Ryan’s Daughter
B.5
(out of 5)
Despite having a great cast of actors, eye-popping cinematography by Freddie Francis of misty Irish shores and a beautiful musical score by Maurice Jarre, not to mention the usually steady hand of director David Lean at the helm, this is one of the most unbearably boring films ever made. Sarah Miles stars as a beautiful young Irish lass whose desire for more romance in her life has her pursuing a much older schoolteacher (Robert Mitchum doing a decent Irish accent) and eventually marrying him. Things seem to be going well until a British soldier (Christopher Jones, who is just plain creepy, with dialogue dubbed by a British actor) is posted to their town and she falls in mad lust with him. Their affair begins more and more to lean towards tragedy until an eventual outcome that is annoyingly easy to predict and makes the film that much more annoying to endure. Robert Bolt’s screenplay claims to be an original, but anyone who has read Madame Bovary or Anna Karenina will be familiar with how things go. John Mills inexplicably won an Academy Award for playing the town mute, who mugs for the camera about fifteen times and is pretty much inconsequential to the narrative otherwise. Lean had a fantastic career full of nothing but classics, so it’s not too dire that he should have one terrible film in the group instead of a bunch of mediocre ones, but that being said it should still be avoided by even his biggest fans. Trevor Howard is excellent as the local priest with an understanding soul.
Directed by David Lean
Screenplay by Robert Bolt
Cinematography by Freddie Young
Cast Tags: Arthur O’Sullivan, Barry Foster, Barry Jackson, Brian O’Higgins, Christopher Jones, Des Keogh,Donal Neligan, Douglas Sheldon, Evin Crowley, Gerald Sim, John Mills, Leo McKern, Marie Kean, Niall O’Brien, Niall Toibin, Owen Sullivan, Philip O’Flynn, Robert Mitchum, Sarah Miles, Trevor Howard
Academy Awards
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (John Mills as “Michael”)
Best Cinematography (Freddie Young)
Nominations
Best Actress (Sarah Miles as “Rosy Ryan”)
Best Sound (Gordon K. McCallum, John Bramall)
Golden Globe Award
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture (John Mills)
Nominations
Best Performance By An Actress in a Motion Picture-Drama (Sarah Miles)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture (Trevor Howard)
National Board Of Review Award
Top Ten Films
Directors Guild Award Nomination
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (David Lean)
British Academy Award Nominations
Best Film
Best Actress (Sarah Miles)
Best Supporting Actor (John Mills)
Best Supporting Actress (Evin Crowley)
Best Direction (David Lean)
Best Cinematography
Best Art Direction
Best Costume Design
Best Sound Track
Best Film Editing
