Michael Anderson started his directorial career with the masterpiece THE DAM BUSTERS, the UK's most watched film in 1955. SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL, a very different film about a lesser known conflict, fails to attain the same quality but it remains a worthwhile effort and a honest reminder of the "troubles" that pitted the Irish against colonial power Great Britain.
The script by Spitzer and Goff deserves plaudits for its sharpness, notably the completely different approaches personified by fanatical wolf-like Cagney hiding under the lamb's clothes of a surgeon, and the more open-minded, longer-term thinking Cyril Cusack. Michael Redgrave, a very fine actor, seems to me wrong for the part: he was always THE Englishman par excellence, aware of the importance of being earnest, and as the General he maintains the superb English diction that simply has zero to do with the Irish rebel he is supposed to embody. Interesting show by a very young Ray McAnally - acting not at all anally - who I remember as a BBC classic car programme expert in the late 1970s, early 1980s.
As the ruthless and merciless Col. Smithson who uses a ring on his pinky to inflict extra pain on torture victims, Christopher Rhodes symbolizes the iron fist in the British colonization of Ireland.
Richard Harris looks suitably brutish as an IRA sidekick, and Glynis Johns is impressive as an Irish cause-supporting woman who knows her limitations if exposed to torture. Murray landed an invidious role as an American of Irish parentage returning to Ireland to attend medical college in Dublin, who finds himself in the grip of abnormal events. His US citizenship accounts for his distant stance, but to me he just does not belong. I found perplexing his sudden human killing efficiency.
Highly competent B&W cinematography by Erwin Hiller, with lovely landscapes and credible action scenes, notably Col. Smithson's ambush and harbor shootout at the end.
Albeit one of the most honest movies I have watched on the UK-IRA conflict, I was puzzled that it left religious differences largely unmentioned, as if in fear of stoking up any holy fires. 7/10.
The script by Spitzer and Goff deserves plaudits for its sharpness, notably the completely different approaches personified by fanatical wolf-like Cagney hiding under the lamb's clothes of a surgeon, and the more open-minded, longer-term thinking Cyril Cusack. Michael Redgrave, a very fine actor, seems to me wrong for the part: he was always THE Englishman par excellence, aware of the importance of being earnest, and as the General he maintains the superb English diction that simply has zero to do with the Irish rebel he is supposed to embody. Interesting show by a very young Ray McAnally - acting not at all anally - who I remember as a BBC classic car programme expert in the late 1970s, early 1980s.
As the ruthless and merciless Col. Smithson who uses a ring on his pinky to inflict extra pain on torture victims, Christopher Rhodes symbolizes the iron fist in the British colonization of Ireland.
Richard Harris looks suitably brutish as an IRA sidekick, and Glynis Johns is impressive as an Irish cause-supporting woman who knows her limitations if exposed to torture. Murray landed an invidious role as an American of Irish parentage returning to Ireland to attend medical college in Dublin, who finds himself in the grip of abnormal events. His US citizenship accounts for his distant stance, but to me he just does not belong. I found perplexing his sudden human killing efficiency.
Highly competent B&W cinematography by Erwin Hiller, with lovely landscapes and credible action scenes, notably Col. Smithson's ambush and harbor shootout at the end.
Albeit one of the most honest movies I have watched on the UK-IRA conflict, I was puzzled that it left religious differences largely unmentioned, as if in fear of stoking up any holy fires. 7/10.