Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1952-10-03

ture would have been considerably
the more delightful comedy for
being shorter. One doubts that
John Wayne would require that
long to tame even so ferocious q
colleen as Mareen O'Hara and her
clustering brother played by VIC
tor McLaglen.
It could be, Of course, that 1.-THE
Quiet Mans" tempo is the actual
one Of Irish life and that Ford is
discreetly determined not to tam
per with 1t on Irish soil. When
the loving and fighting hit lulls,
he merely turns his cameras on
the lovely face of the land and
leaves the stranger to conclude
that Ireland Is the worlds last
paradise.
THE Quiet Man" is a lusty,
funny screenplay that Frank Nu-
gent has shaped from Maurice
Walsh's original novel. The prem
Use OF Ford's direction of it is that
life is never so high spirited as
when it is left to the likes of his
Irish characters.
Chief of these are Wayne. an
1rish-American giant returned to
old sod; and Miss O'Hara, a beau
teous. red-haired ball of fire whom
no man has dared attempt to
tame.
These two obviously need a go
between and the one man in InniS-
free daring enough to undertake
the risk is Barry Fitzgerald. He
is a mite OF a man, this leprechaun
OF 1nnisfree, but he has lived by
his wits too long to doubt their
adequacy. He knows a romantic
adventure when he sees one and
the chance to be third party to
the affair between Wayne and
Miss O'Hara is clearly the oppor-
tunity of a lifetime.
4 X 4
While he permits this tempestu-
Gus romance-bitterly opposed by
= the girls burly, bullying brother
to be the central theme of 1.-The
Quiet Man," Ford knows that no
one has a private life in village
Ireland. These people are the
descendants of the once great,
FOSTERING clans. The spirit of this
ancient life still courses in their
veins and what concerns one, or
two, is tribal affair. So it is to
be with the tall, quiet young man
who came back from America and
the passionate spinster princess of
1nnisfree with whom he falls in
love at first sight.
"T'he Quiet Man" makes it
hilariously clear that no COM
munity ever had a better romantic
adventure than this one. Ford
sees that 1t is covered in all its
detail. The result is a succession
Of comedy scenes that need only
to be linked more tightly to make
the film one of the funniest ever
made.
Fitzgerald. funnier than he has
been since the rich days of the
Abbey Theater. is the central fig
ure in most of the pictures mer-
riest passages. One of these is
the sequence in which he nego-
tiates with Miss O'Hara in the
guise Of a Sinking marriage
broker while downing a quart Of
her most closely boarded whisky.
In another he plots with the vii
lage priest and Innisfree's An
glican minister to earn the consent
of the girls brother to the
marriage.
Both of these are gems, but
Fitzgerald puts moviegoers most
deeply in his debt as a comic in
still another scene which is the
pictures best. This he accomplish
es by casting an awed glance at
the marriage bed which collapsed
the night before when the angry
bridegroom stood in the doorway
and threw Miss O'Hara clear
across the room.
+ 4
The readiness of the Irish to
drop everything for the JOY of
an argument and their delight
in community saloon singing pro-
vide THE Quiet Man" with some
of it's richest incident. And, nat
urally. Ford would be the direc-
tor to make the most of showing
the real meaning of a "Donny-
brook"
This is one of those mortal
combats which starts between
two Irishmen (Wayne and Nc
Laglen in this case) and ends
with every one exuberantly smash
ing the skull of every one else.
Never has the sight Of men at
mayhem provided moviegoers with
a longer, louder laugh than this
one which taught Miss O'Hara
that her husband was not afraid
to fight, but rather that he was
inclined to kill opponents when
he really cut loose.
THE Quiet Man" is full Of
roles that are played with down.
right relish. Were this not the
case, Fitzgerald might we'll have
turned his own into a runaway
performance. AS he is, he never
manages even to lap Wayne. Miss
O'Hara, McLaglen. Ward Bond
Arthur Shields or Mildred Nat
wick.
They are all in there having
the time of their lives. So will
moviegoers, even those who are
inclined to the churlish notion
that 1.-THE Quiet Man" could stand
editing.