Making of a Hollywood classic
ON Thursday, June 7, 67 years ago, filming commenced on the iconic Quiet Man film starring John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara, Barry Fitzgerald, Ward Bond and Victor McLaglen, writes Tom Gillespie.
All of the outdoor scenes were shot in counties Mayo and Galway. The inside scenes were filmed toward the end of July at the Republic Studios in Hollywood.
The classic was something of a departure for Wayne and director John Ford, who were both known mostly for Westerns and other action-oriented films.
It was also a departure for Republic Pictures, which backed Ford in what was considered a risky venture at the time.
It was the only time the studio, known for low budget B-Movies, released a film that would receive an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.
Ford read the story in 1933 and soon purchased the rights to it for $10. The story's author was paid another $2,500 when Republic bought the idea, and he received a final payment of $3,750 when the film was actually made.
Republic Pictures agreed to finance the film with O'Hara and Wayne starring and Ford directing, but only if all three agreed to first film a western with Republic. They did, and after completing Rio Grande, they headed for Ireland to start shooting.
One of the conditions that Republic placed on Ford was that the film run under two hours. However, the finished picture was two-hours-and-nine minutes. When screening the film for Republic executives, Ford stopped the film at approximately two hours in, on the verge of the climactic fistfight. Republic executives relented and allowed the film to run its full length.
It was one of the few films that Republic filmed in Technicolor; most of the studio's other colour films were made in a more economical process known as Trucolor.
The film employed many actors from the Irish theatre, including Barry Fitzgerald's brother, Arthur Shiels, as well as extras from the Irish countryside, and it is one of the few Hollywood movies in which the Irish language can be heard.
The village of Cong and the grounds of Ashford Castle feature greatly throughout the film.
Ford chose his friend, Hollywood composer Victor Young, to compose the score for the film. Young sprinkled the soundtrack with many Irish airs such as the 'Rakes of Mallow' and 'The Wild Colonial Boy'. One piece of music, chosen by Ford himself, is most prominent - the melody the 'Isle of Innisfree', written not by Young, but by garda and songwriter Dick Farrelly, who 17 years later was one of the composers involved in the Castlebar International Song Contest.
The melody of the 'Isle of Innisfree', which is first heard over the opening credit sequence with Ashford Castle in the background, becomes the principal musical theme of The Quiet Man. The melody is reprised at least 11 times throughout the film.
The upbeat melody comically hummed by Michaeleen Oge Flynn and later played on the accordion is the 'Rakes of Mallow'.
A portion of the Irish version of 'The Wild Colonial Boy' is played throughout the film.
When Maureen O'Hara died in October 2015, her family stated she listened to music from The Quiet Man during her final hours.
The film was a financial success, grossing $3.8 million in its first year of release. This was among the top 10 grosses of the year. It was the seventh most popular film for British audiences in 1952.
A kissing scene between Sean Thornton (Wayne) and Mary Kate Danaher (O’Hara) is shown in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) when E.T. watches television. E.T. is interested and moved by the scene; his telepathic contact with Elliot causes the boy to re-enact it while he is at school with a girl, portrayed by a young Erika Eleniak.
Charles Fitzsimons and James Fitzsimons who also appeared in the film were Maureen O'Hara's real life younger brothers.
In this film, James was billed as James Lilburn, though he was later better known as James O'Hara, and Francis Ford, also among the cast, was John Ford's elder brother. Ken Curtis, later of Gunsmoke fame and newly married to John Ford's daughter Barbara, has a small role as Fahy, the village accordion player.
Wayne brought his four children along on location, and Ford gave them parts in the important race scene in the film - Michael Wayne, 18, as a teenage boy at the races, Mary Antonia ‘Toni’ Wayne, 16, as a teenage girl at the races, Patrick Wayne, 13, as teenage boy at races and Melinda Wayne, 12, as a young girl at races.
The screenplay by Frank S. Nugent was based on a 1933 Saturday Evening Post short story of the same name by Maurice Walsh, later published as part of a collection The Green Rushes. The film is notable for Winton Hoch’s lush photography of the Irish countryside and a long, climactic, semi-comic fist fight in Cong outside Pat Cohan’s bar.
To this day Quiet Man fans from around the world still flock to Cong and the surrounding countryside to view the many locations where the romantic classic was filmed in 1951/52 and The Quiet Man Museum in the village is worth a visit.
Pictured: A shot of filming in the grounds of Ashford Castle in 1951 with Oscar-winning cinematographer Archie Stout, viewing Maureen O’Hara through the lens. Photo courtesy Des McHale from his A Quiet Man Miscellany publication.