''This Other Eden'' is a 1959 Irish comedy drama film directed by

Muriel Box Violette Muriel Box, Baroness Gardiner, (22 September 1905 – 18 May 1991) was an English screenwriter and director, Britain's most prolific female director, having directed 12 feature films and one featurette. Her screenplay for ''The Seventh ...

and starring

Audrey Dalton Audrey Dalton (born 21 January 1934) is an Irish-born former film and television actress who mostly worked in the United States during the Golden Age of Hollywood, when she arrived at Paramount Pictures, columnist Erkstine Johnson, stated she st ...

Leslie Phillips Leslie Samuel Phillips (20 April 1924 – 7 November 2022) was an English actor, director, producer and author. He achieved prominence in the 1950s, playing smooth, upper-class comic roles utilising his "Ding dong" and "Hello" catchphrases. ...

and

Niall MacGinnis Patrick Niall MacGinnis (29 March 1913 – 6 January 1977) was an Irish actor who made around 80 screen appearances. Early life MacGinnis was born in Dublin in 1913.

. The film's prologue involves the death of an Irish commandant during the Irish War of Independence, who is shot by the

Black and Tans Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have ...

. The film then skips forward a few decades, to the unveiling of a statue commemorating the war hero. When an Englishman arrives to settle in Ireland, the locals distrust him and soon blame him for the statue's destruction.

Plot

The film opens with a prologue set during the Irish War of Independence. Mick Devereaux and Commandant Jack Carberry of the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief th ...

(IRA) are meeting a British officer to negotiate a cease-fire. Carberry walks down a deserted road and is suddenly fired upon by hidden

Black and Tan A black and tan is a beer cocktail made by layering a pale beer (usually pale ale) and a dark beer (usually stout). In Ireland, the drink is called a half and half because in Ireland the term "''black and tan''" is considered to be offensive. ...

soldiers. Devereaux kneels beside Carberry as he dies, and Carberry pleads with him to "see to everything". Several years later, local

Gombeen man A gombeen man is a pejorative Hiberno-English term used in Ireland for a shady, small-time "wheeler-dealer" businessman or politician who is always looking to make a quick profit, often at someone else's expense or through the acceptance of bribes. ...

McRoarty is attending a meeting of the Carberry Memorial Committee. His daughter Maire is returning home from England. On the train, Maire meets Englishman Crispin Brown, who wishes to settle in Ballymorgan. A large house in Ballymorgan named Kilgarrig is soon to be auctioned. Preparations are being made for the erection of a statue commemorating Commandant Carberry. Maire meets her friend Conor Heaphy on the train to Ballymorgan. At the hotel, Maire introduces Crispin to everyone. He faces some hostility from Clannery for being an Englishman. Conor also receives an awkward response from the men, which puzzles him. McRoarty fears that Conor and Maire will begin a romantic relationship and reveals to her that Conor is the illegitimate son of Jack Carberry. Maire is accepting of the news but declares that she never had a romantic interest in Conor. Conor tells the Canon that he wishes to become a priest, but the Canon is hesitant. Devereaux eventually tells Conor that he is the illegitimate son of Carberry, which angers him. The statue to commemorate Carberry is unveiled. Its abstract design is met with disgust and disappointment from the crowd. Crispin is particularly vocal about his displeasure. Crispin proposes to Maire and asks her to live with him in Kilgarrig. Maire declines, stating that she could never live in Ballymorgan. The statue is blown up, and Crispin is initially blamed. Crispin reveals that his father was the English officer Carberry intended to meet on the night of his death. He resigned his post in sympathy with the IRA following Carberry's murder. An angry crowd gathers at the hotel, still maintaining that Crispin is to blame. Crispin goes out to the hotel balcony and manages to calm the crowd by praising Ireland and promising to pay for a new statue. Conor enters and attempts to reveal to the crowd that he is the true culprit, but is stopped by Maire and Devereaux. The men at the hotel are horrified to find that Conor wishes to stand trial and make everything public. Devereaux bids him to be more understanding. Maire explains the situation to Crispin, and he reveals that he too is illegitimate. He also reveals his mother was Irish and a Protestant. Maire is completely accepting of this information, to her father's annoyance. McRoarty receives a phone call that a journalist is coming to Ballymorgan to investigate what happened to the statue. The journalist, MacPherson, arrives with photographers, but the townspeople deny that there was a riot and that Conor was involved. The Canon assures Conor he will be able to fulfil his vocation in some way, even if he does not become a priest. Crispin succeeds in purchasing Kilgarrig. Clannery blames the destruction on a faulty electrical cable lighting some explosives that he left near the statue. McRoarty and Maire argue about her wish to return to England. Maire informs Crispin that if he still wants to marry her, he should ask her father for a large dowry. Crispin succeeds in procuring the dowry and Maire's hand in marriage.

