published on in blog

The Quare Fellow

Based on Brendan Behan's play [adapted by Jacqueline Sundstrom and director Arthur Dreifuss], this is an all-out protest against capital punishment. It is downbeat entertainment but honest and has the benefit of a sterling cast, virtually all Irish. It has also been shot entirely in a Dublin prison and on location.

Based on Brendan Behan’s play [adapted by Jacqueline Sundstrom and director Arthur Dreifuss], this is an all-out protest against capital punishment. It is downbeat entertainment but honest and has the benefit of a sterling cast, virtually all Irish. It has also been shot entirely in a Dublin prison and on location.

Patrick McGoohan is a young man from the Irish backwoods who takes up his first appointment as a jail warder with lofty ideals. Criminals must be punished for the sake of society is his inflexible theory and that also embraces capital punishment. But when he arrives he is shaken by the prison atmosphere.

Two men are awaiting the noose. One is reprieved but hangs himself. That shakes McGoohan. He meets the young wife (Sylvia Syms) of the other murderer and his convictions totter still more when he hears precisely what caused her husand to murder his brother. Mostly, though, he is influenced by a veteran warder (Walter Macken) who believes that capital punishment is often a worse crime than the original offence.

Popular on Variety

The Quare Fellow (Irish prison slang for a guy due to be topped) is mostly a study of men’s conscience and convictions. Such thin storyline as there is hinges on whether the murderer will be reprieved.

The film, a mixture of grim humor and cynical starkness, brings out the clamminess and misery of prison life, and is helped by the grey lensing of Peter Hennessy.

Jump to Comments

The Quare Fellow

UK

  • Production: British Lion. Director Arthur Dreifuss; Producer Anthony Havelock-Allan; Screenplay Arthur Dreifuss; Camera Peter Hennessy; Editor Gitta Zadek; Music Alexander Faris; Art Director Ted Marshall
  • Crew: (B&W) Extract of a review from 1962. Running time: 90 MIN.
  • With: Patrick McGoohan Sylvia Syms Walter Macken Harry Brogan Dermot Kelly Marie Kean

More from Variety

Most Popular

Must Read

Sign Up for Variety Newsletters

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. // This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Variety Confidential

A Variety and iHeartRadio Podcast

ncG1vNJzZmiukae2psDYZ5qopV9mhnd9jp%2BgpaVfp7K3tcSwqmismJp6ssHAq5xmnpWhubDDjGppaWhkZ31xgZJo