The Quiet Man (1952)

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

Maurice Walsh (story)
Frank S. Nugent (screenplay)

Release Date:

14 August 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Comedy

Tagline:

Action...Excitement...Romance...Fill the Screen !

Plot:

A disgraced American boxer retires to Ireland, where he finds love.

Plot Keywords:

Irish Republican Army | Narration | Irish Catholic | Suitor | Irish American

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 5 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

John Wayne	...	Sean Thornton
Maureen O'Hara	...	Mary Kate Danaher
Barry Fitzgerald	...	Michaleen Oge Flynn
Ward Bond	...	Father Peter Lonergan
Victor McLaglen	...	Squire 'Red' Will Danaher
Mildred Natwick	...	The Widow Sarah Tillane
Francis Ford	...	Dan Tobin
Eileen Crowe	...	Mrs. Elizabeth Playfair
May Craig	...	Fishwoman with Basket at Station
Arthur Shields	...	Rev. Dr. Cyril 'Snuffy' Playfair
Charles B. Fitzsimons	...	Hugh Forbes (as Charles FitzSimons)
James O'Hara	...	Father Paul (as James Lilburn)
Sean McClory	...	Owen Glynn
Jack MacGowran	...	Ignatius Feeney - Squire Danaher's Handyman (as Jack McGowran)
Joseph O'Dea	...	Molouney - Train Guard
Eric Gorman	...	Costello - Engine Driver
Kevin Lawless	...	Train Fireman
Paddy O'Donnell	...	Railway Porter
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Frank Baker	...	Man in Bar (uncredited)
Tony Canzoneri	...	Boxing Second (uncredited)
Maureen Coyne	...	Dan Tobin's Daughter - Ireland (uncredited)
Ken Curtis	...	Dermot Fahy (uncredited)
Mimi Doyle	...	Dan Tobin's Daughter - USA (uncredited)
Douglas Evans	...	Ring Physician (uncredited)
Robert Foy	...	Driver of Cart Across River (uncredited)
Sam Harris	...	General (uncredited)
D.R.O. Hatswell	...	Guppy (uncredited)
John Horan	...	Man at Railway Station (uncredited)
David Hughes	...	Police Constable (uncredited)
Billy Jones	...	Bugler (uncredited)
Tiny Jones	...	Nell (uncredited)
Colin Kenny	...	Pub Extra (uncredited)
Mae Marsh	...	Father Paul's Mother (uncredited)
Jim McVeigh	...	Man Following Cart Across River (uncredited)
Jim Morrin	...	Roof Thatcher (uncredited)
Al Murphy	...	Boxing Referee (uncredited)
Michael O'Brian	...	Musha Musha Man (uncredited)
Frank O'Connor	...	Ringside Photographer (uncredited)
Pat O'Malley	...	Man in Bar (uncredited)
Web Overlander	...	Hugh Bailey - Stationmaster (uncredited)
Bob Perry	...	Trooper Thorn's Ringside Trainer (uncredited)
Jack Roper	...	Tony Gardello - Boxer (uncredited)
Philip Stainton	...	Anglican Bishop (uncredited)
Harry Tenbrook	...	Police Sgt. Hanan (uncredited)
Harry Tyler	...	Pat Cohan - Publican (uncredited)
Melinda Wayne	...	Girl on Wagon at Horse Race (uncredited)
Michael Wayne	...	Teenage Boy at Races (uncredited)
Patrick Wayne	...	Boy on Wagon at Horse Race (uncredited)
Toni Wayne	...	Teenage Girl at Races (uncredited)

Directed by
John Ford

Writing credits
Maurice Walsh		(story "Green Rushes")
Frank S. Nugent		(screenplay)

Produced by
Merian C. Cooper	....	producer
G.B. Forbes	....	producer
John Ford	....	producer
L.T. Rosso	....	producer

Original Music by
Victor Young

Cinematography by
Winton C. Hoch

Film Editing by
Jack Murray

Casting by
H. Chiles
Jack Grant
H. Rossmore

Art Direction by
Frank Hotaling

Set Decoration by
John McCarthy Jr.
Charles S. Thompson		(as Charles Thompson)

