Big, expensive MGM biopic of Sean O'Casey, here called John Cassidy, which is the first odd thing. O'Casey, still alive, OK'd the screenplay (which is on the weak side), and the plays he wrote as depicted in the film are the plays O'Casey wrote, so why the name switch? "Young O'Casey" would have told audiences more. Rod Taylor, not much physically representing the title character, is nonetheless committed and fine and suitably sexy, and he's supported by an excellent cast, most prominently Maggie Smith, playing a conventional part--the spinsterish bookseller who falls in love with him--with an ambivalence that keeps us guessing about her. You'll miss Julie Christie, second-billed but in a tiny role, if you blink, and Edith Evans and Michael Redgrave are stately and predictable as the powers behind the Abbey Theatre, but Flora Robson, as Cassidy's mother, is very special indeed, and it's also fun to see Jack MacGowran and Sian Phillips as the rest of his family. John Ford started this one and Jack Cardiff finished it, bringing a superb visual sense (1910s-20s Dublin never looked so appealing) but not a lot of dramatic chops. It ends on a strange moment indeed, with Maggie leaving him because she loves him (O'Casey did marry, happily, but we see none of that), then there's a final scene after the credits that means to tie things up in a happy ending. It's misshapen, but there are some good sequences, especially involving the Troubles, and it's certainly beautifully shot.
Review of Young Cassidy
