Shake Hands with the Devil( 1959)

TV-MAActionDrama

65%

User
Score

A story of love and hate...and the sudden sound of guns!

Overview

In 1921 Dublin, the IRA battles the "Black & Tans," special British forces given to harsh measures. Irish-American medical student Kerry O'Shea hopes to stay aloof, but saving a wounded friend gets him outlawed, and inexorably drawn into the rebel organization...under his former professor Sean Lenihan, who has "shaken hands with the devil" and begun to think of fighting as an end in itself. Complications arise when Kerry falls for a beautiful English hostage, and the British offer a peace treaty that is not enough to satisfy Lenihan.

Top Billed Cast

James Cagney
Sean Lenihan
Don Murray
Kerry O'Shea
Dana Wynter
Jennifer Curtis
Glynis Johns
Kitty Brady
Michael Redgrave
The General
Sybil Thorndike
Lady Fitzhugh
Cyril Cusack
Chris Noonan
Marianne Benet
Mary Madigan
John Breslin
Timmy McGrath
Harry Brogan
Tom Cassidy
Richard Harris
Terence O'Brien
William Hartnell
Sergeant Jenkins
John Le Mesurier
British General
Niall MacGinnis
Michael O'Leary
Ray McAnally
Paddy Nolan
Patrick McAlinney
Donovan
Clive Morton
Sir Arnold Fielding
Noel Purcell
Liam O'Sullivan
Peter Reynolds
'Black & Tans' Captain
Walter Gotell
'Black & Tans' Sergeant
Robert Brown
First Sergeant 'Black & Tans'
Lewis Casson
Judge
Christopher Casson
Brigadier
John Cairney
Mike O'Callaghan
Harry H. Corbett
Clancy
Eileen Crowe
Mrs. Madigan
Allan Cuthbertson
Captain
Donal Donnelly
Willie Lafferty
Wilfred Downing
Tommy Connor
Eithne Dunne
Eileen O'Leary
Paul Farrell
Doyle
Christopher Rhodes
Colonel Smithson
Ronnie Walsh
Sergeant 'Black & Tans'
Alan White
Captain Fleming
Eamonn Andrews
Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Norman Rodway
Sergeant at HQ (uncredited)
Godfrey Quigley
Soldier (uncredited)

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Review 2Discussion

A review by John Chard

Written by John Chard on Thu Sep 24 2015

Loaded Weapon. Shake Hands with the Devil is directed by Michael Anderson and adapted to screenplay by Marian Spitzer from the novel written by Rearden Conner. It stars James Cagney, Don Murray, Dana Wynter, Glynis Johns, Michael Redgrave and Sybil Thorndike. Music is by William Alywyn and cinematography by Erwin Hillier. It's 1920s Dublin, Ireland, and the Irish Republican Army are at war with the British Black & Tans. Into the conflict comes Irish American Kerry O'Shea (Murray), who in spite of being apolitical is drawn into darker waters as the violence rages. Complications arise when ...