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Post by Dirty Santa PaulsLaugh on Sept 10, 2019 20:43:02 GMT
Despite some of the most horrendous (and misinformed) reviews I've read, I believe the film made a healthy profit. Profit indeed -- lines were around the block in England and in America. But for super-sensitive Lean, it did not matter that the film was appreciated by audiences. It was all those negative reviews that sent him into a 14 year career snit that finally ended with PASSAGE TO INDIA in 1984. Lean had been riding a critic’s darling high for years. Once the critics finally savaged one of his film...fairly or not...he couldn’t handle it and cheated himself out of making more films. Even so, he left an impressive legacy.
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Post by TheGoodMan19 on Sept 10, 2019 20:44:35 GMT
Not my favorite and not in a class with Lean's "Big Three". But Trevor Howard was fantastic.
Then again a film of Trevor Howard washing his car would be great. One of my favorite actors. He took the screen, even in a tiny role like the judge in Gandhi.
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Post by Toasted Cheese on Sept 10, 2019 22:11:17 GMT
David Lean knew out to fill up a movie screen. But as gorgeous as it is, Ryan’s Daughter lacks a compelling narrative or interesting characters. And Christopher Jones is not a good actor. Too bad someone like Peter O’Tool or Michael Caine could not have played the major. Mitchum is miscast as well. Have to disagree, but what one connects with is all subjective. I was compelled as an 8yr old boy and while the characters were not exactly people you would really care about, they weren't any different to how others were portrayed in Leans other visual epics. Mitchum was the heart and soul and anchored the film. He represented what was good and decent in this emotionally stifled world.
Jones was cast for his looks and he was very handsome. Lean did feel he made a mistake in casting him and apparently his voice was dubbed, but despite the backlash, I thought in terms of a peripheral character, he still comes across. He was a reticent character and was supposed to smolder, which he did very well.
I'd say Lean was striving for perfection when it doesn't exactly exist and it wouldn't matter whatever decision he made, it wouldn't have been good enough. His ego had too much hold on him. He needed to suck it up and see what he had created, because I think it is a stunning cinematic achievement and one of the rare films I rate a complete 10 in terms of how all the elements work in so well together.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2019 22:18:59 GMT
I like it a lot. Didn't see it on the big screen but I was more struck by the characters than the beauty of the cinematography
I loved Sarah Miles and felt very sorry for her character's treatment. Her scenes with Chris Jones were very passionate
Here he was, a wounded soldier (shell shocked too?) and he was still able to feel passion for a woman
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Post by Toasted Cheese on Sept 10, 2019 22:31:20 GMT
I like it a lot. Didn't see it on the big screen but I was more struck by the characters than the beauty of the cinematography I loved Sarah Miles and felt very sorry for her character's treatment. Her scenes with Chris Jones were very passionate Here he was, a wounded soldier (shell shocked too?) and he was still able to feel passion for a woman Miles was excellent and I can't think of any other actress that would have done so well with this role and convey what she did. She was driven by her desire and need for love, which she thought was passion and lust. A film of many nuances.
I loved the line near the end when Ryan expresses his newfound feelings for Shaughnessy and comments something of the sort that he didn't think that Charles was good enough for Rosy, but now knows there is none better.
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Post by bravomailer on Sept 11, 2019 1:33:51 GMT
I lifted this from my posts on Delon's thread on recent viewings: Critics didn’t care for Lean’s follow-up to Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago. I did. If there’s any flaw it’s the similarity with Zhivago and the soundtrack, which while enjoyable isn’t Jarre’s best work.The film depicts village life better than any other except maybe The Last Picture Show. Beneath the incredibly beautiful setting and cinematography are themes of faithlessness, infirmity, treachery, powerlessness, and dashed hopes – Ireland under the British. Events take place during World War One. There’s a collision between partners in an unconsummated marriage (Mitchum and Miles), a British officer (Jones), and the villagers’ nationalist aspirations. Lean’s famous transition shot in Lawrence of Arabia has a match going out, then the desert sun rising. He inverts this here. Jones’s character watches the sun go down as he holds a blasting cap near a case of explosives. The sun slips beneath the horizon, the camera shifts to Mitchum and Miles. Mitchum lights a lamp and an explosion sounds in the distance. The village idiot I took to be the encapsulation of the village - mentally deficient, incapable of refinement. The film is quite harsh on village life. The mobs are quick to condemn and attack but never realize they're attacking the wrong person. It was just someone who'd violated their norms. As for their nationalist aspirations, they are incapable of meaningful opposition, in part because of their prejudices, in part because of the treachery of the pub owner, Ryan. Intelligent people, Mitchum and Miles, get out. Mitchum leaves his Victrola with Mills. Two of the actors in the village later had roles in Barry Lyndon - one as Barry's mother, the other as the highwayman Captain Feeney. The storm sequence is spectacular. I see that Lean waited a year for a suitable gale, and it was worth it. I also see that Jones was in a dark mood because his former girlfriend was murdered during filming – Sharon Tate. I thought he did well as the British officer haunted by his experiences in France. I really like Jarre's score. It doesn't contain ethnic Irish sounds, but still flows with the truth of beauty of the presentation and I think complements the film wonderfully. I find Ryan's Daughter superior to Doctor Zhivago which I saw 3 times in the 80's in 70mm. Lean apparently regretted not actually filming DZ in 70mm, but he made up for that with RD. I liked the score as well but it lacked the brilliance of LoA and DZ. And I respected Jarre for not embedding Irish melodies into it!
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Post by OldAussie on Sept 11, 2019 1:46:04 GMT
re the score -
Jarre's scores for Zhivago, Grand Prix, Night of the Generals and Ryan's Daughter all seem to have moments which "overlap".
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Post by jervistetch on Sept 11, 2019 2:06:18 GMT
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Post by Toasted Cheese on Sept 11, 2019 2:12:34 GMT
I really like Jarre's score. It doesn't contain ethnic Irish sounds, but still flows with the truth of beauty of the presentation and I think complements the film wonderfully. I find Ryan's Daughter superior to Doctor Zhivago which I saw 3 times in the 80's in 70mm. Lean apparently regretted not actually filming DZ in 70mm, but he made up for that with RD. I liked the score as well but it lacked the brilliance of LoA and DZ. And I respected Jarre for not embedding Irish melodies into it! LoA and DZ have a more epic approach to them in terms of setting and historical milieu. The scores match the style. RD needed a more lyrical and subtle approach. It was after all a retake on Madame Bovary. I often recall the RD melody more than the other 2 mentioned.
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Post by Toasted Cheese on Sept 11, 2019 2:16:00 GMT
The two times that I was lucky enough to visit Ireland I went to stunningly beautiful County Kerry. A lot of RYAN’S DAUGHTER was filmed there. In the town of Dingle is a legendary pub named Dick Mack’s. It has it’s own little Hollywood Walk of Fame out front featuring the names of stars who have visited or filmed movies there. Robert Mitchum’s star is among them. The place is heaven on earth.  Julie Roberts???
I guess whoever made the slab hadn't heard of Julia Roberts, unless it is a Julie Roberts, somebody they may only know of in Dingle.
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Post by BATouttaheck on Sept 11, 2019 2:18:30 GMT
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Post by petrolino on Sept 15, 2019 0:28:22 GMT
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