She Didn't Say No!

97 minutesCountryUnited KingdomLanguageEnglish

She Didn't Say No! is a 1958 British comedy film directed by Cyril Frankel and starring Eileen Herlie, Perlita Neilson and Niall MacGinnis.^[1] Based on the 1955 novel We Are Seven by Una Troy, an attractive young Irishwoman has six children from five different fathers.

Plot

In a little Irish town the authorities apply for a court order to remove the unmarried Bridget Monaghan's six children, who have five different fathers. When the judge disagrees, finding them to be a happy and united family, the doctor convenes a meeting of the surviving fathers (one has died) at which, after long discussion, they agree on a plan. To remove the scandal, they will buy the Monaghans a farm over 150 kilometres away.

Negotiations will be conducted by Casey, unmarried father of the eldest Monaghan boy, whom he takes to work on his own farm. The eldest Monaghan girl falls in love with a visiting painter, who wants to take her to Italy. The next Monaghan girl catches the eye of a visiting film director, who wants to take her to London. The youngest Monaghan boy wins the heart of his father's childless wife, who wants to adopt him. Two children are left when Casey is ready to move the family to their new home and, to remove scandal, he marries their mother.

Cast

• Eileen Herlie as Bridget Monahan
• Perlita Neilson as Mary Monahan
• Wilfred Downing as Tommy Monahan
• Anne Dickins as Poppy Monahan
• Teri Scoble as twin #2
• Lesley Scoble as twin #1
• Raymond Manthorpe as Toughy Monahan
• Niall MacGinnis as James Casey
• Patrick McAlinney as Matthew Hogan
• Jack MacGowran as William Bates
• Joan O'Hara as Mrs. Bates
• Ray McAnally as Jim Power
• Betty McDowall as Mrs. Power
• Ian Bannen as Peter Howard
• Eithne Dunne as Miss Hogan
• Hilton Edwards as Film Director
• Maureen Halligan as Miss Kelly
• Harry Hutchinson as Judge
• Paul Farrell as Darmody
• Shirley Joy as Maybella Merton
• Viola Keats as Mrs. Merton
• Anna Manahan as Maggie Murphy
• Michael O'Brien as Sergeant
• Liam Redmond as Dr. Cassidy
• John Welsh as Inspector

Production

The film was shot at Elstree Studios and in Cornwall, using Technicolor. The film's sets were designed by the art director William Kellner.

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "All the humour to be evoked from the subject of illegitimacy is here unmercifully bludgeoned, and a jolly musical score insists what a gay affair it all is. The direction is heavily unsubtle and the playing coyly emphatic. As an entertainment, the film is mediocre as well as mildly offensive."^[2]

British film critic Leslie Halliwell said: "Coyly daring comedy full of stage Oirishisms and obvious jokes, a few of whoich work."^[3]

Banning in Ireland and later history

Because of its portrayal of illegitimacy, the film was not released in Ireland^[4] until a film copy was retrieved in 2001 at the Irish Film Archive. It was shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2005, as part of an international film preservation festival.^[5] Thanks to the European initiative 'A Season of Classic Films'^[6][7] of the Association des Cinémathèques Européennes (ACE), the film has been digitised in early 2021 and made possible to release online with an introduction on the film’s preservation and history.^[8]

References

External links

• She Didn't Say No! at IMDb