River Of Unrest; Ourselves Alone

217. RIVER Of UNREST (Ourselves Alone) (1937-engiand). With john lodge, John LODER, ANTOINETTE CELUER. Southern Ireland, prior to the 1922 treaty establishing the Irish Free Stale: a place Of seething unrest and resentment, Of terrorism and open warfare, Of vile informing and violent retribution, Of ordinary people trying desperately to express their love al a time Of overwhelming hatred. The Irish Rebellion had been dramaÂtized previously in John Ford’s “The Informer,” but this film has its own remarkable visual expressiveness and emotional power. (Coincidentally, its co-director, Brian Desmond Hurst, had been Ford’s assistant about a decade before The Informer.*) The leader Of a local rebel group, Mick OÕDea, is a Scarlet Pimpernel type who stages daring escapes Of prisoners, and keeps his actual identity carefully concealed from the military police (the “Blacks and TansÓ), who are determined to capture him and quell the uprising. Intriguing personal dilemmas are skillfully woven into the colorful tapestry Of a strife-filled land: a police inspector is torn between love and duty after he learns that OÕDea is really his fiancŽeÕs brother; later, when OÕDea has been shot down, the woman herself must decide between love and family loyalty, because the killer is a police intelligence Officer to whom she has become attracted. There is rousing action police raids, gun battles, heroic rescues-and an authentic Irish atmosphere Of pubs, singing and genuine camaraderie. A poignant depiction Of a troubled era, as meaningful as ever. 69 minutes. Drama