Basis

''This Other Eden'' is an adaptation of the play of the same name by Louis D'Alton. The play was first performed at the Queen's Theatre in June 1953 by the

Abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The con ...

players.

Production

The film was made at

Ardmore Studios Ardmore Studios, in Bray, County Wicklow, is Irelands's only four wall studio. It opened in 1958 under the management of Emmet Dalton and Louis Elliman. Since then, it has evolved through many managements and owners. It has been the base for ...

Bray, County Wicklow Bray ( ) is a coastal town in north County Wicklow, Ireland. It is situated about south of Dublin city centre on the east coast. It has a population of 32,600 making it the ninth largest urban area within Ireland (at the 2016 census). Bray is ...

. British director and writer

was the first woman to direct an Irish feature film, receiving the script for ''This Other Eden'' on 1 January 1959. Shooting was completed on 12 February 1959, just under a month from when filming began. Box wrote in her diary that on the set of ''This Other Eden'' "for the first time that I can remember I looked around with genuine love and affection for the crew who were working with me and the pleasure which the artists gave me I have not experienced before in films". The film was distributed b
Regal Films International
and had its Irish premiere at the

Cork Film Festival The Cork International Film Festival, also known as the Cork Film Festival (), is a film festival held annually in Cork City, Ireland. It was established in 1956 as part of An Tóstal An Tóstal (, meaning "The Gathering") was the name for a serie ...

in September 1959.

Cast

as Maire McRoarty *

as Crispin Brown *

Niall MacGinnis Patrick Niall MacGinnis (29 March 1913 – 6 January 1977) was an Irish actor who made around 80 screen appearances. Early life MacGinnis was born in Dublin in 1913.

as Devereaux * Geoffrey Golden as McRoarty *

Norman Rodway Norman John Frank Rodway (7 February 1929 – 13 March 2001) was an Anglo-Irish actor. Early life Rodway was born at the family home, Elsinore (named after the castle where Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'' is set), on Coliemore Road, Dalkey, Dublin ...

as Conor Heaphy *

Milo O'Shea Milo Donal O'Shea (2 June 1926 – 2 April 2013) was an Irish actor. He was twice nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performances in '' Staircase'' (1968) and '' Mass Appeal'' (1982). Early life O'Shea was born and ...

as Pat Tweedy *

Harry Brogan Harry Brogan (5 May 1904 – 20 May 1977) was an Irish actor often in comic roles. He was part of the Abbey Theatre from 1939 - 1976. 1939–1976: Abbey Theatre Harry Brogan was active in Irish theatre and a permanent member of the Abbey The ...

as Clannery *

Paul Farrell Thomas Paul Farrell (21 September 1893 – 12 June 1975) was an Irish people, Irish film and television actor. He is best remembered as the "Tramp" who gets beaten up by Alex and his "droogs", in Stanley Kubrick's ''A Clockwork Orange (film ...

as McNeely * Eddie Golden as Sergeant Crilly *

Hilton Edwards Hilton Edwards (2 February 1903 – 18 November 1982) was an English-born Irish actor, lighting designer and theatrical producer. He co-founded the Gate Theatre with his partner Micheál Mac Liammóir and two others, and has been referred to as ...

as The Canon * Fay Sargent as Canon's Housekeeper * Philip O'Flynn as Postman *

Ria Mooney Ria Mooney (1903 – 3 January 1973) was an Irish stage and screen actress, artistic director of the Abbey Theatre (1948-1963) and director of the Gaiety School of Acting. She was the first female producer at the Abbey Theatre. Life She was ...

as Mother Superior * Isobel Couser as Mrs. O'Flaherty

Critical reception

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corpora ...

'' noted, "this unlikely subject for a comedy is slanted in favor of the British". David Parkinson in the '' Radio Times'' called it "a curious film for Leslie Phillips to find himself in, this is an overwrought tale about the emotions that erupt when the statue of a long-dead IRA hero is blown up in the square of a sleepy Irish village....Phillips is fine...He is adequately supported by Audrey Dalton as his lover and Norman Rodway...but the film lacks the power of such Hollywood lynch dramas as

Fritz Lang Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. 6 ...

's Fury or William A Wellman's

The Ox-Bow Incident ''The Ox-Bow Incident'' is a 1943 American Western film directed by William A. Wellman, starring Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews and Mary Beth Hughes, with Anthony Quinn, William Eythe, Harry Morgan and Jane Darwell. Two cowboys arrive in a ...

References

External links

* {{Muriel Box Irish comedy-drama films 1959 films 1959 comedy-drama films Films directed by Muriel Box Films with screenplays by Patrick Kirwan Irish War of Independence films Irish films based on plays Films shot in County Wicklow 1950s English-language films