''Juno and the Paycock'' is a 1930 British

tragicomedy Tragicomedy is a literary genre that blends aspects of both tragedy, tragic and comedy, comic forms. Most often seen in drama, dramatic literature, the term can describe either a tragic play which contains enough comic elements to lighten the ov ...

film written and directed by

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

, and starring

Barry Fitzgerald William Joseph Shields (10 March 1888 – 14 January 1961), known professionally as Barry Fitzgerald, was an Irish stage, film and television actor. In a career spanning almost forty years, he appeared in such notable films as ''Bringing Up Ba ...

Maire O'Neill Maire O'Neill (born Mary Agnes Allgood; 11 January 1886 – 2 November 1952) was an Irish actress of stage and film. She holds a place in theatre history as the first actress to interpret the lead character of Pegeen Mike Flaherty in John Mill ...

, Edward Chapman and

Sara Allgood Sarah Ellen Allgood (30 October 1880 – 13 September 1950), known as Sara Allgood, was an Irish-American actress. She first studied drama with the Irish nationalist Daughters of Ireland and was at the opening of the Irish National Theatre Soc ...

. The film was based on the successful 1924

play of the same name Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

Seán O'Casey Seán O'Casey ( ga, Seán Ó Cathasaigh ; born John Casey; 30 March 1880 – 18 September 1964) was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes. ...

Plot

Barry Fitzgerald, who played Captain Jack Boyle in the original stage production, appears as an orator in the first scene, but has no other role. In the slums of Dublin during the

Irish Civil War The Irish Civil War ( ga, Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United ...

, Captain Boyle (Edward Chapman) lives in a two-room tenement flat with his wife Juno (Sara Allgood) and their two adult children Mary ( Kathleen O'Regan) and Johnny (

John Laurie John Paton Laurie (25 March 1897 – 23 June 1980) was a Scottish actor. In the course of his career, Laurie performed on the stage and in films as well as television. He is perhaps best remembered for his role in the sitcom ''Dad's Army'' (196 ...

). Juno has dubbed her husband "the Paycock" because she thinks him as useless and vain as a

peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...

. Juno works while the Captain loafs around the flat when not drinking up the family's meagre finances at the neighbourhood pub. Daughter Mary has a job but is on strike against the victimisation of a co-worker. Son Johnny has become a semi-invalid after losing an arm and severely injuring his hip in a fight with the

Black and Tans Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have ...

during the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mil ...

. Although Johnny has taken the Anti-Treaty side during the continuing

, he has recently turned in a fellow

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief tha ...

(IRA) member to the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between th ...

police who subsequently kill him. The Paycock tells his friend Joxer (

Sidney Morgan Sidney Morgan (2 August 1874 – 11 June 1946) was an English film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. He directed 45 films between 1914 and 1937. As an actor, he appeared in the Alfred Hitchcock film '' Juno and the Paycock''. ...

) of his disgust at the informer, unaware that his son was responsible. The IRA suspect Johnny and order him to report to them for questioning; he refuses, protesting that his wounds show he has done his bit for Ireland. Mary is courted by Jerry Devine ( Dave Morris), whom she leaves for Charlie Bentham (

John Longden John Longden (11 November 1900 – 26 May 1971) was an English film actor. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1926 and 1964, including five films directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Biography Longden was born in the West Indies, the son o ...

) who whisks her away after telling Mary's family the Captain is to receive an inheritance. The elated Captain borrows money against the (as yet un-received) inheritance and spends it freely on new furniture and a

gramophone A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

. Family friends are invited to an impromptu party at the once shabby tenement. The Captain soon learns the inheritance has been lost because Bentham made an error in drafting the will. The Captain keeps the bad news a secret until creditors show up. Even Joxer turns on the Captain and gleefully spreads the news of the nonexistent inheritance to creditors. The furniture store repossesses the furniture. The tailor demands money for new clothes. Pub owner Mrs. Madigan (

) takes the Victrola to cover the Captain's bar tab. The worst is yet to come, however. Mary reveals that she has shamed the family by becoming pregnant by Charles, who has disappeared after his blunder was discovered. Her former fiancé Jerry proclaims his love for Mary and offers to marry her until he learns of her pregnancy. While his parents are absent dealing with the situation, Johnny is arrested by the IRA and his body is later found riddled with bullets. Realising that their family has been destroyed, Mary declares, "It's true. There is no God." Although completely shattered, Juno shushes her daughter, saying that they will need both Christ and the

Blessed Virgin Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

to deal with their grief. Alone, however, she laments her son's fate before the religious statues in the family's empty tenement, deciding that Boyle will remain useless, and leaves with Mary.

