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The Quiet Man (John Wayne) [1952]
![The Quiet Man (John Wayne) [1952]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51PpY0gMQwL._SL160_.jpg)
RRP: £9.99
Our Price: £1.95 (subject to change)
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
Blarney and bliss, mixed in equal proportions. John Wayne plays an American boxer who returns to the Emerald Isle, his native land. What he finds there is a fiery prospective spouse (Maureen O'Hara) and a country greener than any Ireland seen before or since--it's no surprise The Quiet Man won an Oscar for cinematography. It also won an Oscar for John Ford's direction, his fourth such award. The film was a deeply personal project for Ford (whose birth name was Sean Aloysius O'Fearna), and he lavished all of his affection for the Irish landscape and Irish people on this film. He also stages perhaps the greatest donnybrook in the history of movies, an epic fistfight between Wayne and the truculent Victor McLaglen--that's Ford's brother, Francis, as the elderly man on his deathbed who miraculously revives when he hears word of the dustup. Barry Fitzgerald, the original Irish elf, gets the movie's biggest laugh when he walks into the newlyweds' bedroom the morning after their wedding, and spots a broken bed. The look on his face says everything. The Quiet Man isn't the real Ireland, but as a delicious never-never land of Ford's imagination, it will do very nicely. --Robert Horton
Very good classic. Acceptable image quality.
Review date: 2008-04-29 Rating: 8 out of 10
After watching this DVD I believe the comment rating it with only two stars on grounds of the poor video quality is not fair. Image and sound might not be the best possible ones - this is not a digital remastered picture -but they are fairly good.
On the other hand, it is an excellent feature with great actors.
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Reviews
A classic!
Review date: 2008-01-11 Rating: 10 out of 10
One of the few times you'll ever see John Wayne without a stetson and gun!
He and Maureen O'Hara and a superb supporting cast make this movie one to be revisited often.
Beautifully shot, full of humour, it's a joy to behold.
Cheap as chips, so buy it, settle back, and enjoy!
Nice Story, But ....
Review date: 2007-08-27 Rating: 4 out of 10
I remembered watching this film on TV when I was younger and thought at the low price of under £4 it would be a steal.
The storyline itself is amusing, and it's nice to see Mr Wayne in something other than a stetson.
However the quality of the film transferred to dvd is very poor. It may be that the master tape they used was dodgy or inferior to the studios' master copy. This fact made me rate what is a rather amusing story a lowly 2 stars.
Perhaps there is a better quality version of this film available on dvd by another distributor.
If only if life was like this
Review date: 2007-01-13 Rating: 10 out of 10
The Quiet Man is in my opinion John Ford's greatest film, thus, one of the best films ever made. As well as the direction being perfect, this is also the case with the casting, the acting, the screen play, the music and the photography. It was the second time the world saw Ford's own personal and philosphical affinity with the very Un-British Gaelic community of the British Isles, but while Ford gritted his coal-blackened teeth to do the ( on balance ) more dour How Green was my Valley, here he revels in the pure delights of a near blarnified tale set in an idyll that was always going to wow the American and worldwide market, perhaps more so than the rest of the British Isles. So, the story itself, Mother and child leave Ireland to go the USA, mother fills son's head with nostalgic tales of the village of his birth, boy grows up, becomes a professional boxer, kills a man during a bout, leaves the ring behind to return to Ireland, falls for the red haired beauty with temper to match. Hereonin, old and modern clash and this sets up the bulk of the remainder of the film. The screen play for this film was gleaned from a series of short stories, The Green Rushes, by Maurice Walsh, which had a more at times darker back drop of the infamous and ugly battle between the original IRA and the much reviled Black and Tans. Thankfully, Ford only allowed the briefest of undertones of this in the film, and even then such references are more comic than sinister. There are many, many scenes and lines of dialogue which people recall again and again, here's my favourite. The local matchmaker / chaperon, played by Barry Fitzgerald, calls on Maureen O'Hara's character, he helps himself to an over generous glass of whiskey, and an alarmed Maureen O'Hara asks 'would you like water with that whiskey?' the reply? 'When I drink water I drink water, when I drink whiskey I drink whiskey'. And one more which is missed by many, really. The local widow ( or Minister's wife, can't remmeber now! )indulges in a gentle act of mockery / sarcasm when she says to John Waynes' character after refurbishing the cottage of his childhood, ' Who but an American would have thought of Emerald Green for a door.' My own affinity with this film comes from the days, not that long ago really, before cable TV, internet or even 24 hour telly. The Quiet Man strongly featured on Christmas film listings, especially on Christmas Eve. Watching this with the fire blaring, the front room lit only by the Christmas Tree lights which then reflected on the streamers, made Christmases even more special. There is only one downside, it is a tad long, I'm sure it could have been chopped by 20 minutes or so without loss of quality or impact, but, a very, very minor quibble. Finally as someone who has no time for Westerns, I wish Mr Ford had never heard of them, if he had not, he may have been able to knock out other films inspired by his own Gaelic roots? Maybe he did one of those strict daddy -boy crying because his dog's dead - Scottish films, but I'm not sure.
here's a good stick to beat the lovely lady with
Review date: 2006-09-25 Rating: 8 out of 10
cracking movie - beautifully shot, well acted, well scripted and dated only in a good way. in all, it's a top drawer wet sunday afternoon movie. plenty soppy enough for the soppy among you, and at the time, the most violent movie ever made (there's a fistfight - a long one). also, a lot of the cast, including the wonderful micheleen flynn can be found putting on dreadful welsh accents in 'how green was my valley'...
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Maureen O'Hara
John Wayne
Barry Fitzgerald
Victor McLaglen
Ward Bond
Director(s):
Recording label: Universal Pictures Video
Manufacturer: Universal Pictures Video
EAN: 5050582418149
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2006-06-05
Audience rating: Universal, suitable for all
Region code: 2
Running time: 129 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1952
Language: English (Original Language)