THE RISING OF THE MOON
US, 1957, 81 minutes, Black and white.
Maureen Connell, Eileen Crowe, Cyril Cusack, Maureen Cusack, Maureen Delaney, Donal Donnelly, Frank Lawton, Jack Mac Gowran, Denis O’ Dea.
Narrated by Tyrone Power.
Directed by John Ford.
The Rising of the Moon is change of pace for John Ford, especially in the year after he made his classic The Searchers. Best known for his westerns and cavalry stories, Ford had an Irish background. He takes a number of Irish short stories and makes brief short films. One was by Lady Gregory, The Rising of the Moon. Michael Mc Hugh wrote A Minute’s Wait and Frank O’ Connor The Majesty of the Law.
The film focuses on small stories about a man having to be arrested in a small village with the police sympathising with him and his principles; a station with people waiting for the train and a glimpse of characters. There is also a story about an Irish rebel in 1921, bringing a flavour of the politics of the time.
Tyrone Power introduced each of the three stories.
1. Was this an enjoyable film? For non-Irish audiences? The attractiveness? The pathos of the drama? was it a good quality film?
2. How enjoyable are filmed short stories? In themselves, their brevity and point? The value of grouping them together and their impact?
3. The importance of Tyrone Power's commentary and his appeal to the Irish and their background?
4. How humorous was this film? How enjoyable? The quality of the humour, Irish talk, Irish courtesy, the policeman, the function of the police and the law, the policeman walking to O'Flaherty's place, the sense of duty, Irish courtesy, O'Flaherty himself, his dignity, stubbornness, courtesy, sense of right and wrong, the appeal for him not to go to gaol, the dignity and stubbornness of his going to prison? The point behind the humour and the drama?
5. One Minute’s Wait: how enjoyable a satire was this? comedy? The satire on Irish travel, the people and their manners, traditions, sense of time, life at the station, the stories being told, the driver and the girl at the bar, the English couple, the gossiping, the goat in the carriage, the arranging of marriages, the dances?
6. The impact of the drama contrasting with the comedy, the comedy elements in Irish seriousness? The way the film communicated the Troubles? The impact of the song? The role of the English and Irish reaction? The police and the English? The gearing of audience sympathies? Curran and his status amongst the rebels? The tricking of the police and the escape of Curran? The reaction of the police, the policeman and his wife? The suspense of the escape and its humour? The temptation to take the money? What insight into the Irish and the Troubles did the film give? The quality of Irish life and suffering?
7. How much insight into the Irish was given by the entertainment of this film?
8. How satisfactory was the resolution of the whole film? It was a minor film. Was it successful?
