Film Details
| Title | ROSALEEN DHU |
| Production company | Celtic Cinema Company |
| Country of origin | Ireland |
| Producer | POWERS, William J. |
| Director | POWERS, William J. |
| Script/Adaptation | POWERS, William J. (from the play Rosaleen Dhu by Joseph Denver) |
| Photography | TOBIN, Matthew |
| Cast | William J Powers (Ned Malone), Kitty Hart (heiress). |
| Colour | b&w |
| Sound | sil |
| Release date | 1919 |
| Copy | RTE |
| Summary | In 1879-82 during the Land War in Connemara, a Fenian is evicted from his home and framed for murder. As a result, he is forced to emigrate. He joins the French Foreign Legion and while in Algeria he marries a local girl who, when he returns to Ireland, turns out to be the kidnapped heiress of an Irish estate. |
| Note | 4 reels. IR Rel 16/12/1919; GB Rel ca. 17/3/1920. Note: Dhu is the Irish word for Dark; the title translates as Dark Rosaleen. The desert scenes were filmed on a beach at Arklow, Co. Wicklow, the eviction scene was filmed at a cottage on Bray Head, and 'Ned Malone's' farewell to Ireland was filmed in Bray harbour. A portable processing facility was set up for the film at the rear of Powers' business premises. Kitty Hart was an amateur actor with more than ten years stage experience. During the filming at Leopardstown racecourse, Dublin, of his next film, AN IRISH VENDETTA, from a Nat Gould novel. Powers, who was playing the lead in the film, was thrown from a horse on 6/6/1920 and died on 22/6/1920 from his injuries. This film was not completed. No further films were made by the company. The other film made by the Celtic Cinema Co was WILLIE SCOUTS WHILE JESSIE POUTS (Irl 1918). 'Happily anything that could be objectionable in the way of political controversy or class hatred is completely absent from the picture... One is struck with wonder at the glorious profusion of the most picturesque array of Irish mountain and glen and wooded landscape which the producer has so cleverly incorporated throughout the parts which are founded in Ireland, and again the scenes in Algiers show also the real Arab country.' (IL Dec 1919:19). |
| Reference | DEM 1/5/1920:2; IL Mar 1920 (ad); KW 5/2/1920. Gifford 06870: Feb 1920; IT 16/8/1977:8; IT 24/4/1995:13. |
| Format | 35mm |
| Language | English |
| Production credits | p.c: Celtic Cinema Company, p/d: William J Powers, sc: Powers from the play Rosaleen Dhu by Joseph Denver, c: Matthew Tobin. |
| Genre/Category | Historical Drama Feature Film Drama Theatrical Adaptation |
| Keywords | Land Wars (1879-1882) |