Ryan's Daughter (Two-Disc Special Edition)
by David Lean
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DVD details
Actor: Christopher Jones, John Mills, Leo McKern, Robert Mitchum, Trevor HowardDirector: David Lean
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.40:1
Running Time: 206 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-02-07
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Reviews of Ryan's Daughter (Two-Disc Special Edition)
DVD Review: Not your typical epic chick flick
Summary: 4 Stars
Most would probably consider this a 70s chick flick, but it is far superior to that genre. These are characters imbued with all the frailties of real people. Sarah Miles had a brief run in the 70s on the A list of female British stars. Though I was never a huge fan (she always projected a very fragile and neurotic vibe), she is perfect for the role of Rose, the refined, romance obsessed, spoiled daughter of the local pub keeper in a small village on the Western coast of Ireland. Her older cuckolded husband, the local grammar school teacher, is played to perfection and against type by Robert Mitchum. A man who loves her so deeply he cannot even bring himself to confront her regarding her affair with the handsome, young English officer who has been snatched from the front lines and assigned to this godforsaken outpost due to a bad case of post traumatic stress from WWI. The movie was unfairly panned when it was released. Although it may not suit the audiences of today who need gory slam bam action scenes in every frame to hold their attention, for those who enjoy a beautifully photographed landscape, and intense character development, along with grade A acting, this film will satisfy. The characters display the whole gamut of emotions and behaviors, noble and depraved, of which humans are capable. Robert Bolt's screenplay is to be credited greatly with the success of this film. Some of the scenes between the characters are so touching and heartbreakingly authentic that it is easy to forget these are not real people. The one disappointment for me: though I have been a big fan of much of Maurice Jarre's film scores, this was not one that lived up to the subject. I found the music for the most part trivial and uninspiring, especially when it is contrasted with the exotic and breathtakingly beautiful locale. (If you haven't visited this part of the world, you will definitely want to after seeing this film). Another reviewer suggested that maybe American audiences didn't really get this film due to a lack of understanding of the Irish/English animosity. There is probably a lot of truth to that. I don't believe the repression of the Irish has ever been taught to any meaningful degree in American education, and one must self-educate on that topic. A good film to start with on that topic would be the "The Wind That Shakes the Barley".DVD Review: Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
A masterpiece and IMO David Lean's best film by far. A good story (originating in Madame Bovary) with excellent screenplay (by Robert Bolt) and production. Several superb performances, but Sarah Miles is outstanding and not just as a beauty. She plays the part of Rosie Ryan to perfection and is totally convincing. Fabulous scenery though some of the shots, taken out of necessity on a South African beach, show water a bit too blue to be Ireland. Many notable scenes, but my favorite is the one with the couple in the bluebells - an example of the proper use of silence being at least as effective as great dialogue. Highly recommended. DVD Review: Review...Ryans Daughter
Summary: 5 Stars
What a wonderful epic about Love, Politics, War and Betrayal in 1940's Ireland. The characters are unique and well played...Trevor Howard and John Mills are a forceful precence.....and Oh, the scenery! Long,.... but a must see!DVD Review: Disappointing
Summary: 1 Stars
I am quite surprised at all the glowing reviews for this film. With the exception of Trevor Howard, the acting was pretty bad. Rose's love scenes with the English soldier did nothing to make the viewer believe this was a passionate love that could not be denied. In fact, they didn't appear much different than her love scene with Robert Mitchum. There was nothing about either Rose or the English soldier that would indicate irresistability. Perhaps each was particulary attracted to woodenness.
While it was a good looking film in terms of scenery and mood, the story was rather ridiculous with many, many holes. We are expected to believe that Rose and the English soldier had an incredibly close relationship, yet he hardly speaks to her. I suppose the viewer must assume that the relationship was more developed than it appeared in the scenes they had together. Why did the soldier commit suicide? Because of the mess he had made of Rose's life? Because of his apparent post-traumatic stress disorder? Because he couldn't have Rose (for reasons, by the way, never made clear. She expected to part with her husband, so why not?)
Basically, I found the love story unconvincing and the acting bad. From a technical point of view, the DVD was disappointing in that the sound is terrible - very muffled which, together with the by and large fake Irish brogues, made the dialogue difficult to understand. A disappointment all around.
DVD Review: Beautiful Irish coast is star of this over-blown melodrama
Summary: 4 Stars
Director David Lean and screenwriter Robert Bolt are the same team that brought us Lawrence of Arabia and Dr. Zhivago, so expectations prior to the release of this film must have been sky-high. That being the case, I can understand why this film was panned by critics in 1970. The pace is glacial. At times, the film is so slow it seems to be going backward. The film clocks in at 3 hours, 20 minutes, but the story could easily been told in under 2 hours, without sacrificing a single pertinent detail. Easily.
