Shake Hands with the Devil ** (1959, James Cagney, Don Murray, Dana Wynter, Glynis Johns, Sybil Thorndike, Michael Redgrave) – Classic Movie Review 11,513

Producer-director Michael Anderson’s 1959 drama Shake Hands with the Devil stars James Cagney as Sean Lenihan, a Dublin College of Surgeons tutor and Irish Republican Army boss who leads a young Irish-American overseas student Kerry O’Shea (Don Murray), in Ireland studying at the College of Surgeons, down the path to violence in the 1920s.

The film is set in Dublin in 1921 when the IRA battles the Black and Tans, ex-British soldiers sent to suppress the rebels, and the Irish-American O’Shea joins the IRA when his buddy is murdered, while falling for royalist captive Jennifer Curtis (Dana Wynter).

Definitely not politically correct, with its troubling views of the conflict, this worrying and dated dramatisation of the continuing traumas in Northern Ireland now looks simplistic and naive. But the Irish locations and the top-notch cast nevertheless make sure it still remains a gripping story today.

The cast is stuffed full of talent, although some non-Irish members appear rather confused by their wobbly ‘Oirish’ accents.

Shake Hands with the Devil was filmed in Dublin, and at Ardmore Studios in Bray, Ireland.

Marian Spitzer’s screenplay is based on the 1933 novel by Rearden Conner, son of a Royal Irish Constabulary policeman.

Also featured are Glynis Johns as Kitty Brady, Michael Redgrave as The General, Sybil Thorndike as Lady Fitzhugh, Cyril Cusack as Chris Noonan, Harry Brogan as Tom Cassidy, Robert Brown as First Sergeant Black and Tans, Lewis Casson as Judge, Christopher Casson as Brigadier, John Cairney as Mike O’Callaghan, Harry H. Corbett as Clancy, Allan Cuthbertson as Captain, Donal Donnelly as Willie Lafferty, Eithne Dunne as Eileen O’Leary, Richard Harris as Terence O’Brien, William Hartnell as Sergeant Jenkins, John Le Mesurier as British General, Niall MacGinnis as Michael O’Leary, Patrick McAlinney as bartender Donovan, Ray McAnally as Paddy Nolan, Clive Morton as Sir Arnold Fielding, Noel Purcell as Liam O’Sullivan, Peter Reynolds as Captain Black and Tans, and Christopher Rhodes as Colonel Smithson.

It had its world premiere on 21 May 1959 in Dublin.

Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,513

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/