FILM REVIEWS

“It had nothing to do with cinema.” Hitchcock told Francois Truffaut in a long interview about his and his wife (Alma Reville’s) adaptation of Sean O’Casey’s famous Irish play.

It’s hard to see what motivated Hitchcock to direct this movie, his thirteenth, about an impoverished Irish family during Dublin’s political uprisings.

As Juno, Sara Allgood, who would have a distinguished career in Hollywood as a character actress, leads a good cast of thespians playing the common poor.

It’s one of the few Hitchcock movies that I do not like and cannot find many artistic merits in it. By Hitchcock’s standards, the film is sentimental and has more pathos than humor or wit, two attributes of the director’s later and better work.

In its initial release, however, “Juno and the Paycock” was both a critical and commercial success.

Cast
Juno (Sara Allgood)
Captain Boyle (Edward Chapman)
Joxer (Sidney Morgan)
Mrs. Madigan (Marie O’Neill

Credits

Produced by John Maxwell
Screenplay: Hitchcock and Alma Reville, based on Sean O’Casey’s play
Cinematography: Jack Cox
Set design: Norman Arnold
Editing: Emilie de Ruelle