The Abduction Club

I found this great little period romance to be very pleasant. It was predictable and corny but what could you expect from a period romance - that's why we watch them right? The scenery was terrific and certainly added to the romance of the film. I liked the humour between the male characters and found the dialogue of the film to be quite funny overall. The female characters, while certainly great eye candy were a little stilted in language and action, although I preferred Sophia Myles playing Anne to Alice Evans slightly lacklustre and wooden Catherine. I thought Matthew Rhys stole some of the limelight from Daniel Lapaine with his more affable portrayal of a destitute second son marrying for money rather than love, in truth I found Strang a more attractive character than Byrne. If anyone was looking for a serious period drama I would not recommend this movie but for some light romance with a touch of swashbuckle, obligatory sword play and excellent scenery I would not hesitate to suggest seeing "The Abduction Club".

Handsome, penniless young guys with sparkling blue eyes :) Pretty, penniless ladies in frocks on horsebacks. Adventure, love, romance, comedy. The original score is very good. The plot is a bit predictable though. You know from the beginning that everyone will be happy in the end. And that is just fine.

I first stumbled upon this movie when watching a video made with scenes from it and set to music. Though I knew little about it, the video intrigued me and I set out to find this movie.(To watch the video I saw go to this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2W6kPd-NJM) However, it isn't so easily found. For us in the United States, we have no way of seeing this movie as it as yet to be released, but after searching for quite a long time, I located it on youtube.

The Abduction Club tells the story of a group of young men. All are younger sons and will not inherit. Their only choice is to get a job (basically, to become a priest) or marry into a wealthy family. Marrying is obviously more appealing, so one at a time one young man and a young heiress are introduced, in hopes that she will fall in love and marry a poor boy than a rich man twice her age.

When such feelings are developed, the young lady is "abducted" willingly and proposed to. No harm is done and everyone gets what they want, but you cannot have a movie simply about an abduction that runs smoothly, can you? Of course not.

The Abduction Club centers around an abduction that goes terribly wrong. Garrett Byrne is a cocky younger son that after only one meeting with young heiress, Catherine Kennedy, he is sure that she will accept his proposal. He, however, is wrong and matters are complicated when Catherine's younger sister Anne and Garrett's best friend Strang come along for the ride and are tracked down by Anne's determined suitor and the soldiers that he has command over.

Anne is desperate to escape her suitor, Mr. Power, and longs for freedom, but Catherine is stubborn and wishes that they return home. However, the more time that the four spend together, the more feelings begin to grow and the truth about certain situations is brought forth.

Though a little predictable, this movie is charming, romantic, funny, and may even jerk a few tears. The cast is wonderful and all fit their characters well. There are many endearing scenes and you can be assured a happy ending.

**If you have not seen this movie, but want to, I strongly suggest that you follow the directions below and watch it. It is a great movie with beautiful landscapes, and acting and really lifts your spirits.

Go to www.youtube.com and type in The Abduction Club 1/9. Click on the first video. There are nine videos in total, each labeled with The Abduction club and a number (2/9, 3/9) By typing in each of the numbers, you should be able to find all of the videos. There are German subtitles, but they are ignorable. If you watch the movie and enjoy it, I suggest that you download realplayer at www.real.com and use it to download the videos to your computer. You never know when it will be taken off of youtube for copyright violations.

Update: Another set of videos has been added on youtube. Type in The Abduction Club (El Club del Rapto)1/10 and that should bring up the videos. There are ten in total. The quality is better than the other set and there is no weird pausing. There are Spanish subtitles, but hopefully they can be ignored.** Anyway, I hope that was helpful. I know that if I was looking for this movie, I'd want someone who knew where to find it to tell me, so there you have it. Just go watch it, relax, and enjoy.

And I apologize for the essay size comment. I guess I got a little word happy.

If you love period films, especially romances, then you'll love this. The scenery is beautiful, the romance fraught with difficulties and dangers, and yet extremely sweet. It is amusing, and yet informative, being as how it's based on true events in Ireland. There is also a nice bit of swash and buckle going on, always a great addition to films of this type. The film has a great storyline, and has been well put together. I can't think of a single negative thing to say about it. All of the actors play their part well, and are well suited to their roles, right down to the bad guy we love to hate. This film is definitely numbered among my favourites.

a cute movie. all of the 'good' characters are nice and likable. the movie is predictable from the first minute, but these kind of movies are not supposed to be intellectually challenging anyway.

2 rich sisters are abducted by 2 poor young men (and their friends) wanting to marry them. at first the abduction is not much of a success, forcing the 4 of them to travel together for a few days. during this time both couples fall in love, but everybody is still a bit uneasy: the girls don't like the guys being after their money and the boys feel uncomfortable about that as well. that problem is solved when it turns out the sisters don't have any money after all. some more problems arise, but in the end everything is worked out and our happy young couples go find passage to America.

the only thing i didn't understand was the claim of this movie being 'based on real facts'. even though rich englisch ladies have indeed been kidnapped by pennyless younger suns, the story as displayed here is obviously fictional. making this claim will only confuse people who are looking for a realistic story, and drive away people who want a simple romantic story. better to drop that claim altogether.