RYAN'S DAUGHTER

Priest: "Doing nothing's a dangerous occupation!"--Ryan's Daughter

Last night I saw David Lean's Ryan's Daughter (for the second time) with my history group. Debi brought some mini-cupcakes and I ended up eating six!

At three hours, the movie is anything but lean.  It's about Irish girl Sarah Miles marrying earnest but unexciting schoolteacher Robert Mitchum and cheating on him with a British officer, leading to the locals scapegoating her after a Republican landing gets betrayed.  Mitchum was oddly cast against type, perhaps for his resemblance to Lean. (Moira wonders, "How can any guy be more exciting than Robert Mitchum?") Sarah Miles was a babe, even with her hair cut off! It's the sort of movie where the villagers often move about en masse.

We saw the missing episode and are now watching the second season of Six Feet Under.  Nate not telling Brenda about his brain condition is a straightforward cliche! (If he told her right away, as most people would presumably do, that would be less dramatic...) Nate said about the corporate villainess, "What kind of name is Mitzi?" I could have told him,  "The kind of name they give a TV show character!"