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The Dead, 1987
Director: John Huston
Notable Cast: Anjelica Huston, Donal McCann, Dan O’Herlihy
Considered by many a quiet masterpiece, this 83-minute movie is a very close adaptation of Dubliners’ final short story, “The Dead.” The only significant change is the inclusion of a new character, Mr. Grace, who recites an eighth-century Irish poem, "Donal Óg.” In the film, it is this poem that changes Gretta’s mood at the party, and prompts the epiphanic conversation in the final scene. Beautifully shot and costumed, the film richly evokes the world of upper-class Dubliners in 1906. The Dead was legendary director John Huston’s final film and it was a project of great importance to him. Huston, who lived off and on in Ireland starting in the early 1950s and who renounced his U.S. citizenship to become an Irish citizen in 1964, was gravely ill during the making of The Dead and died a few months before its release.
