A good pot of gold

TheLittleSongbird

Henry Koster has never been a favourite director of mine. He did do some good films, the wonderful 'Harvey' being a strong contender for his best, but most of the films of his seen fall in the competent but not spectacular category. The cast is a very talented one, Cecil Kellaway and Lee J Cobb were fine actors and Tyrone Power did shine in the right role, as did Anne Baxter. Really liked the premise for 'The Luck of the Irish' too.

'The Luck of the Irish' really impressed me on the whole. It is not perfect and won't be an all-time favourite any time soon. There are so many great things here and it is such an easy watch when in the right mood. As far as Koster's films go, and this is probably not going to be a popular opinion, 'The Luck of the Irish' is to me one of his better ones and one of his more accessible. It is a shame that it is not better known as it does deserve to be.

Will agree that the tinting is distracting and was not needed.

Also with that the political parts of the story sucked the energy/momentum when it featured and felt a bit out of kilter heavy.

On the other hand, there are no complaints on my part to be had with any of the performances. Power is a very likeable lead and personally thought he had a natural presence and showed that he did have a comic touch. Baxter is also charming and looks radiant, their chemistry is appropriately sweet and light-hearted. Kellaway is a joy and steals every scene he appears in. Would have liked to have seen more of Cobb, but he plays his role very well (firm but never resorting to scenery chewing). Koster directs with confidence and his direction does have personality.

Excepting the tinting, the film looks very nice and is lovingly photographed in particular. The music adds a lot to the whimsy and doesn't come over as too chirpy while having personality. The script is light-hearted and amusing and even if the story is very slight it was also very heart-warming and charming, not coming over as dull.

In conclusion, really lovely film. Was not in a good mood before watching and it really lifted the spirits afterwards. 8/10

score 8/10

TheLittleSongbird 7 August 2020

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw5972917/