Taglines: A story of love…set against the violence of rebellion.
Ryan’s Daughter movie storyline. This romantic war drama takes place in the political turmoil of Ireland in 1916. While the British battle European aggressors in World War I, The Irish Republican Army makes a secret deal with the Germans for a cache of weapons to battle British rule.
Charles (Robert Mitchum) who meets rosy (Sarah Miles) on a return trip to Dublin. They falls in love and marry, but Rosy has an illicit affair with British officer Randolph Doryan (Christopher Jones). Tim O’Leary (Barry Foster) is the IRA gun runner waiting for a shipment of German rifles to arrive by sea on the West coast of Ireland.
When evidence of the affair (a military button) is paraded in the streets to discredit the unfaithful Rosy, Charles ignores the indignant neighbors. He does tell British authorities of the impending gun shipment in an effort to halt reprisals from the occupied forces.
IRA loyalists break in to their home, stripping Rosy and shaving her head when they believe she is the one who tipped off the British. Leo McKern plays Rosy’s father, and Trevor Howard plays the kindly Catholic priest. John Mills won an Oscar for his portrayal of the village idiot Michael as did cinematographer Freddie Young for his excellent lensing of this wartime romantic triangle.
Ryan’s Daughter is a 1970 British epic romantic drama film directed by David Lean. The film, set in August 1917 – January 1918, tells the story of a married Irish woman who has an affair with a British officer during World War I, despite moral and political opposition from her nationalist neighbours; it stars Robert Mitchum, Sarah Miles, John Mills, Christopher Jones, Trevor Howard and Leo McKern. The film is a re-telling of the plot of Gustave Flaubert’s novel Madame Bovary.
The score was written by Maurice Jarre and the movie was photographed in Super Panavision 70 by Freddie Young. In its initial release, Ryan’s Daughter was harshly received by critics[3] but was a box office success, grossing nearly $31 million[5] on a budget of $13.3 million, making the film the eighth highest-grossing picture of 1970. It was nominated for four Academy Awards and won in two categories.
About the Story
In August 1917, Rosy Ryan, only daughter of the local publican, widower Tom Ryan, 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. Tom 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. 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 arrives in October 1917 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 and make love for the first time. 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 notices the footprints as well and searches the cave. Finding a button from Doryan’s uniform, 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 in January 1918, during a fierce storm, IRB leader Tim O’Leary – 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 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.
Ryan’s Daughter (1970)
Directed by: David Lean
Starring: Robert Mitchum, Sarah Miles, Trevor Howard, John Mills, Leo McKern, Barry Foster, Marie Kean, Arthur O’Sullivan, Evin Crowley, Douglas Sheldon, Barry Jackson
Screenplay by: Robert Bolt
Production Design by: Stephen B. Grimes
Cinematography by: Freddie Young
Film Editing by: Norman Savage
Costume Design by: Jocelyn Rickards
Set Decoration by: Josie MacAvin
Art Direction by: Roy Walker
Music by: Maurice Jarre
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release Date: November 9, 1970
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