DES MacHALE,
Sir, - It is good to see your paper paying tribute to John Ford's movie The Quiet Man on its 50th anniversary,but judging from the number of mistakes and blunders in Robert O'Byrne's piece (An Irishman's Diary, May 6th), it is difficult to believe that he ever saw the film in the cinema, on video or on DVD. For example:
1. There is no fighting in a pub in The Quiet Man. All of the fighting is healthily out of doors.
2. Victor McLaglen's surname is not spelled "McLagen".
3. The Oscar for colour cinematography was not awarded to Winton Hoch alone; it was awarded jointly to Hoch and Archie Stout for a truly magnificent job.
4. Sean Thornton does not drag Mary Kate back to the family cottage - he drags her back to her brother's hayfield.
5. Mr O'Byrne writes: "At one point an elderly woman. . .runs up to him saying, 'Mister, here's a good stick to beat the lovely lady',which is precisely what he proceeds to do with it."
This is nonsense! Wayne never beats O'Hara with a stick throughout The Quiet Man. In fact,when on another occasion O'Hara hands him a stick with which to beat her, he throws it into the fire.Robert O'Byrne is seeing what he wants to see,and then proceeds to write a paragraph on non-existent wife-beating as "the only honest element in Ford's depiction of Ireland". (The "elderly woman", by the way, was the much-loved Abbey actress May Craig).
6. Next Mr O'Byrne writes: "Everything else was so incredibly fake, the greenery of the countryside; the brilliance of the sunsets, and the enormous tweed caps. . ." Ireland is incredibly green,much greener than Technicolor could depict it, or is Mr O'Byrne blinded by the concrete of D'Olier Street? Irish sunsets are incredibly brilliant and beautiful and I have spent the past 40 years photographing them. As for tweed caps,has Mr O'Byrne ever seen Jackie Healy-Rae's headgear in all its glory? I rest my case.
7. Mr O'Byrne concedes: "This piece of nonsense has been extraordinarily popular.".Pieces of nonsense do not win two Oscars and numerous other awards; get shown constantly on TV; sell millions of copies on video and DVD; have interpretative centres and festivals in their honour; have at least three books written about them; appear as the top Irish movie of all time in the Irish Times poll; come in the top 100 movies of all time in the IMDB internet poll; have versions in English,French,German,Italian,Spanish,Dutch and Swedish;and have literally millions of devoted and even fanatical fans worldwide.
8. Finally, Mr O'Byrne says: "It is impossible to imagine the eqivalent film being made here today." I would add, "More's the pity!" - Yours etc.,
DES MacHALE,
(Author of The Complete
Guide to The Quiet Man),
Avonlea Court,
Blackrock,
Cork.