I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

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). It is better than most directors' later films and did not deserve the critical roasting it got.There were a couple of things that weren't quite right with Ryan's Daughter. Christopher Jones, despite looking the part, is dreadfully stiff and wooden in his role, showing little involvement or range, by far the (only) weak link in the cast. 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). It's superbly directed as ever by Lean, taking full advantage of the epic scope of the visuals and story and while deliberate he does succeed in making the story compelling and the characters interesting enough. The script from Robert Bolt is intelligent, witty and very thoughtful and never becomes over-the-top or slack, complete with a good balance of the personal, the historical and the political.With the story, it's deliberate in pace but never interminably so and is often very moving (even if a few parts in the first half could have done with more meat), complete with the unforgettable storm scene. It is also one of Lean's more cohesive later stories, being less sprawling than Doctor Zhivago and less drifting than A Passage to India (which are also both fine films). The historical backdrop is very effective, more so I feel than Doctor Zhivago's, and the characters are interesting and intimate.Apart from Jones, the performances are of a very high standard. Robert Mitchum was courageous casting and is a revelation in a different and gentler role to the tough guy roles he took on, while Sarah Miles is moving as one of the characters that evolves the most throughout the course of the story. Whether John Mills deserved his Oscar is up to debate, but what matters more to me was whether his performance is good and, while it is understandably one of the film's most divisive components, the almost unrecognisable Mills is very amusing and affecting as the village idiot. Leo McKern more than excellently portrays a hypocritical, cowardly and domineering father figure and Trevor Howard does a wonderful job providing the moral compass of the story. Barry Foster shows off briefly but is suitably intense and grittily dignified, likewise Gerald Sim's appearance is very brief but is very memorable.Overall, a flawed but very good and undervalued (back then and now) film from David Lean. It may not be quite a masterpiece, but it is not even close to a disaster. 8/10 Bethany Cox

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. The result is a moody, languid film that focuses on the relationship between the passion-starved wife of a small school and an English major temporarily assigned to the region.The trivia notes on this site detail the many problems during the production of "Ryan's Daughter". Still, the final product is a fairly successful story that revolves around the forces of religion and conformity in the small town, where the church--through the parish priest (Trevor Howard)--is the supreme authority on all matters. The film also has something to say about mob rule.The wife (Sara Miles), though discontent in her marriage to the teacher (Robert Mitchum), still manages to love her husband. But she feels a compulsion that sets her in opposition to the priest, the town, and propriety. John Mills won the Oscar for his poignant portrayal of the town idiot, a performance that echoes Charles Laughton's Quasimodo.My only complaint is the soundtrack, which is often jarring and intrusive. This film is uncompromising in its depiction of human nature, which is understandably exaggerated within the confines of the small, insular community perched along the raw, windswept coastline. It engages the viewer and transports him to another time and place, where (and when) ethics were etched in black and white.

On the one hand, there's a fine cast, beautiful photography, serviceable music, and sensitive direction. On the other, an over-long, laborious script and stagy crowd business. There's also a rather small, intimate romance that seems to need a smaller-scale production format (like a "Brief Encounter") rather than a grandiose blockbuster presentation (like a "Laurence of Arabia").However, the film seems to be improving its image as time goes on, and David Lean's slow direction and grandiose production scale appears to be less criticized. The challenges the production experienced were formidable, from drugged and dubbed actors to injured and conflicted production personnel. Fortunately--especially for MGM Studios--the film wasn't a financial disaster.Poor Chris Jones received a public and critical pounding, which probably contributed to his abandonment entirely of the acting profession. Still, his final product came out alright--a kind of Dean/Brando quality piece of work. Robert Mitchum's against-type performance was surprisingly successful, and Sarah Miles was strong throughout.Likewise the ugly, though exaggerated, nature of the townsfolk mob contrasted well with the breathtaking landscape. In the end, the film rates about 2 1/2 out of four stars, and only time will tell whether it will further improve.

I first saw it, back in the Nineties, in Spanish language on a TV screening with so many commercial breaks that this three-hour-and-a- quarter long movie went on for five hours. But the long night was worth, because I totally loved the film. It is a big shame that this beautiful film was so viciously massacred by the critics on its day when it is full of poetry and it contains some the most beautiful images ever committed to film. I can watch it almost without realising its great length and never find it boring for a minute, because there are so many beautiful details to look at in the carefully composed shots, the unique wild beauty of Ireland and the fantastic art direction. Now, the PC brigade will probably blacklist me for saying this: John Mills won the Oscar, we all know, but I find his character tiring and irritating to the point that at the scene where he plays with the explosives I still wish he will blow himself up. The always laconic and tough Robert Mitchum delivers a very solid performance as the gentle schoolmaster. The critics dismissed him as a total miscast,just like they had done with Burt Lancaster in "The Leopard" simply because they couldn't take in the idea of a cowboy playing a European aristocrat. Mitchum's character is sensitive and self-composed, a man of dignity and fine manners. He takes his pupils out to show them the natural environment in which they live and explain to them how things work. After discovering Rosie's infidelity, he still wants to be with her because he loves her and wants to give her a second chance. Even as if Catholics they could never divorce, there was always the choice for him to leave her. But he doesn't do that. That was another reason why the critics dismissed his character as ridiculous, saying that any normal husband would have gone away and leave the slut to rot.Trevor Howard is my second favourite actor in the film. One always expects a Catholic priest to be a sort of Torquemada, but this man is much more open-minded and tolerant than any of the numbers in his flock. He sees Rosie's infidelity not as a sin but as a moment of weakness that she can get over with if she pulls herself together. Rather than vilifying and excommunicating her for adultery, he tries to help her. He condemns the villagers' savage intolerance instead and blesses the two spouses as they go away to start a new life elsewhere. The usually rough and unsympathetic Howard gives here one of his best performances ever, and looks totally credible in the role. Miles's character loves her husband but then she discovers there is something missing in their marriage. The only time they make love he is too gentle and almost shy and finishes quickly, to her disappointment. Also, she finds his hobbies very dull and she feels he is keener on them rather on spending time with her. So she is frustrated, no matter how nice and gentle he is to her. Then a much younger and handsomer man comes along and her lust is suddenly unleashed. Many people may think that for being a Catholic she ought to be morally stronger and more virtuous, but precisely because of the moral repression she has always suffered in that tight-close redneck community, she has reached the point when her sexual urges get out of control. Much mockery rose on its day upon Christopher Miles's wooden acting and the fact that he had to be dubbed. But in my opinion he is not as bad in the role as everyone back then said he is. The character behaves like an automaton and looks sick because he is just coming out of a mental breakdown from shell-shock after the horrors he went through in the trenches. It is something that happened to many soldiers who survived World War One.They returned home as broken men for life, suffering from constant nightmares and phobias. So the way Jones acts is just adequate to the circumstances of the character. And the actor cannot be blamed for the dullness he displays. To his credit, I think he did a decently good job within his limited acting skills.Fortunately this magnificent film has been is now enjoying a new breath of life. Those of us who love it are lucky enough to enjoy it on DVD even if the small screen can't fully capture the sheer grandiosity of Freddie Young's spectacular cinematography. But at least we have it, and that is the most important thing.