Saturday, March 17, 2012

Shake Hands With The Devil (1959)

I just watched this film (for Saint Patrick's Day) and thought it was really good. It deals with an American (played by Don Murray) of Irish descent who is in Dublin in 1921 studying to become a doctor when he is thrown into the Irish War for Independence against the British and briefly touches on the arguments for/against the Irish-Anglo Treaty that divided Ireland into the Free State (a British Dominion) and Northern Ireland (owned by London) which led to the Irish Civil War.
The movie also has James Cagney as Murray's Professor and leader of an IRA unit. I haven't seen many movies with him in it, but he does a good acting job in this one. Glynis Johns (the mother from the "Mary Poppins" movie) also does a really good job.
It shows the awful things the Black and Tans (sent by the British to beat Irish resistance) did to the Irish - which brought more ordinary Irish to the fight against British rule. The movie also shows the dilemma faced by those that want their freedom yet don't believe in violence (as Murray's character does.)

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