Ryan's Daughter (1970 David Lean)

To my mind a better film than either Lawrence of Arabia (boring second half) or Doctor Zhivago (no heart). Filmed in Dingle, the 'wild west of Ireland', where the village and school were built (Stephen Grimes the production designer), and latterly in Cape Town. (I can't believe the village was torn down at the end.)  It's a really beautifully put together film, very cinematic (footsteps in the sand, breakdown in pub, storm, Mills' giveaway miming of the Major), great sound (the generator acting as a symbol for the soldier). Written by Sarah Miles' husband Robert Bolt, originally an adaptation of 'Madame Bovary', with the (almost daily) collaboration of David Lean. Loved also the parallels - the limp that draws Mills and Jones together, the two horses of the two lovers.

Edited by Norman Savage, assistant Tony Lawson. When you see that great storm scene you realise that as well as cameras these giant arc lamps were also having to be managed so that they didn't get swept away. They also used a big - what I think was called a 'Tip tank' which directs huge floods of water in certain directions. Ray Stevens directed the storm scene. The fabulous music's by Maurice Jarre. Freddie Young won his third Oscar for his stunning photography. Anthony Havelock-Allen produced.

Like Calvary, the priest is good and strong entity, the leading figure in the village - he can silence a crowd just by appearing.

Exceptional acting from Robert Mitchum, John Mills, Trevor Howard and Sarah Miles; strong support from Leo McKern, Christopher Jones, Barry Foster, Marie Kean, Arthur O'Sullivan, Evin Crowley, Gerald Sim, Barry Jackson. Mills had studied film of brain damaged patients and rehearsed for three months. His make-up by Charlie Parker was actually quite simple and only took fifteen minutes to apply. He won the Oscar and Golden Globe ("I could finally be known again as somebody other than Hayley Mills' father"), but lost out on the BAFTA to Colin Welland in Kes. (It won no BAFTAs - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid swept the board.)

The critics hated it. Time Out called it 'an awe-inspiringly tedious lump of soggy romanticism', The New York Times thought it 'as boring as cloud-watching' (I find cloud-watching rather interesting, myself), Pauline Kael wrote 'The emptiness of Ryan's Daughter shows in every frame'. I thought it was fantastic.

A performance of unnerving brilliance

Incredible lighting - Young's contribution to Lean's films should not be underestimated

There's Vaseline around the edges of the frame in this sequence.

The DVD cover says it's in 2.4:1 but it's actually 2.2:1. It was shot in 65mm. It runs three and a quarter hours (if you include the Overture, Entr'acte and playout music). Information above derived from the film on the DVD 'The Making of Ryan's Daughter' and Kevin Brownlow's great book 'David Lean - A Biography'.