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Tribute to
Brian Desmond Hurst
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Brian Desmond Hurst Born in Castle Reagh in 1895, Brian Desmond
Hurst was an art student in Paris before his trip to America
where he stayed for several years as one of John Ford's assistants.
Moving to England in the early 1930s, Hurst made his first
major impression with a version of Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale
Heart (1934). Hurst's most famous film was Scrooge, his version
of Dickens' A Christmas Carol (1951).
Ireland's most prolific film director has been all but forgotten.
A flamboyant raconteur and man of enormous charm, he was a
man of many contradictions, he was a Protestant Ulsterman
who converted to Catholicism. A republican sympathiser who
fought in the first World War and made propaganda films during
the second. A devout homosexual who was equally as devout
in worship of his patron saint St Thérése.
With over 30 films to his credit, Hurst also directed the
definitive screen version of Synge's Playboy of the Western
World in 1962. It proved to be his last film although he never
stopped trying to get other projects off the ground until
his death in 1986.
| Christopher Robbins Christopher
Robbins was a bright, but impoverished, young journalist
when he met Brian Desmond Hurst in the early 1970s. Hurst
was then in the twilight of his career as Ireland's most
prolific film director - many years had passed since he'd
made his most famous film, Scrooge, with Alastair Sim
in 1951. But Hurst's formidable desire, energy and joie
de vivre were still much in evidence, and Robbins was
contracted to write the screenplay for his swansong, a
vast biblical epic starring Laurence Olivier and Michael
Redgrave. Thus began a friendship that lasted until Hurst's
death in 1986. It was a period full of laughter, eccentricity,
laughter, travel and laughter. They made an odd pair;
the elderly, theatrical and larger-than-life Hurst and
the young, slightly naive but keen Robbins who now acknowledges
the debt he owes his mentor: a debt of friendship he wants
to repay. His wonderful book, The Empress Of Ireland,
is the result of this relationship. The Box-Office Blockbuster
never happened, but in trying to get the project off the
ground Robbins had entered Hurst's world. His memoir of
that time and their friendship, is a wonderfully engaging
and often hilarious portrait of one of the last great
eccentrics. |
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Monday 11th | 2.00pm | Cork Opera House
The Tell-Tale Heart
1934 | 53mins | 35mm | Black & White
Adapted from a story by Edgar Allan Poe. A madman recollects
the time when he murdered a man and hid the body under
the floorboards of his home. To celebrate the "perfect"
crime the murderer invites the police chief for tea, but
gradually the madman believes he can hear the corpse's
heartbeat, which becomes so loud that the killer, under
great distress, confesses the crime to his guest. |
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Tuesday 12th | 2.00pm |
Cork Opera House
Ourselves Alone
1936 | 70mins | 35mm | Black & White
During the War of Independence, a Royal Irish Constabulary
inspector takes responsibility for the killing of an IRA
leader to allow the real killer, an English officer, to
develop a relationship with the victim's sister. |
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Wednesday 13th | 2.00pm | Cork Opera House
Dangerous Moonlight
1941 | 94mins | 35mm | Black & White
During the Nazi invasion of Poland, American reporter
Carole Peters meets Polish airman, Stefan Radetzky,
also a piano virtuoso. Stefan is among the last to escape
Warsaw; months later, in New York, he and Carole meet
again, and marry. But the thought of his going back
to fight is not only personally terrifying to Carole,
but seems a great waste of his musical talent...
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Thursday 14th | 2.00pm | Cork Opera House
Trottie True
1949 | 96mins | 35mm | Colour
Trottie True is so taken by seeing a Music Hall revue
that she decides to take to the stage as her career.
Into her life come various men; one drops in via a balloon
crash, another is a prospective backer, another a wealthy
admirer. With all of them vying for her affections,
she must make a choice. The sumptuous costumes and beautiful
scenery enhance this already lavish film, with an astounding
performance by Jean Kent as Trottie.
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Friday 15th | 2.00pm | Cork Opera House
Hungry Hill
1947 | 92mins | 35mm | Black & White
Daphne du Maurier helped write the script of this fine
movie adaptation of her best-selling novel. Set in 1840,
the epic storyline tells of how the beautiful Lockwood
marries into a feuding Irish family and gets caught
up in a violent struggle for ownership of a copper mine.
After her husband dies, she falls upon hard times and
moves to London. But a violent confrontation with the
past lurks around the corner.
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Saturday 16th | 2.00pm | Cork Opera House
Simba
1955 | 99mins | 35mm | Colour
In 1950's Kenya, Howard arrives to help his brother
with his farm. His childhood sweetheart Mary - the real
reason for his journey, meets him at the airport. Upon
arrival at the farm, Howard learns that his brother
has been murdered by the Mau Mau. Howard is devastated
and furious, and determines to sell up and leave Kenya.
However before he can leave, he gets involved with his
fellow settlers in the defence of their land, leading
to terrifying consequences.
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Sunday 17th | 12.00pm | Gate Cinema
Malta Story
1953 | 97mins | 35mm | Black & White
An action-packed account of one of World War II's most
important campaigns. In 1942 Britain was clinging to
the island of Malta since it was critical to keeping
Allied supply lines open. Plenty of realistic re-enactments
and archival combat footage as the British are besieged
and try to fight off the Luftwaffe. Against this background,
a RAF reconnaissance photographer's romance with a local
girl is endangered as he tries to plot enemy movements.
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Sunday 17th | 2.00pm | Cork Opera House
Scrooge
1951 | 86mins | 35mm | Black & White
By far the best film adaptation of this classic Christmas
tale; the direction, pace and art are superb. Alistair
Sim stars as Ebenezer Scrooge - the penny-pinching old
miser visited by three ghosts one bleak Christmas Eve
and shown the error of his ways. Featuring the cream
of British comedy stars, Scrooge is a classic, heart-warming
film for all the family to enjoy!
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