My ancestors - O'Meara - Contents

Films of James Mark Sullivan, 1916-20

• References:
  • Report of showing of Knocknagow at Empire Theatre, Irish Times, April 23, 1918, p.3.
  • Review of Knocknagow, The Bioscope (The Independent Film Trade Paper), England, 16 Oct 1919.
  • Letters about "Knocknagow" from Michael Rynne ("UP DUBLIN") to Evening Herald, 23 May 1968 and 7 June 1968. NOT Evening Press. NOT 1965.
  • Letter about "Knocknagow" from Michael Rynne to Irish Times, 7 Jan 1975.
    This references an interview with Cyril Cusack, January 3, 1975.
  • Anthony Slide, The Cinema and Ireland, 1988.
  • Brian McIlroy, Irish Cinema: An Illustrated History, 1988.
  • Censoring Irish Nationalism: The British, Irish and American Suppression of Republican Images in Film and Television, 1909-1995 by Louisa Burns-Biscogno, 1997.
  • Stills, Reels and Rushes: Ireland and the Irish in Twentieth Century Cinema by Michael Gray, 2000.
  • Irish National Cinema, Ruth Barton, 2004.

• Sources yet to be consulted:
  • Maryanne Felter (and here)
    • Maryanne Felter and Daniel Schultz, "James Mark Sullivan and the Film Company of Ireland", New Hibernia Review, Volume 8, Number 2, Summer 2004 (also here), pp. 24-40. See also Editors' Notes.

  • The Irish Limelight Jan 1917 : 3.
  • The Irish Limelight May 1917 : 4.
  • The Bioscope, 15 Jan 1920.
  • "Came the Dawn", program on Irish cinema, Radio Éireann, Wed 5 May 1965.
  • "Film Production in Ireland in the Early Days", John MacDonagh's reminiscences, in Cinema Ireland 1895-1976 [pamphlet] (Dublin: Dublin Arts Festival 1976).
  • Taylor Downing, "The film company of Ireland", Sight & Sound, 49 n1 (1980): 42-5.
  • Tony Iles, "Irish film making - the forgotten years", Cinema Technology, 12 n4 (1999): 32-36.
  • Section: "The Film Company of Ireland, 1916-20", p.676, A New History of Ireland, VII: Ireland 1921-84, ed. J.R. Hill, Oxford, 2004.
  • The Story of Irish Film by Arthur Flynn, 2004.

  • Wharton Releasing Corporation records, c.1916-23, Collection Number: 3924, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
    • "Knock-Na-Gow" or "The Homes of Tipperary", Box 1, Folder 46
    • "Willy Reilly and His Colleen Bawn", Box 1, Folder 49-51

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List of films

A list of films produced by James Mark Sullivan and the Film Company of Ireland, 1916-20.
All silent movies.

1. O'Neill of the Glen (also here and here), 1916. "Released July 1916". Listed as FCI's first film, screened at the Bohemian Theatre in Dublin, 7th Aug 1916. See account: "a cameraman from the Film Company of Ireland photographed audience members as they walked into the theater. The footage was then screened as an addition to the film at subsequent screenings"

2. Food of Love (also here), 1916.
3. Irish Jarvey Tales, 1916.
4. Puck Fair Romance (also here and here), 1916.
5. Shanachies Tales, 1916.
6. The Eleventh Hour (also here), 1916.
7. The Girl From the Golden Vale, 1916.
8. The Miser's Gift (also here and here), 1916 (or 1917).
9. Treasure Trove, 1916.
10. Woman's Wit (also here and here), 1916 (or 1917).
11. Fun at a Finglas Fair, 1916.

12. The Widow Malone (also here and here), 1917 (NOT 1916). Released January 15, 1917.
13. An Unfair Love Affair (also here), 1917 (NOT 1916). Released January 22, 1917.
14. A Girl of Glenbeigh (also here), 1917 (or 1918).
15. A Man's Redemption, 1917.
16. A Passing Shower, 1917.
17. Blarney (also here), 1917.
18. Cleansing Fires, 1917.
19. Rafferty's Rise (also here), 1917 (NOT 1918). Jim produced it.
20. The Byeways of Fate (also here), 1917.
21. The Irish Girl (also here), 1917.
22. The Upstart (also here), 1917.
23. When Love Came to Gavin Burke (also here), filmed 1917 (definitely), released 1917 or 1918.

24. Knocknagow (and here), shot in 1917, released 1918 (NOT any other date), a film of the novel Knocknagow by Charles Joseph Kickham.
    Length: 90 mins. First shown in Clonmel 30 Jan 1918. Opened in Dublin 6 Feb 1918 [Slide, 1988]. Jim produced it. Film directed by Fred O'Donovan, who also starred. It was filmed at a big house near Kickham's home town Mullinahone, Co.Tipperary. Nell's sister Mary Rynne had a role in it. Cyril Cusack (see filmography) appeared in it as a 7 yr old boy, it was his film debut, he had already been on stage. Micheál MacLiammóir had a minor role in it. It was a popular film in Ireland and Irish America, especially in the new, post-1916, Irish nationalist atmosphere. An English review [Bioscope, 1919] finds some charm in it, despite being put off by what it sees as heavy-handed anti-English politics.

25. Willy Reilly and his Colleen Bawn (and here), 1918 (or 1920), a film of the popular story of 18th cent Catholic-Protestant love, Willy Reilly and His Dear Cooleen Bawn by William Carleton, 1855.
    Jim produced it. Film directed by the well known film director John MacDonagh [see biography].
    John was brother of Thomas MacDonagh the executed 1916 leader, who had when alive been involved in theatre and publishing, co-founder of Edward Martyn's Irish Theatre, and co-founder of St.Enda's. Some of the film was shot at St Enda's.
    Under cover of this film they made an appeal film [shot at St Enda's, directed by John MacDonagh] for the 1919 Irish Republican Loan. "In those dangerous and exciting times, no cinema owner would dare risk exhibiting the Republican Loans film so it was planned for a few volunteers in fast cars to visit certain cinemas, rush the operator's box, and, at gun-point, force the operator to take off the film he was showing, and put on the Loan film." [MacDonagh, 1976]. Copy of the Loan film exists in [IFA].

26. Paying the Rent (also here), 1919 (or 1920).
27. In the Days of Saint Patrick, 1920, was produced by the "General Film Company of Ireland".

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Other films

1. NOT by the Film Company of Ireland: You Remember Ellen (also here), 1912. This was produced by the Kalem company (American, made a number of movies in Ireland).

2. Possibly by the Film Company of Ireland: Land of Her Fathers, 1924.

Jim Sullivan, 1913.
See larger and full size.

Jim Sullivan grave, Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.
Photo 2010. See full size and other shot.
See wider shot showing location relative to chapel.
See close-up and other shot.

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"Whatever the limitations of the two major fiction film production companies, Kalem and The Film Company of Ireland, working in Ireland during the 1910-20's, they did produce the first positive fictional images of Ireland on film."
- Kevin Rockett, Cinema and Ireland, 1988.

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• IMDB
  • Film Company of Ireland
  • James Mark Sullivan

• Irish Film and Television Network, Palmerstown Centre, Kennelsfort Road, Dublin 20.
  • filmography of Irish films

• IFI - Irish Film Institute (see site), 6 Eustace St, Dublin 2.
  • Founded as Irish Film Centre 1992.
  • IFI Library (books and journals)
  • IFA - Irish Film Archive (see site) (films)
  • A copy of Knocknagow can be obtained from the IFA.

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