The Rising of the Moon (DVD)

Four-time Academy Award winner John Ford returns to his Irish roots in this lighthearted gem featuring three short films introduced by Tyrone Power and shot entirely in Ireland. The first, The Majesty of the Law, is the droll tale of a police inspector (Cyril Cusack) trying to serve a warrant on an old man (Noel Purcell) who assaulted his neighbor. A Minute's Wait tells the farcical story of how a train's one-minute depot stop turns into a two-hour delay. The final episode, 1921, stars Dublin's famed Abbey Theatre Players in a drama inspired by Lady Gregory's celebrated one-act play The Rising of the Moon, in which two bogus nuns attempt to save an imprisoned patriot (Donal Donnelly) from hanging. One of the most personal films he ever made, The Rising of the Moon was Ford's attempt to promote filmmaking in Ireland. He later remarked that he directed the picture "just for fun, and enjoyed it very much." *Directing: The Informer (1935), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), The Quiet Man (1952)

• classic
• western