cmayerle-41064 Considering this was a critical and commercial disappointment, I was surprised to find out that it actually won two Oscars and was nominated for others. First rate acting (Mitchum and Mills, especially) and directing coupled with a great script make this a real classic. Makes you wonder why it fell flat at the theaters?

Susanne Nicole Cavendish I haven't the slightest idea, who readinglips from San Diego, CA, is, or if he is just some computer software turned loose on by a set of algorithms with emphasis on criticism. There are any number of references to historical perspective, in the movie and the storm was part of the history of Ireland, even if the shooting time frame was not accommodated with the convenience of a storm. Would readinglips have settled for a short refresher course on how much Ireland hated British occupation by showing Major Doryan's arrival as some symbol of a recipe to cure the winged ideas about sexuality which Rose made reference to? The publican father, being an informer required some need to inform beyond the pasty and less than convincing overtures of the Tim O'Leary character, well-played by Barry Foster, whose crimes were hidden and disguised from being informed upon? Readinglips is doing the same hatchet job people did on Dr Zhivago, without knowing Russian history and giving faint praise to Lean's prominence, without leaving anything in their writings to justify, his greatness? Readinglips is full of it and if that is in reference to his lips moving as he reads, he, probably never got beyond reading the introductory material in the film, missing the film altogether? I don't waste much time on people like him/her and IMDb should be ashamed to let his review, as to the movie, stand for how they feel about it! I give his rating one that could only be measured with depth calipers!

Hotwok2013 The 19 movies credited to director David Lean include "Brief Encounter", Dickens movies "Oliver Twist" & "Great Expectations", "Hobson's Choice", "The Bridge On The River Kwai", "Lawrence Of Arabia & "Doctor Zhivago". Many of us film fans & critics alike regard him as the greatest movie director who ever lived & his credit list would certainly support that. So when "Ryan's Daughter" was released in 1970 it received such a battering from the critics that David Lean was terribly upset. So much so that he never made another movie until "A Passage To India" 14 years later, which was to be his last. The critics thought "Ryan's Daughter" a slight story that was both overblown & overlong. There may be some validity to their criticism regarding the story but, notwithstanding, it is still a visual work of art. Freddy Young's cinematography under Lean's direction is utterly magnificent as well as extremely beautiful which, for me & most people it seems, just make it a joy to watch. It is set in 1916 after the outbreak of WW1 in a village on the west coast of Ireland & stars Sarah Miles in the title role. She plays Rosy the daughter of local publican Thomas Ryan (Leo McKern). Much to her father's dismay Rosy marries middle-aged schoolmaster Charles Shaughnessy (Robert Mitchum), whose first wife died young. She finds her marriage not as fulfilling as she hoped for & begins an affair with a handsome British army officer (Christopher Jones). He has been posted to Ireland after receiving a serious leg injury in the war in Europe & also suffers from shell-shock. John Mills won his only Oscar playing the village idiot Michael & Trevor Howard is also memorable playing the dour, down-to-earth village vicar Father Collins. For anyone who has never seen this movie, take no notice of the critics. As Tony the Tiger said, IT'S GRRRRREAT!!!.

MartinHafer I am struggling with this review more than usual because there is a lot to like about this film and I don't want to dismiss it too quickly or tell you not to see it. No, my advice is to see it but understand its limitations and try to look past them.This basic story is that of "Madame Bovary"--which, coincidentally, I watched just a week ago. Like Bovary, the main character in "Ryan's Daughter" (Sarah Miles) is a rather immature and emotionally shallow lady who ruins her life with an affair. But, there are many, many changes from the original tale--the least of which is relocating the tale to Northern Ireland during WWI. Instead of the somewhat moralistic and depressing ending, "Ryan's Daughter" has an oddly vague ending where no one at all dies! Yet, in Bovary (at least the book), practically everyone is dead by the time the book is complete! The biggest change, however, is that David Lean has managed to stretch this story--making it very, very long and rather slow-paced. This isn't all bad--as the film is a delight to the senses with its amazing cinematography and scenery. Despite criticism by reviewers at the time about the pacing, I don't think this is THAT serious a problem. Yes, it's too slow, but made so beautifully that I could easily look past this.So what, then, are the more serious problems? Well, the number one problem is the exact same one you'll find in Bovary--there really are no likable characters in the tale. The title character and her father (Leo McKern) are, frankly, 100% awful and easy to hate. Even the wronged husband (Robert Mitchum) is easy to dislike after a while because he's such a flaccid jerk--no man is THAT long-suffering unless he's an idiot! Less serious, but still a problem, is the seriously confusing character of the Priest (Trevor Howard). He is so inconsistent and much of what he says and does seems as if it was drawn from a hat--especially the ending where he admonishes the husband NOT to divorce his slutty wife! Why?! A real priest might have admonished the man not to murder her, perhaps! The third problem is the music. While at times it's wonderful, too often it's used inappropriately--practically destroying scenes by dominating the film. It's used, at times, like a sledgehammer.Now despite these serious story problems, see this film. I nearly gave it an 8 but after thinking it over, I realized that serious plot problems can't be ignored...not when they are that pervalent. What did I like? Well, other than the amazing cinematography, I thought the acting was almost universally exceptional. While some complain about Mitchum's accent, I thought he was just fine--even if he played way against type (a typical Mitchum character would have kicked butt, that's for sure). Sarah Miles was great. I was not bowled over by John Mills' performance to understand why he got an Oscar--but he was still very good. Leo McKern was fantastic. But why Christopher Jones?! First, they had to dub him. Second, he and his character were totally wooden (no this is not meant as an innuendo but a comment about his leg). You could NOT understand why Miles fell for such a man...a man with almost no discernible personality. I did like the townspeople and their reaction to the revelations about the adultery was exciting and savage. And so, despite flaws, there is so much to admire about the film--and I'm glad I saw it.A final word of caution. The film is about adultery and features some adult sex scenes--think about this before letting young kids watch it.