstly by native Irish people who are the same in all history,good drinking the women is jealous and the priest have to fix up everything,apart from that Mitchum in plenty form as old professor and Sarah Miles fantastic as flaming wife...and the location is simply breathtaking the Ireland's cost provide a wonderful places to Lean tell your story...Mckern in another great performance too!!
As one would expect, David Lean made great use of the vast, stark expanses of Ireland by the sea in this story about a troubled love set against the politics of Irish independence.
Lean's Ryan's Daughter is sadly undervalued by many as they thought him past his best, when, five years after Doctor Zhivago, he constructed a whole new village on the Dingle Peninsular on the west coast of Ireland and spent over a year on his indulgence.This beautifully filmed epic, on 70mm negative, might not have the cold harshness of Zhivago, or the scorching majesty of Lawrence of Arabia, but still remains my very favourite film set in and filmed in Ireland.John Mills, as the village idiot steals every scene he's in and leaves us his legacy as a very adaptable actor and Trevor Howard, as a priest.
After succeeding brilliantly with three outstanding war epics in The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, and Doctor Zhivago, David Lean returned to bring us memorable images amidst the coast of Ireland in this tale spun from Madame Bovary and adapted by Robert Bolt, the fantastic writer of Lawrence and A Man for All Seasons.
The acting is mostly strong with Robert Mitchum as the quiet, understanding husband, John Mills as the not-so-stupid village idiot, and Trevor Howard in the film's best performance as the no-nonsense yet caring priest.
Freddie Youngs'photography is something that ALL film students should be tied down and forced to witness and any serious devotee of Lean should read of the extraordinary hardships the cast and crew were subjected to during the filming of this epic in the marvelous biography on David Lean released in 1997.Ok, I truly love this film (I guess that's obvious) but I have to say that, above all, it is Maurice Jarres' score that will move you more than the doomed affair between Sarah Miles and (whatever happened to?) Christopher Jones.
It is two hours too long, the production was frankly insane and involved Robert Mitchum OD-ing Christopher Jones because he did not like Sarah Miles, and seriously, why did John Mills get an Oscar for giving one of the most painful mutes performances ever?
So now it comes RYAN'S DAUGHTER (1970), which was both critic and box office failure for Lean and accounted for the long gap (14 years) between it and his next film.
The two things clash with each other and create a nearly ridiculous farce (I am not sure if it is Lean's intention or not).Otherwise the performance is solid, Sir John Mills won an Oscar for his mute role (the film also won Best Cinematography too, Freddie Young did a peerless job), Sarah Miles got her only Oscar nomination so far (I must say that she looks like a dead ringer of Evangeline Lilly, from LOST if you know whom I mean, maybe plus a little silhouette of Julie Christie), her performance successfully transcends from disagreeable toward commiserative, which is a difficult job because it was her then husband Robert Bolt wrote the script and I guess he had purposely made her character so capricious as to let his wife fully broaden her acting range.
In 1916 Ireland, lovely young Sarah Miles (as Rose Ryan) marries middle-aged Robert Mitchum (as Charles Shaughnessy), her former schoolteacher.
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).
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.
The long-awaited release of RYAN'S DAUGHTER on DVD brought back the awareness of just how great an artist David Lean was.This time, the beautiful Irish coastline was his subject.
It inspired me to check out the aforementioned A PASSAGE TO India, which I had never seen, as well as to go back to some of the director's earlier work, such as BRIEF ENCOUNTER.The cinematography, the music (by Maurice Jarre), and the classic performances by Sarah Miles, Robert Mitchum, Trevor Howard, and John Mills make RYAN'S DAUGHTER a worthwhile viewing experience..
One sometimes remembers movies by their satirical names such as "Dual in the Sun" was called by comedians "Lust in the Dust", actually there was a B grade western made years later with that title, but I digress, David Lean did a very tasteful assignation scene between Rosy (Sharah Miles) and the British officer (Christopher Jones) with the sunlight filtering through the tree leaves above.
That shouldn't necessarily deter you from taking a chance on it, IF -- and this is a big if -- you can appreciate a love story that's long on taste and restraint, short on sex and nudity, and very very long in running time.Robert Bolt wrote this script specifically for his wife of the time, Sarah Miles, and she's quite good as the yearning, passionate Rosy Ryan.
