The early days of Sean O'Casey, played respectably by the Australian actor Rod Taylor, though I can't imagine the real O'Casey being anything like this. John Ford started the picture, took ill and was replaced by Jack Cardiff. It's not a bad film though it's far from a great one but the cast more than redeems it. If Julie Christie and Maggie Smith make for unlikely Irish colleens they at least bring a certain charm to proceedings while Flora Robson makes an effective Irish mother. The literary establishment is represented by Michael Redgrave's W.B. Yeats and Edith Evans, stealing the picture, as Lady Gregory and it's left to a fine supporting cast of Irish actors to provide local color. As a biopic it comes across as something akin to a Reader's Digest view of Irish history and Ford was always too close to the blarney to look at things objectively. It could have been so much better but it remains a very interesting curio.
Review of Young Cassidy
