''Irish Destiny'' is a 1926 film made in the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independ ...

, directed by George Dewhurst and written by Isaac Eppel to mark the tenth anniversary of the Easter Rising. A cut version was released in Britain, entitled ''An Irish Mother''. The film was considered lost for many years until in 1991 a single surviving

nitrate Nitrate is a polyatomic ion with the chemical formula . Salts containing this ion are called nitrates. Nitrates are common components of fertilizers and explosives. Almost all inorganic nitrates are soluble in water. An example of an insoluble ...

print was located by the

Irish Film Institute The Irish Film Institute (IFI; ), formerly the Irish Film Centre, is both an arthouse cinema and a national body that supports Irish film heritage. The IFI presents film festivals, retrospectives and curated seasons, along with independent, ...

in the United States'

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The librar ...

. The institute's archive had the film transferred to safety stock and restored. The institute then commissioned

Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin (; 10 December 1950 – 7 November 2018) was an Irish musician, composer, academic and educationalist. Biography Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin was a pianist, composer, recording artist and academic; he held the Pr ...

to write a new score for the film. ''Irish Destiny'' is the first fiction film that deals with the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and United Kingdom of Gre ...

, and the first and only film written and produced by Isaac (Jack) Eppel, a Jewish

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

GP and pharmacist who also enjoyed a career as theater

impresario An impresario (from the Italian ''impresa'', "an enterprise or undertaking") is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays, or operas, performing a role in stage arts that is similar to that of a film or television producer. H ...

and cinema owner.

Cast

* Paddy Dunne Cullinan as Denis O'Hara * Frances Macnamarra as Moira Barry, a schoolteacher and Denis' fiancée * Daisy Campbell as Mrs. O'Hara, Denis' mother * Clifford Pembroke as Mr. O'Hara, Denis' father * Brian Magowan as Gilbert Beecher, a gang leader of the poteen-makers * Cathal MacGarvey as Shanahan, a jarvey * Evelyn Henchey as Kitty Shanahan's daughter * Kit O'Malley as Captain Kelly, commandant, Clonmore Battalion, IRA * Val Vousden as Priest * Tom Flood as Intelligence Officer, IRA headquarters * Derek Eppel as Schoolboy * Simon Eppel as man with cigar at Vaughan's Hotel

References

External links

*
Cornerhouse article
* 1926 films English-language Irish films Silent films Irish War of Independence films Films set in Ireland Films shot in Dublin (city) Films directed by George Dewhurst 1920s rediscovered films Irish black-and-white films Rediscovered Irish films Films shot in County Wicklow 1920s English-language films {{silent-film-stub