Irish Film Institute -FROM THE VAULTS: SHE DIDN’T SAY NO

FROM THE VAULTS: SHE DIDN’T SAY NO

Director: Cyril Frankel

96 minutes, 1959, Ireland, Colour, 35mm


This film screened on Thursday 28th May 2015. 

We are delighted to welcome guest David Langwallner, founder of the Irish Innocence Project, who will speak after the film.

Based on Una Troy’s novel, We Are Seven, which in turn was based on the real life story of Moll McCarthy, an unmarried Tipperary mother of seven, this surprisingly happy-go-lucky feature follows the efforts of disgruntled villagers and the county courts to relieve a woman of her children. Filmed in Cornwall and directed by Englishman Cyril Frankel, it features a strong Irish cast with Ray MacAnally, Joan O’Hara, Jack McGowan and Hilton Edwards.

A harrowing footnote to this story is that Moll McCarthy was murdered in 1940. Some justice has recently been served when Harry Gleeson, her neighbour who was hanged for the crime in 1941, was exonerated and become Ireland’s first recipient of a posthumous pardon from the State.

A restored 35mm print of the film is preserved in the IFI Irish Film Archive.

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