Edna O'Brien Movies

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Rita Tushingham was propelled into stardom with The Girl with Green Eyes. She plays a gawky young rural Irish girl who takes a room with a wise-cracking Dublin lass (Lynn Redgrave). Enter a middle-aged writer (Peter Finch), who makes a beeline for the shy, lonely Tushingham--completely ignoring her more worldly roommate. Girl with Green Eyes was liberally based upon Edna O'Brien's novella The Lonely Girl. With this one film, Rita Tushingham not only became bankable, but also what is known as a "critic's darling", meaning that she could do no wrong in the eyes of certain male reviewers. The bloom was off the rose fairly quickly, and soon Ms. Tushingham found herself contractually committed to one second-string project after another, including an ill-advised reteaming with actress Lynn Redgrave and director Desmond Davis in the resistible Smashing Time (67). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Starring:: Peter Finch, Rita Tushingham, (more)

Time Lost and Time Remembered: 1966

It can't have been box-office considerations that motivated the title-change of the British I Was Happy Here to the American-release title Time Lost and Time Remembered. Director Desmond Davis both directed and wrote this nostalgic story of a London housewife (Sarah Miles), who leaves her husband to take a sentimental journey to her Irish home town. As she strolls around her old stamping grounds, Miles occasionally confides her mixed emotions (disillusionment among them) to the audience. To represent the "one foot in the then, one in the now" ambience of the story, director Davies frequently stages his scenes in time-displacement fashion, with characters in the present stepping directly into the past. Can this delicately handled film be a product of the same Desmond Davis who so badly botched the slapstick setpieces of Smashing Time? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Starring:: Sarah Miles, Cyril Cusack, (more)

Tonite Let's All Make Love In London: 1967

Peter Whitehead's 1967 documentary of London scene in the swinging-60's is a visual treat for Mod enthusiasts everywhere. Featuring a who's-who of the scene, Tonight Let's All Make Love In London is a visual patchwork of 60's culture, seen through the eyes of the people leading it. Mick Jagger, Michael Caine, Vanessa Redgrave, Allen Ginsberg, and Julie Christie are all here, alongside counter-culture artists and other musicians who helped shape their generation and future ones to come. Most of the musical content comes in the form of extremely rare concert footage and inside studio recording sessions, while other segments include candid interviews, strange political demonstration footage, and even a segment on the radical art of body painting! Yes, politics and sex are on the palette here as the psychedelic soundtrack from a very young Pink Floyd, swirls and pushes the film on towards the climax of it's brisk 70 minute running time. Languishing in distribution limbo for too long, Tonight Let's All Make Love In London is a fitting testimonial to the changing times in the mid-60's and one that should be able to live on in the years to come for the young and old to look back on and enjoy. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

Three Into Two Won't Go: 1969; R

American actor Rod Steiger adopts a British accent to keep apace with his co-stars in Three into Two Won't Go. Steiger plays a prosperous salesman, married to Claire Bloom (Steiger's real-life wife at the time). While on a business trip, the salesman falls for a sexy 19-year-old hitchhiker (Judy Geeson). He thinks he's in control of his philanderous situation -- until the teenager insists upon moving in with him and his wife. Dame Peggy Ashcroft also stars as Claire Bloom's mother, whose neurotic interference only makes things messier. Three into Two Won't Go was based on a novel by Andrea Newman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Starring:: Rod Steiger, Claire Bloom, (more)

X, Y and Zee: 1972; R

More commonly known as Zee & Co., this cautionary tale of extramarital discretions finds a threatened and desperate wife lashing out in order to salvage a faltering marriage. An upper-crust couple living the high-life in post-'60s London, Zee (Elizabeth Taylor) and Robert (Michael Caine) Blakely's love-hate relationship is beginning to leave Robert longing for something more. Setting his sites on unassuming country girl Stella (Susannah York), Zee soon catches on and quickly begins scheming to bring the newfound romance crashing to the ground. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Starring:: Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Caine, (more)

The Hard Way: 1980

Patrick McGoohan does his patented "carrying the world on my shoulders" bit in The Hard Way. McGoohan is cast as Conner, a worldly, weary professional assassin. On the verge of retirement, he is cajoled by former associate McNeal (Lee Van Cleef) into doing one last job. Expecting a routine assignment, Conner is in for quite a jolt when he learns the identity of his target. Co-star Van Cleef effectively matches and sometimes surpasses McGoohan's trenchant cynicism. Filmed in 1979 for British television, The Hard Way was released theatrically the following year. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Love: 1982

This anthology film is comprised of six segments shot by four female directors. "Love from the Marketplace," explores the way food relates to love. "The Black Cat in the Black Mouse Socks" stars singer Joni Mitchell, who also wrote it and its music. "Julia" tells the tail of a vanquished affair that is renewed. In "Love on Your Birthday" a wife gives her husband a night with her best friend as a birthday present. She then gets jealous and the trouble begins. "Por Vida" follows the journey home of a WW II GI. "Parting" follows the love of an elderly man for his paralyzed wife. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Starring:: Gordon Thomson, Joni Mitchell, (more)

The Country Girls: 1983

The 1950s in Ireland comes alive in the transformation of two "country girls" from Irish schoolchildren in a strict convent to teenagers needing to get away from their families. The teens escape to the big city, and the contrast to their past is handled with both pathos and humor. The two leads are excellently interpreted by (Maeve Germaine and Jill Doyle). ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide