10 Films & TV Shows Set In Ireland During The 1930s

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  Stan & Ollie

  🇮🇪 Ireland England The 1950s The 1930s

  The untold story of the world's greatest comedy act. — With their golden era long behind them, comedy duo Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy embark on a variety hall tour of Britain and Ireland. Despite the pressures of a hectic schedule, and with the support of their wives Lucille and Ida – a formidable double act in their own right – the pair's love of performing, as well as for each other, endures as they secure their place in the hearts of their adoring public

  Released in 2018 • 98 minutes
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  Jimmy's Hall

  🇮🇪 Ireland The 1930s

  Where Anything Goes and Everyone Belongs. — Jimmy Gralton returns from New York and reopens his beloved community hall, only to meet opposition from the local parish.

  Released in 2014 • 106 minutes
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  Song for a Raggy Boy

  🇮🇪 Ireland The 1930s

  Four walls. One faith. No identity. — William Franklin is a teacher who was born in Ireland and moved to the United States only to repatriate in 1939 after his leftist political views cause him to lose his job. Franklin becomes the first non-cleric instructor at St. Jude's, a school for wayward boys run by Brother John, who is a firm believer in strong discipline.

  Released in 2003 • 94 minutes
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  Angela's Ashes

  New York 🇮🇪 Ireland The 1940s The 1930s

  Based on the best selling autobiography by Irish expat Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes follows the experiences of young Frankie and his family as they try against all odds to escape the poverty endemic in the slums of pre-war Limerick. The film opens with the family in Brooklyn, but following the death of one of Frankie's siblings, they return home, only to find the situation there even worse. Prejudice against Frankie's Northern Irish father makes his search for employment in the Republic difficult despite his having fought for the IRA, and when he does find money, he spends the money on drink.

  Released in 1999 • 145 minutes
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  Durango

  🇮🇪 Ireland The 1930s

  In 1939 Ireland, a young man decides to lead a forty mile cattle drive rather than selling his cattle to an unscrupulous local buyer.

  Released in 1999 •
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  Dancing at Lughnasa

  🇮🇪 Ireland The 1930s

  Five sisters embrace the spirit of a people. — Five unmarried sisters make the most of their simple existence in rural Ireland in the 1930s.

  Released in 1998 • 96 minutes
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  The Forbidden Quest

  🇮🇪 Ireland 🇦🇶 Antarctica The 1930s

  1931: in Ireland, a film maker hears of an aged ship's carpenter who knows the fate of the Hollandia, a Norse ship that set sail in 1905 and vanished. The old salt has canisters of film to prove his tale. We see the footage as he narrates. They sail south in June, 1905, with scores of Siberian huskies aboard, meeting no living soul, the crew ignorant of the trip's purpose, until they reach Antarctica. A mysterious Italian paces the deck; a polar bear appears, and the Italian, possessed, hunts it down. That night, the boatswain explains to the crew how an Arctic bear could be at the South Pole and why the Hollandia has come. Visitors arrive, and the Gothic tale plays out.

  Released in 1993 • 75 minutes
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  The Field

  🇮🇪 Ireland The 1930s

  It Owns Him...It Possesses Him...And It Could Even Destroy Him — "Bull" McCabe's family has farmed a field for generations, sacrificing much in the name of the land. When the widow who owns the field decides to sell it in a public auction, McCabe knows that he must own it. While no local dare bid against him, a wealthy American decides he requires the field to build a highway. "Bull" and his son decide they must try to convince the American to let go of his ambition and return home, but the consequences of their plot prove sinister.

  Released in 1990 • 110 minutes
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  Secret People

  England 🇫🇷 France 🇮🇪 Ireland The 1930s

  LOOK OUT FOR THIS MAN! HE LIVES! AND LOVES! AND MURDERS! — This tale of intrigue finds Valentina Cortese involved in an assassination plot. She helps the police apprehend the conspirators after an innocent bystander is accidentally killed.

  Released in 1952 • 96 minutes
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  My Irish Molly

  🇮🇪 Ireland The 1930s

  Binkie Stuart, a child star whose career briefly flourished before the outbreak of war in 1939, takes the titular role in this heart-warming musical charting the adventures of a little orphan girl in the difficult days of pre-war Ireland. Starring alongside Hollywood siren Maureen O Hara in an early role, Britain's answer to Shirley Temple plays a spirited young girl left in the clutches of a cruel guardian aunt.

  Released in 1938 • 56 minutes