''A Letter from Ulster'' is a 1942 documentary by
Ulster
Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...
-born movie director
Brian Desmond Hurst
Brian Desmond Hurst (12 February 1895 – 26 September 1986) was a Belfast-born film director. With over thirty films in his filmography, Hurst has been hailed as Northern Ireland's best film director.Screening will honour 'NI's best film ...
who, along with his lifelong friend
Terence Young Terence or Terry Young may refer to:
*Terence Young (director) (1915–1994), British film director
* Terence Young (politician) (born 1952), Canadian Conservative Party politician
* Terence Young (writer), Canadian writer
* Terry Young (American p ...
(scriptwriter) and fellow Ulsterman and Assistant Director
William (Bill) MacQuitty, created this film promoting a sense of community between the people of
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
and over one hundred thousand troops from the US based in Northern Ireland at the time.
William Alwyn
William Alwyn (born William Alwyn Smith; 7 November 1905 – 11 September 1985), was an English composer, conductor, and music teacher.
Life and music
William Alwyn was born William Alwyn Smith in Northampton, the son of Ada Tyler (Tompkins ...
provided music.
In 1942, tensions between the US troops and the local population were allegedly being stirred up by propaganda from German spies in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
. Hurst's brief was simple- to make a documentary to show that everyone was getting along fine.
Brian McIlroy in Chapter 3 of ''Re-viewing British Cinema 1900 - 1992: Essays and Interviews'' explained that "Hurst was able to persuade one Catholic and one Protestant soldier to write letters home, explaining their impressions of their stay. From these letters, Terence Young, the scriptwriter, was able to construct a sequence of activities that revealed the different traditions of Ireland".
The film follows American soldiers from the
US Army 34th Infantry Division as they train for war and enjoy the local hospitality. The two men who write home about their experiences take a tour of their new homeland in their little jeep and visit St Marys Church in Belfast, Gray Printers in Strabane, Carrickfergus Castle, and Roaring Meg on Derry's walls. They also travel by rail although the railway station seen is not Coleraine as portrayed in the film (even the station master's hat is correct) it is actually Cultra in North Down. They even manage to stray across the border with the South of Ireland towards Glaslough at one stage and are politely turned back. We also see them in their barracks at Tynan Abbey and undertaking tank and artillery exercises across the rolling landscape of Northern Ireland and the Sperrins can be seen in some footage. The artillery scenes used men from the 151st Field Artillery from Minnesota who, significantly, fired the first artillery shell of US Forces in the European Theatre of War in the Sperrins. The men we see went on to fight in some of the bloodiest battles of World War II including
Anzio
Anzio (, also , ) is a town and ''comune'' on the coast of the Lazio region of Italy, about south of Rome.
Well known for its seaside harbour setting, it is a fishing port and a departure point for ferries and hydroplanes to the Pontine Islands ...
and Monte Cassino.
The film also captures the cartoonist
Bruce Bairnsfather
Captain Charles Bruce Bairnsfather (9 July 188729 September 1959) was a prominent British humorist and cartoonist. His best-known cartoon character is Old Bill. Bill and his pals Bert and Alf featured in Bairnsfather's weekly "Fragments from Fr ...
(creator of 'Old Bill' during WW1) in a brief cameo whilst he was attached to the US Army. His work subsequently appears in the book of cartoons ''Jeeps and Jests'' which includes a cartoon of Brian Desmond Hurst filming ''A Letter From Ulster''.
In September 2011 Brian Desmond Hurst's relative and biographer Allan Esler Smith produced a short documentary, ''Revisiting A Letter From Ulster'' (directed by Adam Jones-Lloyd), featuring then and now footage and retracing the steps of the men from the 34th Infantry Division. The documentary premiered at the Aspects Festival in Ireland and was run on a loop for five days together with the original ''A Letter From Ulster'' and is now available to view (see link below).
To mark the 70th anniversary year of the US troops arrival in Northern Ireland to prepare for the War in Europe the Northern Ireland War Memorial Museum (Talbot Street, Belfast) screened Brian Desmond Hurst's classic documentary ''A Letter From Ulster'' throughout September and October 2012. This supported their ongoing permanent exhibition dedicated to the US troops that trained in Northern Ireland during the Second World War.
Articles and books
Revisiting A Letter From Ulster by Allan Esler Smith published on 6 September 2012 by
Northern Ireland War Memorial
The Northern Ireland War Memorial also called NI War Memorial and War Memorial was opened in 2007 in Talbot Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland. It replaced an earlier building called Memorial House which was located in Waring Street on a site whic ...
http://www.briandesmondhurst.org/letterfromulster.html
''Theirs is the Glory: Arnhem, Hurst and Conflict on Film'' takes Hurst's Battle of Arnhem epic as its centrepiece and then chronicles Hurst's life and experiences during the First World War and profiles each of his other nine films on conflict, including ''A Letter from Ulster''.
[. Publisher Helion and Company and co-authored by David Truesdale and Allan Esler Smith and a foreword by Sir Roger Moore. Available here: http://www.helion.co.uk/new-and-forthcoming-titles/theirs-is-the-glory-arnhem-hurst-and-conflict-on-film.html]
References
External links
*
www.briandesmondhurst.org- official legacy website of the director with filmography including A Letter From Ulster*
* - short film commemorating the 70th Anniversary of US Troops in Northern Ireland and 25th Anniversary of the death of director Brian Desmond Hurst
{{DEFAULTSORT:Letter From Ulster, A
British documentary films
Films from Northern Ireland
1942 films
Black-and-white documentary films
1942 documentary films
Films directed by Brian Desmond Hurst
British World War II propaganda films
Films shot in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland in World War II
Irish black-and-white films
1940s English-language films