Director GEORGE POLLOCK. Screenplay: Patrick Kirwan, Blanaid Irvine. Based on the stage play "The Big Birthday" by Hugh Leonard. Photography: Walter J. Harvey. Camera operator Eric Besche. Film editor: Henry Richardson. Art director: Allan Harris. Assistant director: John "Pinky" Green. Music composed and conducted by Stanley Black. Production supervisor: Robert C. Liles. Sound recording: L. B. Bulkley. Producer: Alec C. Snowden. An Emmet Dalton Production, filmed at Ardmore Studios, Eire.
Released in the U.K. by British Lion/Britannia on 22 February 1959, in Australia by British Empire Films on 24 October 1959, in the U.S.A. by Union Films on 27 December 1959. New York opening at the 55th Street Playhouse: 26 December 1959. Registered: February 1959. "U" certificate. 6,941 feet. 77 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Into the quiet Irish village of Ballymorrissey roars good- looking Tony Randall (Tony Wright), in his small car. Puzzled by the deserted appearance of the place, he learns from Tim (Dermot Kelly), the local waiter, that the villagers are all in the parish hall preparing for the big birthday of Patrick Farrell (Barry Fitzgerald), whom Tim describes as "an old devil of a man who's been up to no good all his life".
COMMENT: Despite Pollock's routine direction and the fact that the comedy material is stretched a little thin in the second half, this is a charming and delightful little Irish rural comedy.
Barry Fitzgerald is in fine fettle, Miss Thorburn is an attractive heroine, and the support cast, drawn from the famous Abbey Players, gives some rich and engaging impersonations of various rustic "types".
The photography is sharp, the scenery pleasant, and credits smooth.
Released in the U.K. by British Lion/Britannia on 22 February 1959, in Australia by British Empire Films on 24 October 1959, in the U.S.A. by Union Films on 27 December 1959. New York opening at the 55th Street Playhouse: 26 December 1959. Registered: February 1959. "U" certificate. 6,941 feet. 77 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Into the quiet Irish village of Ballymorrissey roars good- looking Tony Randall (Tony Wright), in his small car. Puzzled by the deserted appearance of the place, he learns from Tim (Dermot Kelly), the local waiter, that the villagers are all in the parish hall preparing for the big birthday of Patrick Farrell (Barry Fitzgerald), whom Tim describes as "an old devil of a man who's been up to no good all his life".
COMMENT: Despite Pollock's routine direction and the fact that the comedy material is stretched a little thin in the second half, this is a charming and delightful little Irish rural comedy.
Barry Fitzgerald is in fine fettle, Miss Thorburn is an attractive heroine, and the support cast, drawn from the famous Abbey Players, gives some rich and engaging impersonations of various rustic "types".
The photography is sharp, the scenery pleasant, and credits smooth.