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Director
John Ford
Credits
Producer: John Ford. Writers: Peter B. Kyne, Elizabeth Pickett, John Stone
Principal Cast
Janet Gaynor, Leslie Fenton, Willard Louis, J. Farrell MacDonald
Category
Feature
Already in his first big production, 1924’s The Iron Horse, Ford had foregrounded the role of Irish immigrants in constructing the trans-continental railway. His main Irishman there was played by J. Farrell Macdonald, whose prolific career playing Irishmen in Ford films extends as far as a key role as barman/musician in My Darling Clementine (1945). Macdonald features in The Shamrock Handicap as loyal servant of an Irish landowner who falls on hard times. The main story is simple: the landowner is driven to sell his horses to America, along with a jockey, whom his left-behind daughter loves. Father and daughter subsequently travel to America to witness the big race, with results that are no less enjoyable for being predictable. A review at the time noted that “Ford loves anything Irish, and he made the most of the little human interest touches.”
Notes by Charles Barr
66 minutes, USA, 1926, B&W
ALL YOU NEED IS DEATH 13:50, 20:50
IFI EVENING COURSE: INTRODUCTION TO SCREENWRITING
KIDNAPPED 12:55, 18:00
PERFECT DAYS 15:30, 18:15
THAT THEY MAY FACE THE RISING SUN 13:00, 15:40, 18:10, 20:30
THE TEACHERS’ LOUNGE 16:00, 20:45
The IFI is supported by The Arts Council