The Quiet Man (1952)

Hi Seaneen

Welcome to the board from one Quiet Man fan to another.

Regards

Arthur

Quote from Tbone

Seaneen,

The contraption you ask about is an old fashioned steam tractor. In addition to pulling and plowing, the big wheels on the sides were connected to machines via large belts and used to provide power for operating them. These would be things like bailers and lifts.

You can't tell from the way it's setup in the scene but it's possible they would have had a hay wagon hooked up to the back of it from bringing in hay. There aren't any belts on the wheels so they wouldn't have been using it to power other machinery.

Ah! I remember as a little kid - a very little kid - my uncles tilting the hay trailer up and making the horse back up quickly to scoop the haystack -- what did they call it? It wasn't a stack. I forget now -- while they used a robe around the stack to pull it up onto the trailer.

A few years later, using the lifter on the back of the tractor was much easier.

And these days it seems it's all silage.

Thanks, Tbone.

And thank you, Chester and the Mrs and Arthur for the welcome.

Ah, horses, hay and wagons! There's heaven!

Seaneen, please forgive me for not first welcoming you to the site! The Quiet Man is my favorite Duke film. Some day I hope to be able to go back to the Old Sod and see if I can find anything of my family.

Well anyway a belated welcome and enjoy your ride!

I agree. The Quiet Man is my favorite Duke film, what with my being Irish and loving Guinness and all that.

I realize this is old news (pre-JWMB), but I found it interesting because of the John Wayne connection -

Quote

Brosnan To Marry In "Quiet Man" Church
10 July 2001 (WENN)
James Bond star Pierce Brosnan is to marry fiancee Keely Shaye Smith in an Irish church that featured in the 1951 John Wayne movie "The Quiet Man". The Roman Catholic ceremony will take place next month at St Mary's Church in Cong, in western Ireland. The reception will then be held in the grounds of the exclusive Ashford Castle Hotel. Widower Brosnan, 49, twice postponed the wedding last year after his teenage son Sean suffered spinal injuries in a traffic accident. The Goldeneye star has also reportedly signed a six-figure deal with British magazine Hello! for the photographic rights to the wedding.

I have heard there is a tour you can go on covering the Quiet Man film locations, might be worth looking into

John,

From a cost standpoint, is it reasonable to go on holiday in Ireland? Is the travel time short enough? Is it something your whole family would enjoy?

For me, I'm in the same country as the Alamo, but 3-4 days drive away, or plane fare for the whole family to see someplace that might not hold the same interest for all in the group (like a trip to Hawaii would, or a trip to NY to visit the wife's family).

Needless to say, there are many things in our country that I have not seen, that I would like to. Nothing that winning the lottery wouldn't cure :teeth_smile:!

Chester

We could go on a weekend break for around £100, cheaper for us to take car over on the ferry then book in a B & B

I just finished watching The Quiet Man again - what other movie would I be watching on St. Patrick's Day?

Something has got to be done to fix the master print of the film. I watched the DVD and the shadows are so dark there's nothing to see. The scene in the church where Sean meets Mary Kate looks like it was filmed in the dead of night.

Pity, we english do not pay much attention to Saint Georges Day ???

Hi all!
I will give you some information about those two Churches we can see in The Quiet Man. After 2003 are they both named as St. Mary Church one Catholic and one Protestant.
Len

I understand that the inside scene was filmed in the Catholic church but the outside one was at the Protestant church.

I have to say that it seems to me Ford was reaching a bit with the holy water font being outside. You guys still in the Old Sod correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't imagine a priest putting a holy water font outside for the birds to be able to take their baths in.

Maybe the priest was a n animal lover and wanted to bless all critters.

Hi all here is a story about the Holy Water scene by The foootsteps of TQM.

Among Lord Killanin’s many anecdotes is one of the holy water scene:

We used the interior of the Catholic church in Cong, with its magnificent Harry Clarke stained-glass window, preserved to this day in the reconstructed church, and the exterior of the Church of Ireland just a few hundred yards away at the exit gates from Ashford Castle. Jack Ford was keen to capture Clarke’s work in the movie – even though he had to slow down the camera, which made Duke Wayne’s walk a little stranger than usual as he came down the aisle. [Clarke, a Dublin artist born a hundred years ago of an English father and Irish mother, is now recognised internationally as a bizarre genius of his age.]
Using the Protestant church led to trouble for Jack and I. The holy water font was taken from outside the Catholic church and placed at the door of the Church of Ireland for the patty-fingers scene. Well, it was left there by mistake and the following Sunday when the Protestants turned up they objected strongly to the minister, who had given permission for filming, over what they reckoned to be a Parish intrusion. Jack and I were then asked to go and see the minister who had been paid for the use of his facilities but had now been reported to his bishop by an angry flock. So we went to see if we could placate the bishop, who happened to be my father-in-law’s bishop and didn’t like us in any case. He never even asked us to sit down and Jack was hopping mad. The bishop wanted us to delete the scene so we explained that it cost about £10,000 a day and this was four or five days work. Needless to say, we kept the scene very much in. On reflection it’s quiet comical when you think about the precarious situation of the minister in the film. Mr Playfair, trying to impress his bishop that the parish should stay open, and the fact he has to depend on the Catholics ‘cheering like Protestant to help save his job.

a classic that no words of mine could do justice do. I ask no more from a movie than this, and have seen far to many that offered less.

Thanks lenrehn for sharing that story. Any other anecdotes would be appreciated.

Hi all,

Overland, thank you for the link to The Quiet Man cottage.
I have been to Cong, were the movie was made a few times,
and have also been to Maam's Cross and seen the cottage.
It's so sad that it has been allowed to fall into such disarray.

Hi Emmanuel,

How you doing?

Here is our link to the dedicated thread.

Duke's Movie Locations- Ireland

Quote from overland

Hello
Also, I had the honor of going over to Ireland meeting Lord Killain (he was a partner with John Ford) and visiting the Quiet Man Cottage. You can see a short film at http://www.quietmancottage.com

I plan to do alot more about the Cottage and the Quiet Man.

It is ruined isn't it?

A talented actor with a great career