Ourselves Alone (film)

Ourselves Alone is a 1936 British film depicting a love story set against the backdrop of the Irish War of Independence. The title is a mistranslation of the Irish Sinn Féin. It is directed by Brian Desmond Hurst and stars John Lodge, John Loder and Antoinette Cellier.

Synopsis

The film opens with an IRA ambush of a police convoy carrying two captured members of the IRA. Irish Police Inspector Hannay (John Lodge) and British Captain Wiltshire of the Royal Intelligence Corps (John Loder) both turn out to be in love with Maureen Elliot (Antionette Cellier) sister of the IRA leader. The IRA leader is subsequently shot by Wiltshire. Hannay realises that Maureen is in love with Wiltshire and, as a final gesture, takes the blame for shooting her brother himself. Maureen then helps Captain Wiltshire to escape an IRA trap.

Cast

• John Lodge as Inspector Hanney
• John Loder as Capt. Wiltshire
• Antoinette Cellier as Maureen Elliott
• Niall MacGinnis as Terence Elliott
• Clifford Evans as Commander Connolly
• Jerry Verno as Private Parsley
• Bruce Lester as 2nd Lt. Lingard
• Maire O'Neill as Nanny
• Tony Quinn as Maloney
• Paul Farrell as Hogan

Reception

One of the earliest reviews (on 10 May 1936) identifies this film as director, Brian Desmond Hurst's breakthrough film, under the banner headline Hitchcock... Capra.... Desmond-Hurst " on B.I.P's "little heard of" 'Ourselves Alone' it states "Remarkably little publicity concerning this production has reached the public, but among those concerned in the business (this time I won't say 'racket') whispers have gone round, like they often do, that it would be worth watching. That whisper should become a shout."

A reviewer in the Irish Times (17 August 1936) under the heading 'Film of the year' stated "If there was any betting on film results I would like to have a little flutter on Ourselves Alone".

Novelist Graham Greene, then film reviewer for The Spectator, noted in July 1936 that this film had been favourably compared to The Informer (1935) by other critics, but dissented from this opinion himself. "One of the silliest pictures which even an English studio has yet managed to turn out", he wrote.^[1]

The film was voted the seventh best British movie of 1936.^[2]

Books

Theirs is the Glory. Arnhem, Hurst and Conflict on Film takes film director Brian Desmond Hurst's Battle of Arnhem epic as its centerpiece and chronicles Hurst's ten films on conflict including Ourselves Alone. Released in hardback on 15 September 2016 with almost 400 pages and over 350 images "this book also shows why Hurst was an enigma, but a master of the genre, and at his very best when focusing on the vast canvas of film" (from dust jacket). ISBN 978-1-911096-63-4. Publisher Helion and Company and co-authored by David Truesdale and Allan Esler Smith.

References

External links

• Ourselves Alone at the Internet Movie Database
• Ourselves Alone at AllMovie
• Official legacy website of the director with filmography including Ourselves Alone