Costume Design by
Adele Palmer

Makeup Department
James R. Barker	....	makeup artist (uncredited)
Peggy Gray	....	hair stylist (uncredited)
Bob Mark	....	makeup artist (uncredited)
Web Overlander	....	makeup artist: John Wayne (uncredited)
Fay Smith	....	hair stylist (uncredited)

Production Management
Lee Lukather	....	unit manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Andrew V. McLaglen	....	second assistant director
Wingate Smith	....	first assistant director
Patrick Ford	....	second unit director (uncredited)
Edward O'Fearna	....	second assistant director (uncredited)
Albert Podlansky	....	second assistant director (uncredited)
John Wayne	....	second unit director (uncredited)

Art Department
Francis Frank	....	drapery (uncredited)
F.B. Gibbs	....	construction (uncredited)
Dudley Holmes	....	props (uncredited)
Clément Hurel	....	poster artist (uncredited)
Gordon Lantz	....	construction (uncredited)
John McCarthy	....	props (uncredited)
Ralph Oberg	....	art department (uncredited)
Lou Shields	....	painter (uncredited)

Sound Department
T.A. Carman	....	sound
Howard Wilson	....	sound
Daniel J. Bloomberg	....	sound (uncredited)
W.O. Watson	....	sound (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Howard Lydecker	....	special effects (uncredited)
Theodore Lydecker	....	special effects (uncredited)

Stunts
Joe Fair	....	riding double: John Wayne (uncredited)
Fred Kennedy	....	stunts (uncredited)
Bob Morgan	....	stunts (uncredited)
Terry Wilson	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Archie Stout	....	director of photography: second unit
Ray Bensfield	....	best boy (uncredited)
Ben Bishop	....	first grip (uncredited)
Roman Freulich	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Arthur Graham	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Paul Guerin	....	electrician (uncredited)
Bob Harrison	....	second grip (uncredited)
Ben Moran	....	grip (uncredited)
Bob Stafford	....	gaffer (uncredited)
Bud Thackery	....	process photographer (uncredited)
Bill Wade	....	camera department (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Neva Bourne	....	wardrobe (uncredited)
Adele Palmer	....	wardrobe: women (uncredited)
Robert Ramsey	....	wardrobe: men (uncredited)
Ted Towey	....	wardrobe: men (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Francis Cugat	....	color consultant: Technicolor
Barbara Ford	....	assistant editor (uncredited)
Al Horowitz	....	editorial (uncredited)

Music Department
Gerald Roberts	....	musical director (uncredited)

Transportation Department
Fred Manning	....	transportation (uncredited)
Slim Metcalfe	....	transportation (uncredited)
Frenchie Valin	....	transportation (uncredited)

Other crew
Herbert J. Yates	....	presenter
D.J. Bloomberg	....	chief engineer (uncredited)
J.T. Bourke	....	location manager (uncredited)
Michael Eason	....	morning operations (uncredited)
Mort Goodman	....	publicist (uncredited)
N.E. Gourson	....	studio physician (uncredited)
D.R.O. Hatswell	....	technical advisor (uncredited)
Martin Horwitz	....	stock room (uncredited)
Bill Jones	....	head wrangler (uncredited)
Pete Matsk	....	labour department (uncredited)
E. Schroeder	....	film library (uncredited)
Father Stack	....	technical advisor: religion (uncredited)
Meta Stern	....	script supervisor (uncredited)
Hal Swanson	....	projectionist (uncredited)
Fred Vinson	....	studio first aid (uncredited)
Harry Williams	....	accountant (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Argosy Pictures

Distributors

• Republic Pictures (I) (1952) (USA) (theatrical)
• Artisan Entertainment (DVD)
• Continental Home Vídeo (2002) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Critics' Choice Video (video)
• Gloria (1953) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2000) (Germany) (DVD)
• Maple Pictures (2006) (Canada) (DVD)
• New Line Home Vídeo (2002) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Republic Pictures Home Video (Brazil) (VHS)
• Republic Pictures Home Video (USA) (laserdisc)