It's a huge departure from his normally British stiff-upper-lip demeanor and he performs it without a false note.The film is also well known for the contributions of two of Lean's most reliable collaborators: Freddie Young for his spectacular cinematography of the Irish coast, including a justifiably famous storm sequence done without stunt doubles or trick photography, and Maurice Jarre for his somewhat overwrought but lilting score.It's been said that the ungracious critical reaction to this work led to Lean's virtual retirement from movie-making for 15 years, until his somewhat less than triumphant return with his adaptation of E.M. Forster's A PASSAGE TO India in the 80's.
Lawrence of Arabia, Bridge on the River Kwai, Doctoz Zhivago and even A Passage to India are some of the best epic in the history of cinéma.I knew that this film was bashed by the critics and I was wondering if, I would like it...I watch Ryan's Daughter tonight and it is very good.
But you know critics always like to jump on the occasion to bash a director when he does some missteps.That is true: Ryan's Daughter is not the best film of Lean, but it is 95% more intelligent than most of the hollywood movies today.David Lean is a very intelligent directors and a great images poet.
The beautiful Irish landscapes (although some of the film was shot in Africa) are captured amazingly by Freddy Young, and there are great Performances by Mitchum and John Mills as the hunchback, village idiot Michael.
But then you add in Maurice Jarre's music and the cinematography of Freddie Young, the script by Robert Bolt, and David Lean's direction, and you have an exceptional film that deserved more than two Academy Awards.
All the actors, Robert Mitchum, Christopher Jones, Sarah Miles, and John Mills were effective in the nuances of each of their characters.
Robert Mitchum's performance as a staid, seemingly boring character, Sarah Miles searching for something more exciting from her dreary town, Christopher Jones, haunted by his experiences at the trenches in WW1 and John Mills, who didn't talk at all in this movie, conveying much his emotions with his eyes.
Following the huge success of their collaboration on DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, director David Lean and scenarist Robert Bolt re-teamed once again under the aegis of MGM to film a love story set against scenic locales, amid war and political turmoil.
As with "Zhivago" the story involved a love triangle: a young Irishwoman's infatuation with a widowed middle-aged man who happens to be her former schoolmaster; their subsequent marriage and her reckless affair with a handsome crippled British Officer stationed at the local garrison.Initially planned by Lean to be "more intimate than epic ", the movie that came to be known as RYAN'S DAUGHTER escalated into a 15 million dollar production that took nearly a year to film.
The scene where Charles (Robert Mitchum in one his rare, atypical roles) imagines his wife and the officer having a tryst on the beach, accompanied to the strains of Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony, is so daring in its unabashed romanticism that it is beautiful , sad and pathetic all at the same time.With the passage of time, RYAN'S DAUGHTER has aged very well; while not in the same league as Lean's more famous classics, it remains a beautifully crafted film that has garnered a devoted following over the years..
Sarah Miles should have won an Oscar for her performance as the passionate Rosy, Robert Mitchum was fabulous as the diffident schoolteacher(a terrific performance made even more extradorniary if you've only seen him in films like Out of the Past and Night of the Hunter), Trevor Howard, possibly the best performance, just simply became his part, John Mills bagged an Academy Award for his portrayal of a village idiot and Christopher Jones was marvellous as the subdued, shell-shocked soilder.
David Lean's Great Expectations, Bridge on the River Kwai, and Lawrence of Arabia, are all timeless masterpieces, but his Ryan's Daughter will simply have many viewers repeatedly checking the time, wondering when this plodding film is actually going to get somewhere.And please don't misunderstand, I was not looking for an action film.
There is also a dramatic, spectacularly filmed storm scene with villagers attempting to retrieve contraband guns from the raging sea.Ryan's Daughter is another credit to director David Lean, a true master with his Lawrence of Arabia, A Passage to India, the incomparable Doctor Zhivago, and his 1945 black and white Brief Encounter (my personal favourite).
The fact that there is a good quality 70mm print still in existence not only shows how badly this film did in it's initial 70mm roadshow release but gives us hope that we may again get chance to see this work as it was originally intended.Lean and Robert Bolt (married at the time to female lead, Sarah Miles) loosely based their doomed love story on Gustave Flaubert "Madame Bovary".
They will all be hung and Sarah's looking real good for the role of informer.Ryan's Daughter is a good film though it hardly compares with other David Lean masterpieces like Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, or The Bridge On the River Kwai.
Yet Lean got some noteworthy performances from this film, including an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for John Mills playing the village idiot.
Howard's role with the rebels is quite accurate.Though it's message is unclear, Ryan's Daughter is a beautifully photographed film with some outstanding performances and belongs in the second tier of David Lean's work..