The Shamrock Handicap

Ford paces this drama well, giving it a lightness that suits the material. In typical Ford fashion, comedy shows up at some of the oddest, heaviest moments. There are also a few expressive scenes, none better than the sequence when Neil leaves for America. Ford's montage and staging combine to create an appropriate sense of loss for Sheila and for Ireland.

John Ford's first Irish themed film. A simple horse & romance film of the popcorn variety. Not a Ford movie that's gonna show anything original. But it does have a decent cast with pre-super stardom Janet Gaynor and Leslie Fenton in a rare hero role. He's best known for being slick crooks in movies such as Nails Nathan in The Public Enemy (1931). Plus J. Farrell MacDonald and a few others are there to give it that familiar feeling. Only for John Ford or Janet Gaynor completists.