Rooney (1958)

Interesting facts

• Filmed in: Pinewood Studios

Rooney is a 1958 British comedy film directed by George Pollock and starring John Gregson, Muriel Pavlow and Barry Fitzgerald. The screenplay was by Patrick Kirwan based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Catherine Cookson. The film depicts the life of James Ignatius Rooney, a Gaelic sportsman at the weekends, and a Dublin rubbish collector during the week.

Production

The film is based on a novel by Catherine Cookson that was published in 1957. Screen rights were bought by producer George H. Brown of the Rank Organisation who had just made a film based on another Cookson novel, Jacqueline. The screen adaptation changed several things about the novel including relocating it from Tyneside to Ireland, which had also been done for Jacqueline (that was set in Northern Ireland while Rooney was set in Dublin).

The film was announced in February 1957, with John Gregson, who had been in Jacqueline, attached to star in Rooney. "I think he's a very good actor and a charming person," said Cookson.

Clive Donner claimed he was offered the job of directing the film after having made his feature debut with The Secret Place (1957) but he turned it down. George Pollock was hired to direct after impressing producer George Brown as an assistant director on Dangerous Exile.

"You have to cast your directors as carefully as you cast your actors," said Brown. "And Pollock was the obvious choice. He has great qualities. Warmth, humanity, keen observation."

"It is unlikely to be a critic's picture," said Pollock of Rooney. "But it will be entertainmet. People today want to be moved, not sit through something they don't understand."

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