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Songs of the Emerald Isle
The St. Patrick's Day Collection

Songs of the Emerald Isle

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This short film presents five much-loved Irish airs and ballads against a backdrop of the Irish landscape. Bing Crosby sings How Can you Buy Killarney? (from his St Patrick’s Day Parade album), John Feeney sings The Connemara Shore and Connie Foley sings Lovely Leitrim. These songs of yearning and nostalgia are illustrated with images of Irish Travellers, fishermen, foresters and farmers, ancient monuments, rich […]
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Amateur

Keep Watching the Skies

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Inspired by the American Horror films from the late 1950s, in a remote American lake a fisherman dislodges a canister which has been jettisoned from a flying saucer. A teenager and his girlfriend manage to convince the police of the existence of an all-consuming creature that has emerged from the canister, but it’s not long […]
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Beauty Now
Animation

Beauty Now

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This satirical view of our contemporary attitude about beauty is presented in the style of a 1950’s informational film. With kind permission of Boulder Media.
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Glamour of Galway
Documentary

Glamour of Galway

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Galway old and new, is captured in glorious colour in this 1957 Bord Fáilte (now Fáilte Ireland) tourism film produced and directed by Colm Ó Laoghaire. Situated on the west coast of Ireland, Galway is one of the largest cities in Ireland and boasts a complex history dating back to medieval times. The film highlights […]
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Portrait of Dublin
Entertainment

Portrait of Dublin

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This short film was made by filmmaker (later archivist) Liam Ó Laoghaire (aka Liam O’Leary) and was commissioned by the Cultural Relations Committee of the Department of External Affairs. The film was designed to promote the city of Dublin to its inhabitants and to potential visitors from abroad. Brendan Stafford’s crisp black and white cinematography […]
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Evie Horne
Documentary

Hallowed Fire: The Art of Evie Hone

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This short documentary about renowned Irish cubist painter and stained glass artist Evie Hone was one of a series of artist profiles commissioned by the Cultural Relations Committee of the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs. Filmed at her Dublin studio in Marley Park in Rathfarnham in 1950, it explores the artist’s life, creative process and […]
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Clubs are Trumps 1
1930s-1960s

Clubs Are Trumps

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This short film was made to promote the activities of the Our Lady of Good Counsel Boys Club in Thomas Street, Dublin. In the 1950s Father McGrath, a Dublin-based Augustinian Priest, ran this social club in a working class area of Dublin’s inner-city. He decided that the production of a short film outlining the activities […]
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07_Ireland in the Spring-min
Irish Culture

Ireland in Spring

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Ireland is beautiful all-year-round but spring is when it really blossoms. Produced by Colm O’ Laoghaire (director of the Amharc Éireann newsreels for Gael-Linn) this film is a celebration of all things Irish and a delightful window on 1950s Eire. The film focuses on An Tóstal (Irish for “The Pageant”) which was a series of […]
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Beau guest
Entertainment

Beau Guest

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This beautifully-animated short made in 1956 takes a humorous approach to the promotion of tourism in Ireland. Next to agriculture, tourism was Ireland’s biggest industry and this short film shows its benefits for everyone in Ireland. Made for Bord Fáilte, the Irish tourist board, by Irish advertising agency O’Kennedy-Brindley and British cinema advertising company Pearl […]
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