Movie Cosmos - The Quare Fellow

Description:

Thomas Crimmins is a new warder, or guard, in an Irish prison. He is young, naive, and idealistic, determined to serve his country by his part in meting out justice to criminals. His superior, Regan, however, realizes that even prisoners are human beings, and Regan is sick of the eye-for-an-eye attitude that leads the state to execute condemned men, or "quare fellows." Crimmins begins to see that not all is black and white in his new world, and when he becomes involved with Kathleen, the wife of one of the condemned men, his attitude begins to change. When new evidence arises to suggest that Kathleen's husband may not deserve his fate, Crimmins is torn between his duty and his humanity.

Top Cast >

Patrick McGoohan

As Thomas Crimmin

Sylvia Syms

As Kathleen

Walter Macken

As Regan

Dermot Kelly

As Donnelly

Jack Cunningham

As Chief Warder

Hilton Edwards

As Holy Healy

Philip O'Flynn

As Prison Governor

Leo McCabe

As Dr Flyn

Norman Rodway

As Lavery

Marie Kean

As Mrs. O'Hara

Pauline Delaney

As Mickser's Wife

Geoffrey Golden

As 1st Customs Official

Tom Irwin

As 2nd Customs Official

Joseph O'Donnell

As Poet

Agnes Bernelle

As Meg

Iris Lawler

As Minna

Dominic Roche

As Prison Chaplain

Brian Hewitt-Jones

As Jenkinson

Arthur O'Sullivan

As 'Himself' - The Hangman

Aubrey Morris

As Silvertop

Eamonn Brennan

As Flaherty

Robert Bernal

As Mickser

Gerry Alexander

As Kelly

T. P. McKenna

As Walsh

Harry Brogan

As Dunlavin

Eric Gorman

As Neighbour

James Caffrey

As O'Connor

John Cowley

As Cleary

John Welsh

As Carroll

Eddie Golden

As Reception Warder

David Kelly

As Reception Clerk

Frank O'Donovan

As Clancy

Desmond O'Neill

As O'Shaughnessy

Aiden Grennell

As Food Orderly

Derry Power

As Stretcher Bearer

Brendan Cauldwell

As Shamrock Attendant

Pat Layde

As 1st Publican

Marie Conmee

As Publican Woman

Michael C. Hennessy

As 2nd Publican

James Brennan

As Old Patriot

Ronnie Walsh

As Irate Citizen

Charlie Roberts

As Dock Worker

Marcella Grimes

As Charwoman

Celia Salkeld

As Lavery's Assistant

Top Crew >

Arthur Dreifuss

Director, Adaptation, Screenplay

Jacqueline Sundstrom

Adaptation

Brendan Behan

Author

Anthony Havelock-Allan

Producer

Alexander Faris

Original Music Composer

Gitta Zadek

Editor

Edward Marshall

Art Direction

Peter Hennessy

Director of Photography

Reviews:

John Chard (6.5/10)

Condemned men, strange?

The Quare Fellow is directed by Arthur Dreifuss who along with Jacqueline Sundstrom co-adapts the screenplay from the Brendan Behan play. It stars Patrick McGoohan, Sylvia Syms, Walter Macken and Dermot Kelly. Music is by Alexander Faris and cinematography by Peter Hennessy.

Thomas Crimmin (McGoohan) begins new employment at a Dublin jail firmly believing in the benefits of the death penalty. Not everyone of his colleagues feels the same, though, and as Crimmin works through his time and gets close to the wife of a condemned man, his beliefs are splintered.

The play by all accounts was awash with humour, something which this filmic version considerably lacks. Dreifuss prefers to make the film bleak, both in surroundings and via the characterisations. The prison is perpetually cold and grey, smiles are hard to find within these walls, cynicism and fatalism drip from the wrought iron doors, and of course moral compasses are all over the place. This doesn't make it a bad film, not a bit of it, it's a tough drama acted superbly, with some brains and brawn injected into the script. Yet it ultimately plays its hand as a straight forward anti-capital punishment peace, missing opportunities to expand upon hinted at themes, particularly where Syms' fraught wife character is concerned. Still, it's a must for McGoohan and Syms fans and for those who like gritty pics set in prisons. 6.5/10

2015-04-07