Falling for a Dancer

Rating:
Summary: Great movie, but what the heck was Beth thinking???
Review: As you might have guessed, I rented this movie solely for the chance to see young Colin Farrell, he is in his early 20's when this Irish, made for TV 3 and 1/2 hour miniseries was made, and he plays a young lad of 19 who falls in love with a woman who because of an unexpected pregnancy is sent to marry a 40 year old widower at the age of 19. This movie has almost all aspects of both the good and bad of life, love, hate, rape, hope, murder, tragic accidents, everything. It's well worth seeing for all the performances, not just Colin Farre's, although he did do an excellent job.

Rating:
Summary: SECOND ONLY TO GONE WITH THE WIND.
Review: FALLING FOR A DANCER IS THE BEST MOVIE I HAVE EVER SEEN SINCE GONE WITH THE WIND.IT HAS EVERYTHING, MY FAVORITE CHARACTER IS
MOSHA, BUT MY MOST PITIFUL CHARACTER IS NEELEY. ONE CAN FEEL THE LOVE HE HAS FOR ELIZABETH,BUT DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO SHOW HER TENDERNESS. DANIEL LET HER FEEL THE PASSION SHE HAD LONGED FOR,
BUT IT BACK-FIRED ON THEM. MOSHA IS WONDERFUL , BUT I THINK THEY MADE HIM LOOK TOO MUCH LIKE A STALKER. FABULOUS MOVIE!!!

Rating:
Summary: BEARA, not Dingle!
Review: First of all, I want to say that this movie was shot on the Beara peninsula in southwestern Ireland, not anywhere near Dingle, which is miles and miles away. How do I know that? I know it because Beara is my mother's birthplace and I have spent many months living there during my life. In fact, the "farm" location of this picture is only about a quarter mile from my own. The village (with all the modern elements painted out) is our village of Eyeries. The graveyard by the sea is the old cemetery of Kilcatherine.

That said I found this movie to be a very run-of-the-mill romantic melodrama in, what must be for most viewers, an exoctic locale. Some of the acting was good, some was dreadful. The best job was done by Liam Cunningham in the role of Mossie Sheehan. I found his portrayal of the silently yearning and misunderstood neighbor to be quite wonderful. And, he captured the rather difficult Beara accent beautifully. Most of the other actors are adequate, though no more. I found the heroine, played by Elizabeth Dermot-Walsh, to be barely believable in her role. Some of the plot is so inconsistent as to really puzzle.

And the saddest thing about this movie is the use made of some of the most glorious scenery this world has to offer. Beara is a peninsula with a thick spine of mountain, surrounded by the ocean (Bantry Bay to the south, Kenmare Bay to the north). Most of the movie seems to have been shot toward the mountains and in the rain. There are very few scenes shot in good weather and only a few glimpses of the astonishing vista over the ocean (during the burial of Neillie Scholard) and the morning when Beth talks to her daughter about how beautiful the day is. Maybe the shooting schedule took place during a rainy period, but this is a pity.

Rating:
Summary: BEARA, not Dingle!
Review: First of all, I want to say that this movie was shot on the Beara peninsula in southwestern Ireland, not anywhere near Dingle, which is miles and miles away. How do I know that? I know it because Beara is my mother's birthplace and I have spent many months living there during my life. In fact, the "farm" location of this picture is only about a quarter mile from my own. The village (with all the modern elements painted out) is our village of Eyeries. The graveyard by the sea is the old cemetery of Kilcatherine.

That said I found this movie to be a very run-of-the-mill romantic melodrama in, what must be for most viewers, an exoctic locale. Some of the acting was good, some was dreadful. The best job was done by Liam Cunningham in the role of Mossie Sheehan. I found his portrayal of the silently yearning and misunderstood neighbor to be quite wonderful. And, he captured the rather difficult Beara accent beautifully. Most of the other actors are adequate, though no more. I found the heroine, played by Elizabeth Dermot-Walsh, to be barely believable in her role. Some of the plot is so inconsistent as to really puzzle.

And the saddest thing about this movie is the use made of some of the most glorious scenery this world has to offer. Beara is a peninsula with a thick spine of mountain, surrounded by the ocean (Bantry Bay to the south, Kenmare Bay to the north). Most of the movie seems to have been shot toward the mountains and in the rain. There are very few scenes shot in good weather and only a few glimpses of the astonishing vista over the ocean (during the burial of Neillie Scholard) and the morning when Beth talks to her daughter about how beautiful the day is. Maybe the shooting schedule took place during a rainy period, but this is a pity.

Rating:
Summary: Lives changed forever
Review: Have you ever wondered what life would have been like if a certain event had never occured?

