Insurrection (RTE, 1966)

An Ciarraioch

As far as I'm aware, RTE have never repeated the series since it was commissioned for the 50th anniversary of the Rising. Are there any plans to show the eight episodes in March/April, once Rebellion wraps up?

Skid X

Apparently there is a dispute about Actors Royalties which is blocking a repeat run, unfortunately.

There was a screening of the series at Liberty Hall last year in aid of the Equity Actors Benevolent Fund, maybe that was an attempt to clear the way for a repeat on RTE (although there is no sign of it yet)

http://www.rte.ie/archives/2015/0402/691546-rare-chance-to-see-rte-drama-insurrection/

brian_t

This is one of the events taking place on Easter Monday

the Irish Film Institute will be screening RTÉ’s Insurrection - the original docu-drama broadcast in 1966 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Rising.

Easter Monday in Dublin is set to be a family-friendly 1916 spectacular

Reserve your ticket here


.
On a separate note
According to DigiGuide RTÉ One is showing this starting at 11:55pm on Friday 18th March.

There Will Be No Rising"" NEW. For the first time in 50 years, RTÉ One will screen the 8-part drama Insurrection. In episode one Roger Casement has been arrested and the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland declares "there will be no rising.

Strazdas

brian_t wrote: »

On a separate note
According to DigiGuide RTÉ One is showing this starting at 11:55pm on Friday 18th March.

Interesting to see how this measures up to the hype surrounding it. Given that it was last screened 50 years ago, it means the vast majority of people alive in Ireland today have never actually seen it.

brian_t

brian_t wrote: »

On a separate note
According to DigiGuide RTÉ One is showing this starting at 11:55pm on Friday 18th March.

And it continues over the following few days with various start times all after 11pm.

I think it's a bad omen that RTE is sticking it on so late at night.

Technocentral

has got a new digital restoration so hopefully the 16mm parts will look decent, though the video elements will probably be ropey enough.

dublinman1990

I will give series a go on March 18th as it's very rare for me to watch archived RTE material from the 60's.

Skid X

I'm looking forward to seeing it. Maybe it won't have aged well but it's an important part of Irish TV History. Ray McAnally was a great actor, it will be interesting to see his performance.

RTE haven't publicised it much, I suspect a lot of people will miss it who would love to watch it (again).

http://www.rte.ie/archives/category/media/2016/0309/773625-insurrection/

pinkypinky

I've set it to record: it's only half an hour long. Also presumably in black and white - this may have influenced the timeslot. I heard someone on Morning Ireland talking about it and they've spent a lot remastering it.

dublinman1990

It is on RTE One right now. The picture restoration on it looks pretty good.

RayM

It's amazingly good. So clever and innovative. I hope the writers and producers of Rebellion are watching this (and hanging their heads in shame).

Strazdas

Twitter seems to be loving this (?) but I found it clunky and dated and something that doesn't appear to have aged well.

Yes, the format is an extremely innovative way of presenting historical events but it's also rather stiff and awkward and I thought the acting distinctly average.

An Ciarraioch

Says in this week's RTE Guide that the series will also be on the RTE Player, so will also reach a wider audience that way.

Kerrydude1981

Just watched it this morning,very impressed with it.

Ralf and Florian

Anyone spot Mailbags Arthur Murphy as the journalist who interviews MacNeill?

mick malones mauser

Strazdas wrote: »

Twitter seems to be loving this (?) but I found it clunky and dated and something that doesn't appear to have aged well.

Yes, the format is an extremely innovative way of presenting historical events but it's also rather stiff and awkward and I thought the acting distinctly average.

You would say that wouldn't you. The post colonial self loathing still bugging you☺☺

Oops69

I liked Ray mc anallys pronounciation of 'THE AUD' in the german way , always wanted to know the proper pronunciation, thought the acting by the RIC men in kerry a bit woooden and stageish for a television drama documentary And the script a bit stilted at the times , but liked the historical accuracy and the news reportage approach , overall enjoying it .

Wolff

Just before you all get carried away with its innovation -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culloden_(film)

Saw this a few years back on the BBC

mick malones mauser

Wolff wrote: »

Just before you all get carried away with its innovation -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culloden_(film)

Saw this a few years back on the BBC

Yes I saw culloden

Strazdas

mick malones mauser wrote: »

You would say that wouldn't you. The post colonial self loathing still bugging you☺☺

The basic idea of Insurrection is very interesting, sort of a rolling news version of the Rising as it's happening Sky News style, and it was a hugely ambitious undertaking for a new and small TV channel in 1966.

But being innovative and ambitious doesn't make a programme's execution flawless and by it's very nature, it's going to look rather dated and 'hammy' to a 2016 audience. I'm sticking with it though to see how they cover the actual Rising and to see if my impressions change.

