On R List of Movie Reviews
(For optimum viewing, adjust the zoom level of your browser to 125%.)
Ryan's Daughter (1970)
Rate:
3
Viewed:
2/10
2/10:
Much like Doctor Zhivago, Ryan's Daughter has me drowned in sea of wastefulness.
Both of these films are so similar that I have to refer to the former as the Russian flick and the latter Irish. They contain
a cheating slut, an incomprehensible revolution, lushful yet overrated cinematography, a nonexistent story, and many pauses
in dialogue that fail to advance the plot.
In other words, Ryan's Daughter is a ninety-minute film that's stretched to three and half hours. I fell asleep
many times during it. Thus, I'm not surprised that Pauline Kael wrote a scathing review of it which effectively ended
David Lean's career although he came back to do one more film fourteen years later.
John Mills got lauded for his work as the village idiot who said nothing meaningful? For crying out loud, you must be joking me.
An actor was signed to play Doryan, yet he's dubbed by somebody else. Wouldn't it be easier to hire the latter?
If there's any consolation, I like Trevor Howard's performance and the scenes of the waves crashing against the rocks.
Well...that's about it.
All in all, David Lean used to make masterpieces such as
The Bridge on the River Kwai and
Lawrence of Arabia and then lost his way for good.