Ryan's Daughter.



 Beach at Slea Head:  One of the locations for the film ; this one featured in the storm sequence. David Lean waited over a year for  just the right dramatic weather conditions and got more than he bargained for when the actor Leo McKern nearly drowned  and was badly shaken up during the filming of this scene.



There are rumours that  a sequel to this wonderful and underrated 1970 film is to be made, possibly starring Sarah Miles. (Don't know who would play the part of Rosie's  husband schoolteacher Charles acted by Robert Mitchum).

The film will follow up what happened to the two characters Rosy Ryan and her husband Charles Shaughnessy after they left the village on the bus.
The village of Kirrary was fictional and was built as a set and added on to the village of Dunquin in the Dingle Peninsula, Ireland. I spent six weeks in this beautiful part of Ireland and it is stunning. I took a piece of the schoolhouse as a souvenir as did so many others! This too was built for the film and still stands even though it is a wrecked shell. It still has a great charm and romance about it.

Since the film's recent release on DVD, Ryan's Daughter has been reconsidered by many critics, and has been claimed by many to be an overlooked masterpiece.

Those familiar with the story will remember the parish priest played by Trevor Howard, the village idiot and Michael played by John Mills , who won an Oscar for this role. Also , Leo McKern who played Rosie's quisling father and Christopher Jones as the handsome but shell shocked and ultimately suicidal Major Doryan.

The score for this film by Maurice Jarre was searingly beautiful,







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