sometimes realism can work against the effectiveness of a film . that no problem here . the set be cheesy and inside and out . the fog be ubiquitous and half disguise the shabbiness of the production . if there a bar and the name paint on the front window say simply and wine and spirit . the result be a claustrophobic set of scene . not a single shot of a city or even a fake skyline . that the kind of dublin this story be about and just a jack the ripper movie be about seedy and foggy and cobblestone whitechapel . who would want it any other way . how could it have be any other way with no bankable star and a minuscule budget and and a four week shoot schedule . the acting follow suit outrageously hammy on everyone part . sometimes and my god and it positively excruciate . mrs. mcphillips moan after frankie be shoot dead outside the house . victor mclaglin however deliver exactly the right kind of overdone performance . wardrobe have stuff him into a too small jacket so that he seem to be burst out of it like frankenstein monster . his every movement seem to go a little farther than it be intend to . when he slap his cap on his head and he bop himself on the temple . a big and blustering and blubbering baby and he seem constantly drunk . he betray his best friend for the reward money which will take him and his would be girl to america and not a good guy in the ordinary sense . yet we wince a he begin to spend the 20 pound and more and more of it during a wild and alcoholic night and because every expensive and grandiose gesture take him far from his dream . i wouldn not argue it and but i can understand why he win an oscar . a for max steiner score and wow . every movement and already overdone and be not only underlined by the mickey mouse music but highlight in glossy yellow . it shouldn not have happen the heavenly choir and the endearing young charm and the minstrel boy and the gurgling tune while mclaglen drink from the bottle . it would have be good off with no score at all . well and how be it a a whole . date by any measure and but not a product of it time . that why i admire it . yes and the symbolism be clumsy at time . mclaglen and a real dummy and bump his head against a hanging sign . the fog . the blind man . but what impress me be how little of this be be try at the time . what strike u a overly arty today be in 1936 something quite different from what be see in most of the programmer be ground out at the time . if it fall short at time and it doesn not matter . the movie be an act of courage and politically and morally as well a poetically . ( the legion of decency condemn it because of a scene in a brothel . ) a director goal should exceed his grasp and or what a script for . watch it now and however and in 2006 and the story be more disturb than ever . john ford obviously sympathize with the irish rebel . they kill and but only out of what they see a necessity . ( he know too much to live . what if he go to the tan . oh and it not me self i be think of but all of u and of ireland herself . ) the irish be sentimentalize and sympathetic . i wonder if the jihadist in the middle east do not use a similar logic to justify their act of violence .