Irish Film Institute -International Film Directory – Film Listing

Home is the Hero

    • Director

      J. Fielder Cook

    • Credits

      Producers: Robert Baker, Monty Herman. Writer: Henry Keating

    • Principal Cast

      Walter Macken, Eileen Crowe, Arthur Kennedy, Joan O'Hara , Maire O'Donnell, Harry Brogan

  • Category

    Feature
    Classic

Adapted from Walter Macken’s stage play of the same name, Home is the Hero is a dark, brooding family drama that tells the tale of Paddo O’Reilly (Walter Macken), who returns to his home after serving five years in prison for killing the father of his son’s girlfriend. His changed family proves difficult for him to accept and son Willie (Arthur Kennedy) and daughter Josie (Joan O’Hara) have to deal with a deal verging on becoming a tyrant. The first film to make use of the facilities at the new Ardmore Studios, Home is the Hero also proved a fine vehicle for a cast, predominantly made up of Abbey Theatre actors, to flex their muscles on the cinema screen. Indeed an enthusiastic Sunday Press review claimed the film would “bring Ardmore Studios into the front rank of film factories”.

Notes by Sunniva O’Flynn

83 minutes, Ireland, 1959, B&W

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