Rooney

Great movie. Two lonely people discover each other. I always liked this film. So many times I have tried to buy it in VHS or DVD but no luck so far. I liked the Irish setting. I enjoy British/Irish films and I like the genre of the 1940s to 1950s. This movie was based on a Catherine Cookson novel of the same name. Anyone who knows the writings of Catherine Cookson knows that she creates a wonderful story. Too bad movie producers today cannot see the potential of this story in today's market. John Gregson is a great actor. The story shows the rubbish-collection industry, and how one lowly rubbish collector finds love and romance right under his nose.

The theme tune for this film has stayed with me since I saw the film at the local Odeon.I even bought the 45rpm disc which I still have on the Top Rank label.It was sung by Michael Halliday,who died tragically young.I have now had the chance to view it on DVD and have to say that it is a very charming film. Almost the end of Barry Fitzgeralds long career he does appear as different as the character he plays. John Gregson and Muriel Pavlow,two Rank contract stars of the fifties make an engaging couple and they are supported by a lot of very familiar faces from.the era. Watching this film made me feel very nostalgic taking me back to the local Odeon all those years ago.

My mother brought me to a Dublin cinema to see this film in 1958. Aged 8, I came away with the strains of that theme tune, Rooney O in my head, only to haunt me for six decades, searching for that film until now. For anyone growing up in Dublin in the 1950s, these scenes of old Dublin will stir wonderful memories of a different time.

As an aside.... I found a comment here on IMDb in reference to the opening scene voiceover given by Barry Fitzgerald in relation to the unchanged O'Connell street scene. It had grabbed my attention also and I wondered if it had been an observation that was added in a later re-release of the film, post Nelson Pillar demise in 1966.

' - - - the dawn broke over the old city and everything was pretty much as it was the night before - and Nelson's statue still stood in O'Connell Street - - - .' The combination of B&W film footage and a simple honest story will always enhance the imagination.

John Gregson is a dustman during the week. During the weekend, though, he plays field hockey. Local bigwig Liam Redmond spots him, and thinks he's just the man to captain his team for an important match, and lets him know about a new apartment, far from his old rooming house. There he sees the goings-on , with Barry Fitzgeralf, who's dying, owning the lease, his harridan daughter-in-law Marie Kean making everyone miserable, and his loving grand daughter, Muriel Pavlow, absolutely miserable.

It's based on a novel by Catherine Cookson, and there are hints of greatness about the movie, particularly the care with which the exteriors are shot around Dublin. Most of it, however, is a standard romantic comedy under the direction of George Pollock: always competent, well fitted out with plots and subplots and acting by Jack MacGowran, and other Abbey Players, but with nothing, alas, tointerfere with the obvious workings of the plot.

This movie would be of great interest to historians and sociologists looking for a insight into Dublin in the 1950's, particularly the garbage collection business.

For the rest of us, it's a creaking story about a Dublin dustbin man who is blessed with a magnetic attraction for women and great hurling skills (the sport that is, not the bins).

There is probably something more interesting on....