That being said, there are some wonderful performances here. John Mills, who plays Michael, the village idiot, won an Oscar for his outstanding performance. But the strongest performance was Trevor Howard's. Howard plays the village priest, heroically trying to exert an uplifting influence on his parishoners, most of whom are barely smarter than Michael, and much more savage. Robert Mitchum is cast very much against type; in most roles, he exudes casual but strong virility, yet in this role he is called upon to play a milquetoast aesthete who cannot sexually satisfy his young wife. And he does an excellent job, nailing the Irish accent, to boot.
The real star of the movie, however, is the beautiful west coast of Ireland, lovingly photographed. This DVD looks absolutely gorgeous in an anamorphic widescreen 2-disk transfer. The scenery alone is well worth the price of this DVD, even if you ignore the bloated, melodramatic plot.
Description of Ryan's Daughter (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Lovely, headstrong Rosy (Sarah Miles) cannot forsake her passionate romance with the handsome British officer (Christopher Jones). Yet there is a greater love ? the devotion of her reserved schoolteacher husband Charles (Robert Mitchum), who stands by Rosy when her illicit affair leads to a charge of treason. Two honored alumni of Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago director David Lean and screenwriter Robert Bolt frame this brooding tale within the expansive beaches, craggy cliffs and heathered hills of Ireland's Dingle Peninsula. Freddie Young's lush cinematography and John Mills' memorable portrayal of a town simpleton won Academy Awards.* The remarkable movie containing them casts a haunting spell.DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:Commentary by: Lady Sandra Lean, Sarah Miles, Trine Mitchum (Robert Mitchum?s Daughter), Assistant Director Michael Stevenson, Second Unit Director Roy Stevens, Art Director Roy Walker, Assistant Editor Tony Lawson, Location Manager Eddie Fowlie, Stuntman Vic Armstrong, Biographer Stephen M. Silverman, Directors John Boorman, Hugh Hudson and Richard Schickel
Theatrical Trailer
Documentaries:Vintage Documentaries: Ryan?s Daughter: A Story of Love; Film Night: We?re the Last of the Traveling Circuses
Documentary:The Making of Ryan?s Daughter (A 4-Part 35th-Anniversary Documentary): Storm Rising, Storm Chaser, Storm Catcher, The Eye of the Storm
In 1970, Ryan's Daughter had the distinction of being the first David Lean film to be included in Playboy magazine's annual "Sex in the Cinema" round-up, thanks to a back-to-nature sex scene that earned the film its R rating. This old-school epic went on to win two Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Supporting Actor for a grotesquely made-up John Mills as the cruelly put-upon village simpleton. But the years have not been quite kind to Ryan's Daughter. This brooding and storm-tossed epic is lovely to look at, but hard to hold with its miscast principles and unsympathetic characters. The film is set in 1916 in a British-occupied Irish village on the seacoast of Western Ireland. Lean's Ireland is a world apart from the colorful characters and close-knit community of John Ford's The Quiet Man. The village is populated by hooligans, slatterns, and traitors. No wonder the local priest (Trevor Howard) is compelled to haul off and slap several of his parishioners, including Rosy Ryan, the dreamy-eyed romantic daughter of the local "publican." The "graceless gal," as the priest calls her, is married to "a good man," a middle-aged local schoolteacher (a cast-against-type Robert Mitchum). She has enough money, and she has her health. But it's not enough, she declares. Enter--at the film's hour mark--a shell-shocked British officer (Christopher Jones) with whom she enjoys an illicit and scandalous affair that offers the promise of the "satisfaction of the flesh" for which she yearns. Ryan's Daughter reunited Lean with Robert Bolt, the screenwriter of Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago. Alas, the third time was not quite the charm. Miles and Jones generate little heat and Rosy's heedless behavior rouses even less audience empathy. Little in Maurice Jarre's sweeping score equals the high notes of his Oscar-winnings scores for Lawrence or Zhivago. But the landscapes, magnificent and foreboding, cast a ravishing spell of their own. Ryan's Daughter, too, will be embraced by those who have a soft spot in their hearts for love stories set against the backdrop of historical events and this Hollywood epic that in the year of M*A*S*H and Five Easy Pieces, was stubbornly out of style. --Donald Liebenson
On the DVD
This two-disc special edition would seem to be everything for which champions of Ryan's Daughter would wish. It presents the film in its original 206-minute running time, and preserves the original aspect ratio of the theatrical 70mm presentation. The audio commentary views the film from a variety of perspectives, including Miles, Lean's widow, Lean's biographer, Robert Mitchum's daughter, and directors John Boorman and Hugh Hudson. These and others are also featured in an illuminating new three-part documentary, "The Making of Ryan's Daughter," which also features archival interviews with Lean, and is candid enough to address the film's less-than-welcome reception with critics and audiences. Rounding out this set are two period documentaries that went behind the scenes of the production. --Donald Liebenson
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