Man of Aran

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• 1934
• 1 hr 16 mins
• Documentary, Drama

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Somewhere off the western coast of Ireland, lying almost buried in what may well be called the toughest stretch of ocean on the globe, are the tiny Aran Islands. To those islands two years ago went Robert Flaherty, the man who made "Nanook of the North," "Moana" and "Tabu," there to record via the motion picture the struggle for the necessities of life carried on by the hardy and wholly admirable inhabitants. The result should rank as an outstanding contribution to the screen, of this or any other year. It is not story that makes it so, for there is little of that, as such; nor is it performances, for the players are the natives of Aran. It is rather the manner in which a saga has been told, with few words but magnificent photography, with little elaboration, but with a fine sense of that combination of scenic and basic detail which goes to make up a complete story of a people, told in pictures in the short space of slightly more than one hour. As far as the exhibitor is concerned, it is a picture with which he can go to all the women's clubs, all the schools and all the local organizations of like character. To them he may promise something unusual, a film which rates on a par with the "Nanook" of several years ago. The exhibitor also may make full use of the known ability and previous work of Mr. Flaherty, and can embellish his lobby with scenic stills. There are just three persons of importance in the cast, "Tiger" King, the "man of Aran," Maggie Dirrane, as his wife, and Michael Oillane, as their son. They are all three natives, as are the boatmen, the other players. In recording with vivid detail and often with thrilling action, the lives of these three, the producer has in essence recounted the story of the lives of all the people on the Aran Islands, where independence is the most vital consideration in their lives, while the sea dominates them all. Highlighting the picture, in addition to the seascapes which the camera has recorded in superb fashion, are the scenes in which "Tiger" and his fellow fishermen go to sea in an open boat no larger than a dory, in mountainous seas, by day or night, and harpoon sharks. Of interest of another sort is the manner in which a small portion of the wholly rocky surface of the island is smoothed, overlaid with seaweed tortuously gathered, on which is strewn earth, accumulated little by little from the rocky crevices and carried on the back in baskets, for the potato "crop." The utter fearlessness of the small boy and his mother, not to mention the men, in their eternal struggle against the thunderous and dominating sea, imparts to the picture a basic appeal. It is a picture to the selling of which the exhibitor can apply every type of cooperative effort. No matter what the box office may return, the showing of the film appears worth its own weight in prestige for the theatre and for the newspaper support it is certain to receive in most communities.