Two new films opening this week in 1936 dealing with fights of different kinds were reviewed by The Irish Times's anonymous critic. One was about the War of Independence, directed by Brian Desmond Hurst, a Northern-born director who later made several second World War films. The other was of the first heavyweight boxing title match between Americas Joe Louis and Germanys Max Schmeling.– JOE JOYCE
THERE ARE two films in Dublin this week which, for different reasons, stand out from the rest. The first is “Ourselves Alone,” at the Grafton, which deserves to be seen if for no other reason than that it deals with the Anglo-Irish struggle of fifteen years ago, and so can be judged by canons that one would not apply to a film of less intimate appeal.
The plot is thin enough, in all conscience. There is a County Inspector of the R.I.C., in love with the young lady of the neighbourhood, whose brother, unbeknownst to either, is the leader of the local I.R.A. There is also an Intelligence Officer, who contrives to steal the girl’s heart, and gives the C.I. an opportunity to make an admirable renunciation in the end. But the interesting part is the setting. Not having participated personally on either side in the Anglo-Irish struggle, I cannot speak from knowledge; but it does seem to me that this film has recaptured most faithfully the atmosphere of those days. The ambushes look to me like real ambushes; the R.I.C. station scenes look, to the best of my knowledge, as they ought to have looked; and there is – particularly at the very beginning – a fine atmosphere of suspense. It is fortunate, indeed, that when the director decided to use “stars” for most of the principal parts, he did not go to the length of using Englishmen for the minor parts As for the “stars” themselves, John Lodge is excellent as the County Inspector, though John Loder is colourless as the Intelligence Officer. Niall MacGinnis is good in a troublesome part , but the less said of Antoinette Cellier the better.
But the most dramatic film of this week is the official version of the Schmeling-Louis fight at the Capitol. I detest prize-fighting, especially of the American kind; but I must confess that, as this film progressed from round to round, my excitement rose, until towards the end I was dithering almost as violently as the three Germans in the row behind, whose patriotic fervour barely permitted them to remain in their seats. For manifest reasons there are no studio tricks about this film, which is purely documentary; only very seldom – and that only when necessary to show clearly certain phases of the fight – is there any change from a horizontal viewpoint; but the straight record of this beastly business has a woeful fascination.
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