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Author
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Topic: The Quiet Man super 8 sound feature!
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted February 21, 2018 11:29 AM
I was quite surprised to find that there was no review of this super 8 release as of yet, and so I take even greater pleasure in doing this review.
It’s often said of some films, “What more can be said about this film?” Well, this is one of those films and while much has been written concerning it, it won’t hurt to write a little more.
This a beloved pet project that director John Ford had wanted to make for years but did not have the opportunity or could not convince studio executives of it’s worth. When he went to work for Republic pictures, it was on the condition that Ford would be able to direct this beloved story. The studio head had his own requirement; Ford needed to direct a money making picture with studio star John Wayne that made money and that is exactly what Ford did in making “Rio Grande”.
The plot …
An American Irishmen, Sean Thornton, (John Wayne), is returning back to his native Ireland to retrieve his family name and property outside of the little town of Inisfree. He is able to buy it back but draws the attention and ire of the local town “bully” (played memorably by Victor Mclaghclin), as well as the attentive eye of his little sister, played by the only woman on screen who could be a match for John Wayne, Maureen O Hara. They are both smitten with each other, but Mary Kate Danahur will not be married without her brother’s permission, and he won’t give it.
Meanwhile, the local matchmaker (Barry Fitzgerald), and the local catholic priest (Ward Bond), come up with a plot to arrange/force Red Will Danahur to offer his sister in marriage to Sean. However, he refuses to give Mary Kate her dowry, which means the world to an Irish lass but the American Irishman couldn’t care less about the dowry.
What makes things worse is that Sean Thornton won’t fight Red Will for the dowry. He’s no coward, but we learn by flashback that Sean was a prize-fighter in America and actually killed a man in the ring to win the heavyweight championship and he chose to retire from the ring. Therefore, he’s afraid of what he might do if he fights Red Will.
Finally, Mary Kate can take no more of her “coward” husband, and runs away from Sean. Now, finally, Sean has had enough, he walks the whole way to the train station and physically drags Mary Kate all the way to Red Will’s land, with the whole countryside of townsfolk following (as they have been waiting for these two to fight each other for the longest time, and are taking bets on who will win.
Since Red will Gave no dowry, Sean considers the marriage off, tossing her at her brother’s feet. Embarrassed into doing so, he pays Sean the dowry, which Mary Kate promptly throws in the fire. It was never about the money, it was about her brother being forced into doing the right thing.
Red Will takes a poke at Sean and while Mary Kate proudly marches back to her home she has with Sean to prepare supper, Sean and Red Will have an all out, multi county fist fight for the ages. At one point, it seems as if the whole countryside gets involved.
Eventually, Sean wins the fight and, like so many former enemies, they have brawled and now they are good friends sitting down to dinner!
THE END
This is a film that has no superfluous moments or bad performances. Everybody is top notch and to top it all off, the glorious green countryside of Ireland is filmed in glorious Technicolor, put to one of its greatest uses in this film.
This is a film that has taken many forms on super 8. A 200ft black and white digests, as well as a 400ft digest and even a 3X400ft digest but fortunately, it was also released as a full feature as well with its original run time of two hours and 9 minutes.
Sadly, most prints were printed on Eastman, but I can verify (as I own one) that there were at least a few prints done on a good grade of Fuji film stock that has held it’s color well.
I would certainly encourage you to find one of these Fuji prints. I cannot verify as to whether any other low fade prints were struck, but we can always hope. The magnetic sound is of course, mono, but then, it was originally mono to begin with.
If you love this film, I encourage you to make this film a part of you’re film collection. It may take some time, but good color prints ARE out there.
… and, as always …
LONG LIVE SUPER 8!!!!!!!
[ February 22, 2018, 09:48 AM: Message edited by: Osi Osgood ]
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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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