If the bus had never broken down Elizabeth(Beth) would never have met George and her life wouldn't have been changed for the worse. It is the 1930's and Beth is living in Cork with her parents. She is after arriving home from a trip to Dublin with her friend Ida, but she has a deep secret that no one must know - she is pregnant and has only two choices- leave home and move into a home run by the nuns for unwed mothers or to marry. After a horrifying visit to the nun-run home Beth solomly decides to marry. The match is made for her, she is to marry a recently bereaved man named Neeley Scollard. After a quiet ceremony, Beth is brought home- not to Cork but to her new home in Beara, on the west most tip of Dingle where she is met by her new daughters. Beth has a son whom she calls Francey. Straight away it is obvious that Neeley ia strict man- all of his family fear him. Neeley's cousin Mossie (Liam Cunningham) is a decent type of person but Neeley maintains that Mossie is a land-grabber and that he and his family are to have nothing to do with him. After a dance, Neeley losses his temper and hurts Francey. That night, while Beth is in Cork with Francey, there is a death in Beara and the main suspect is a young man called Danny Mc Carthy. Beth can't decide whether she wants to stay in Beara or move back home to Cork with her family. Mossie trys to win her heart but....... You don't think that I'm going to tell you the whole story? If I did, where's the point in watching this story.

The movie is based on the best selling novel by Deirdre Purcell. It manages to pull you into the story and into the lives of each of the characters. I really enjoyed this movie - I have seen it so many times that I almost know it off by heart. I hope that if you chose to watch it, you will enjoy this movie. Go neiri an bothar leat. (good luck- may the road rise with you)

Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Love Story
Review: I fell in love with this movie. The main characters have such depth that when this story finally comes to an end, you feel compelled to read the book just to gather a particle more. I ordered the VHS and the book. The romantic tension between the Mossie and Beth always seems to linger; but is kept just out of reach and as a horse being kept moving by the proverbial carrot one can not help but to keep watching and hoping that the two will get together. Beth's relationship with her step children is cast in such a growing and loving light that it is poetry in motion to watch. I give this movie the hightest rating and I hope that you will watch it while fully awake, as it takes a bit of concentration to get into...but the rewards are well worth it.
Just the beautiful Dingle, Irish scenery alone is reason enough to watch. It is a glorious movie!

Rating:
Summary: Falling For A Dancer
Review: I have to admit that I got this movie because Colin Farrell is in it. For those of you thinking about the same thing (warning! vague plot spoiler!) he isn't a major character, nor the main love interest. However, considering the movie aside from that, the actors do a good job and I enjoyed the movie just the same. It's too gritty to be classified as a romance, really, but I think it's all the better for that.

Rating:
Summary: a fairly enjoyable movie
Review: I have to admit that I got this movie because Colin Farrell is in it. For those of you thinking about the same thing (warning! vague plot spoiler!) he isn't a major character, nor the main love interest. However, considering the movie aside from that, the actors do a good job and I enjoyed the movie just the same. It's too gritty to be classified as a romance, really, but I think it's all the better for that.

Rating:
Summary: Sad story yet a good movie
Review: I have watched this movie twice and found it to be one which can make you want to cry and be heartsick for all concerned. The young lady has found herself in a position to where she has to make the best out of what is to say "sad". She loved an actor, got pregnant, married an older man, fell for a younger man, and then the story becomes sadder, then turns out for the best, depending on how you think of the other man. You will become hopeful for the young lady that she finds rebirth in romance with someone who can give her true love. She has a good heart, yet is misled in some ways. It's a true to life situation for the Irish countryside. I enjoyed the movie, yet wanted her to be able to spread her wings and live life with the man she finds to be her love mate. It's a different story and one you will think about. You will be glad you watched the entire story from beginning to end. A 4 star movie

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable Entertainment Over Two Nights
Review: I must warn you that the picture on the video box is very misleading. This is the very young man, 6 years younger than the heroine, who becomes infatuated with her, the woman also shown on the box. This young man, however, is not the hero of this video series. The hero is a man who is in conflict with her brutal drunk of a husband, over a piece of land that should have come to the hero by inheritance, but went to the drunk instead. This man, Mossie, is also very attractive so why his image wasn't used on the video box is unknown. The heroine is forced into marriage with this much-older brute by her family, since she is about to become an unwed mother by a long-gone actor in 1937 Ireland. She lived in the city with her prosperous family but moves to her husband's village, where everyone barely ekes out a living on the rocky land by the sea. She also must raise the many children her husband had with his late wife. Some viewers may be put off by two violent scenes between the drunken husband and wife. The first is a rape scene, which is rough going. In the second, her son is hurt which cuts off the violence between them. If you can handle the rape scene though, the rest of the series is very enjoyable, well done, and happily resolved and should provide a good evening's entertainment. My husband and I both enjoyed it a lot, watching it over two nights.