Cast

as Maisie Madigan * Edward Chapman as Captain Boyle *

as "Joxer" Daly *

as Mrs Boyle, "Juno" *

as Johnny Boyle * Dave Morris as Jerry Devine * Kathleen O'Regan as Mary Boyle *

as Charles Bentham *

Dennis Wyndham Dennis Wyndham (15 January 1887 – 19 August 1973) was a South African born stage and film actor. Long based in Britain, he appeared in more than 40 films between 1920 and 1956. He was born in Natal, South Africa. On 23 May 1917, he marrie ...

as The Mobiliser *

as The Orator

Production

The film was based on the successful play ''

Juno and the Paycock ''Juno and the Paycock'' is a play by Seán O'Casey. Highly regarded and often performed in Ireland, it was first staged at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1924. It is set in the working-class tenements of Dublin in the early 1920s, during the Ir ...

'' by

. Hitchcock filmed a faithful reproduction of the play using few of the directorial touches he had incorporated in his previous films. Instead he often asked cinematographer Jack Cox to hold the camera for long single shots. He was eager to have a scene set outside the flat inserted into the film, and after permission from O'Casey, added a pub scene. O'Casey made quite an impression on Hitchcock, and was the inspiration for the prophet of doom in the diner in '' The Birds''. Sara Allgood reprised her role as Juno from the play. Barry Fitzgerald made his film debut. The tailor Mr Kelly, who repossesses Captain Boyle's new clothes (bought on hire-purchase), is portrayed by a Jewish actor and given a strong Germanic accent, although there is no indication in the original play that the character (there called Nugent) is anything other than an Irish Gentile. It has been alleged that this plays up to the stereotype of Jews as alien usurers, and 'reading' the language used by the tailor in the film – "I should vorry vot you dress yourself in? Go ahead, jump in a pillowslip!" – has obviously been reworked to sound Jewish compared to Nugent in O'Casey's play: "What do I care what you dhress yourself in ? You can put yourself in a bolsther cover, if you like." Similarly, the songs in the film are deliberately the kind of fake-Irish music hall ones then popular in America, such as ''If You're Irish, Come Into the Parlour'', where in O'Casey's original their meaning is other; the words of ''She is Far from the Land'',

Thomas Moore Thomas Moore (28 May 1779 – 25 February 1852) was an Irish writer, poet, and lyricist celebrated for his ''Irish Melodies''. Their setting of English-language verse to old Irish tunes marked the transition in popular Irish culture from Irish ...

's plangent song in memory of his close friend

Robert Emmet Robert Emmet (4 March 177820 September 1803) was an Irish Republican, orator and rebel leader. Following the suppression of the United Irish uprising in 1798, he sought to organise a renewed attempt to overthrow the British Crown and Protes ...

, another martyr of an earlier revolution, and his lover

Sarah Curran Sarah Curran (1782 – 5 May 1808) was the youngest daughter of John Philpot Curran, an Irish barrister celebrated for his defence of United Irishmen, and his wife Sarah Curran (née Creagh). She was the great love of the Irish patriot Robert E ...

. There are many other differences: in the film it is the daughter who scolds the mother about extravagance based on her lover's meretricious promises, while in the play Juno warns her husband. In the film Joxer is introduced in effect as a secret

Fenian The word ''Fenian'' () served as an umbrella term for the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and their affiliate in the United States, the Fenian Brotherhood, secret political organisations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries dedicated ...

; in the play he's a pointless drunk with no political connection.

Copyright and home video status

The original negative of the film is held in the

BFI National Archive The BFI National Archive is a department of the British Film Institute, and one of the largest film archives in the world. It was founded as the National Film Library in 1935; its first curator was Ernest Lindgren. In 1955, its name became the N ...

but it has never received a full restoration. Like Hitchcock's other British films, all of which are copyrighted worldwide, ''Juno and the Paycock'' has been heavily bootlegged on home video. Despite this, licensed releases have appeared on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

from Film First in the UK and

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a ...

in France.

References

External links

* * * *
''Alfred Hitchcock Collectors’ Guide: Juno and the Paycock'' at Brenton Film
{{DEFAULTSORT:Juno And The Paycock (Film) 1930 films 1930 drama films Tragicomedy films British black-and-white films British drama films Films shot at British International Pictures Studios British films based on plays Films based on works by Seán O'Casey Films directed by Alfred Hitchcock Films set in Dublin (city) Irish Civil War films Films set in 1922 1930s English-language films 1930s British films