1. ‘The Informer’ – 1935
Set in the early 1920s during the height of Ireland’s troubles, The Informer was a stark character study of a man whose lack of commitment leads to betrayal, treachery and ultimately personal redemption. Directed by John Ford, the film starred Victor McLaglan as Gypo Nolan, simple-minded member of the IRA who’s kicked out after failing to kill a British agent, leading him to inform on his former comrades for a quick payoff. Though he tries to blame his betrayal on someone else, Gypo is eventually found out before confessing his crime and assuaging his guilt right before dying. While The Informer was a box office failure, Ford did win the Oscar for Best Director and McLaglan won for Best Actor.More »
2. ‘Little Nellie Kelly’ – 1940
Following up her defining role as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939), Judy Garland delivered her only on-screen death scene in this quaint Irish musical based on the play by George M. Cohan. Garland first portrays Nellie Noonan, who dies giving birth to her only daughter, Little Nellie Kelly, also played 20 years later by Garland. But years of regret and conflict have torn apart her father (George Murphy) and grandfather (Charles Winninger), leading her to find resolution while causing her own ripples by falling in love with a young Irish lad (Douglas McPhail). Featuring songs like “It’s a Great Day for the Irish” and “Danny Boy,” Little Nellie Kelly is a hidden gem all can enjoy.More »
3. ‘Odd Man Out’ – 1947
Swinging back to the darker side of Irish politics, Carol Reed’s Odd Man Out focuses on the bloody conflict between England and Northern Ireland, and features a star-making performance by James Mason as a man on the run. Mason played IRA operative Johnny McQueen, a convict who breaks out of prison and goes on the lam, only to fall prey to his idealism as he robs a bank to help fund the cause and gets mortally shot for his trouble. As he struggles to survive and remain free, Johnny finds succor from his fellow Irishman while the police slowly, but surely close in. Both a character study and taut thriller, Odd Man Out was criticized at the time of release for its excessive violence, but has since become revered by film buffs and filmmakers, particularly Roman Polanski, who routinely cited it as one of his favorite films.More »
4. ‘The Quiet Man’ – 1952
As the first generation son of Irish immigrants, John Ford had a natural affinity to the land of his ancestral birth which led to him making a number of films set in or about Ireland. Starring favored actor John Wayne and Irish actress Maureen O’Hara, The Quiet Man was a labor of love Ford had wanted to make for over 20 years. Wayne starred as an Irish-American boxer who escapes to Ireland in order to escape the pain of accidentally killing a man in the ring by purchasing the home of his birth and settling into a life of tranquility, only to battle tradition in the form of a feisty lass (O’Hara) with whom he falls in love.More »
5. ‘Darby O’Gill and the Little People’ – 1959
Before he became internationally known as James Bond, Sean Connery co-starred in this cheerful children’s fantasy filled with charm, magic and tall tales. Connery played a young man from Dublin who takes over as the caretaker of an estate for Darby O’Gill (Albert Sharpe), an aging Irishman fond of spinning tales of leprechauns at his local pub who stumbles upon an underground kingdom of little people and is granted three wishes by their former king (Jimmy O’Dea). A visually stunning film of its time, Darby O’Gill has remained a captivating film for generations both young and old.More »
6. ‘Finian’s Rainbow’ – 1968
Whimsical musical fantasy directed by Francis Ford Coppola pre-Godfather, Finian’s Rainbow was not set in Ireland, but in the fictional southern state of Missitucky instead. An aging Fred Astaire starred as the titular Finian, a loveable Irishman who flees his native Ireland with a carpetbag full of gold and plans on burying it near Fort Knox in hopes that the proximity will multiply his fortune. With his daughter in tow and a clever leprechaun on his heels, Finian runs into one complication after another while trying to overcome his life of poverty. Based on the 1947 stage musical of the same name, Finian’s Rainbow was a thinly veiled allegory for racial tolerance, a theme that was far less shocking in 1968 than it was 20 years prior.More »
7. ‘Ryan’s Daughter’ – 1970
A romantic epic directed by David Lean, Ryan’s Daughter was set in 1916 Ireland, and like most film taking place at that particular time focused on personal travails complicated by involvement with IRA. Here Sarah Miles played Rosy, a young Irish woman trapped in a loveless marriage to an older schoolmaster (Robert Mitchum), which leads to a passionate love affair with a British officer (Christopher Jones). But when her affair is discovered by the village idiot (John Mills), Rosy comes under suspicion for informing on the IRA, though it was in fact her own father (Leo McKern). Despite critics lambasting Lean for dwarfing the characters with his epic vision, Ryan’s Daughter remains one of the better movies set on the Emerald Isle.More »