"The Devil's Rock" is a really strange two-reeler from the late 1930s and not really of much interest to anyone not from Northern Ireland, but as my family lived where it was made I have an affection for the film.
It is a typical Richard Hayward affair with a mixture of songs and blarney tied together by the most contrived 'plot' ever to reach celluloid Hayward allegedly secured finance for the film by agreeing to include various elements in a sort of 'product placement' deal, so the plot meanders to include these. Hence you have the Tonic cinema, at the time the largest in Northern Ireland, standing in as the Craigadown village hall! There are several scenes filmed around Bangor and both Pickie Pool and the Crawfordsburn Inn make an appearance, but most of the action was filmed around Cushendun, which looks little different today as it did in 1938. The cast are much the same players that appeared in "The Early Bird," but here struggling with the amateurish script and confused plot.
"Motorboat Ahoy!!"