Runtime:

129 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Irish Gaelic

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

West Germany:12 (f) | Iceland:L | Norway:A (1954) | Finland:K-8 | Sweden:15 | UK:U | USA:Approved (PCA #15329)

Filming Locations:

Ashford Castle, County Mayo, Ireland

Company:

Argosy Pictures

Trivia:

When Sean and Mary Kate take their wagon into town a store called "Emily O'Connor" can be seen in the background. This is actually a crafts store and is still in business to this day.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Sean Thornton first introduces himself to the bar and they start to sing "Wild Colonial Boy", the accordion player acquires a hat between shots.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Father Peter Lonergan, Narrator: Well, then. Now. I'll begin at the beginnin'. A fine soft day in the spring, it was, when the train pulled into Castletown, three hours late as usual, and himself got off. He didn't have the look of an American tourist at all about him. Not a camera on him; what was worse, not even a fishin' rod.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Skydivers (#7.9)" (1994)

Soundtrack:

Garryowen

A Stick To Beat the Lovely Lady

The filming of The Quiet Man was the culmination of a dream by John Ford to make an Irish picture in Ireland. He bought the rights to the story over a decade before and peddled it to every studio in Hollywood and was turned down.

He went to Republic Pictures partly because John Wayne was just winding down his contract with them and he wouldn't have to pay him extra, and partly because Herbert J. Yates's small studio was the last stop. Ford got the permission for The Quiet Man on the condition he do a sure fire moneymaking John Wayne cavalry picture first. So Ford, Wayne, and Maureen O'Hara did Rio Grande first before setting out for Ireland.

In her recent memoirs O'Hara said that this was her role of a lifetime, she knew it would be before one frame of film was shot. She'd been playing in a load of ridiculous Hollywood drivel films as a redheaded Bedouin princess and she did them essentially for the money. This one was to be a labor of love.

Love yes, but a labor nonetheless. John Ford was a talented, but strange man to work for. He could be a bully and a tyrant on any set he was on. She was grateful to him for the career making roles she got with him, but recognized his faults. She relates in her memoirs that Ford used his influence to knock her out of an Oscar Nomination for Mary Kate Danaher in 1952 over some trivial offense Ford thought O'Hara committed and took umbrage.

It was a family affair for Wayne of sorts as well. His kids came to Ireland with him and you can see them at the horse racing scene as extras. Young Patrick Wayne spoke his first movie lines. He also had with him his second wife, Esperanza Baur who was not his kid's mom. She was a tempestuous sort and they would soon part in a very ugly divorce.

Sean Thornton who was born in Innisfree, but went to America as a toddler, has come back to his native Ireland after making a name for himself as a prizefighter and killing a man in the ring. He and Maureen O'Hara have an instant attraction for each other. However Wayne does run afoul of her bully of a brother, Squire Will Danaher played by Ford regular Victor McLaglen.

Wayne and O'Hara marry, but McLaglen won't turn over the bride's dowry. And Wayne won't contest him for it.

So with a little help from The Taming of the Shrew and a bit of Falstaff thrown in, things are put right in Innisfree. More I won't say.

As in all of John Ford's films and this is one of the best, he got some grand performances from some of the most minute characters in the film. Some of his regulars like Ward Bond, Mildred Natwick, Ken Curtis, Barry Fitzgerald and Arthur Shields with the rest of the roles played by Dublin's acclaimed Abbey Theatre players. One of my favorites is Jack McGowran who played Feeney, Squire Danaher's little toady factotum.

The music was arranged by Victor Young who did a grand job of using traditional Irish melodies in the score. One song, The Isle of Innisfree was recorded by Bing Crosby for Decca and sold a few platters for him the year The Quiet Man came out.

The Quiet Man is an annual classic for St. Patrick's Day, the same way It's A Wonderful Life is for Christmas. At least in America it is. I've wondered if it is as well received in Ireland as it is here. I think John Ford, the former Sean O'Fearna, was hoping it would turn out that way.

Mr. Ford, you got your wish.