Junkyard Tom

It's receiving rave reviews on twitter #Insurection.

ED E

Will it be on the player?

MadJack2016

Thrilling stuff! The charge of the lancers up the street was heart in the mouth!

mrsdewinter

I think it's fantastic. I'm usually the first to pile in when RTE's attempts at anything leftfield fall short but I can't get over how fresh it feels. It's really interesting that the BBC pioneered this style of drama with Culloden but I'm watching because my grasp of Irish history isn't great, and I love the immediacy with which the story is told. Fifty years on, bravo to everybody involved!

mick malones mauser

Ruth and Eoghan would be turning in their graves (if they were dead)
At least its been shown at off peak times
Otherwise the ghastly natives would be revolting again!!!!

Strazdas

That was a much better episode than last night's one, I thought the scenes at Liberty Hall and the march towards the GPO were good plus the charge by the Lancers.

Not so sure about some of the indoor set pieces and dialogue though. A lot of it seems reminiscent of 1950s British black and white war movies (though I suppose that is pretty standard for the era it was made in).

MadJack2016

Strazdas wrote: »

That was a much better episode than last night's one, I thought the scenes at Liberty Hall and the march towards the GPO were good plus the charge by the Lancers.

Not so sure about some of the indoor set pieces and dialogue though. A lot of it seems reminiscent of 1950s British black and white war movies (though I suppose that is pretty standard for the era it was made in).

Reminds me a bit of the A Night To Remember or Sink The Bismark! which were both low budget but scrupulously accurate with the emphasis on a cracking dramatic pace without sacrificing detail or coherence.

Strazdas

MadJack2016 wrote: »

Reminds me a bit of the A Night To Remember or Sink The Bismark! which were both low budget but scrupulously accurate with the emphasis on a cracking dramatic pace without sacrificing detail or coherence.

Yeah and The Longest Day as well (I think the background music at the start and end of Insurrection may even be based on the latter).

MadJack2016

Strazdas wrote: »

Yeah and The Longest Day as well (I think the background music at the start and end of Insurrection may even be based on the latter).

In 1946 a movie called Theirs Is The Glory about the Battle of Arnhem featured real life soldiers recreating their heroics by acting as themselves and was filmed on location. Incredible movie!

bobbyss

I saw this when I was a younger and remember being enthralled by it, well the part in the GPO anyway. Maybe because they zoomed in on faces, something not done by RTE I would not imagine before that. Maybe that was part of the innovation then.

Looking back at parts of it now I am less impressed. The acting is very wooden and poor and the sets, well, not much money was put into them I would not have thought. Noblets (?) sweet shop was looted but it must have been built in half an hour beforehand. Anyone know how much the series cost to make?

The march from Liberty Hall was a little too long mainly because I think so that we could savour all those cobble nailed boots sound so loudly. I thought they were going to break out into Riverdance at one point.

I saw Mike Murphy giving orders to someone. Well, that says everything. Sabina Coyne (Mrs Higgins) is in it but anyone know which episode?

I saw Maurice O'Doherty I think as a newsreader, remember him? Him and a fellow called Smyth were two newsreaders in the early days of RTE. Does anyone remember what happened them?

Looking forward to Eoin O Sullibhan as Pearse come into his own. Connolly had a Scottish accent I believe but nay a trace of it at all. If he had a Scottish accent it is unforgivable that he is not portraying it.
Pearse was a Dubliner but his accent so far is neutral, but wouldn't he have a DoubliInn accent too?

Strazdas

bobbyss wrote: »

I saw this when I was a younger and remember being enthralled by it, well the part in the GPO anyway. Maybe because they zoomed in on faces, something not done by RTE I would not imagine before that. Maybe that was part of the innovation then.

Looking back at parts of it now I am less impressed. The acting is very wooden and poor and the sets, well, not much money was put into them I would not have thought. Noblets (?) sweet shop was looted but it must have been built in half an hour beforehand. Anyone know how much the series cost to make?

The march from Liberty Hall was a little too long mainly because I think so that we could savour all those cobble nailed boots sound so loudly. I thought they were going to break out into Riverdance at one point.

I saw Mike Murphy giving orders to someone. Well, that says everything. Sabina Coyne (Mrs Higgins) is in it but anyone know which episode?

I saw Maurice O'Doherty I think as a newsreader, remember him? Him and a fellow called Smyth were two newsreaders in the early days of RTE. Does anyone remember what happened them?

Looking forward to Eoin O Sullibhan as Pearse come into his own. Connolly had a Scottish accent I believe but nay a trace of it at all. If he had a Scottish accent it is unforgivable that he is not portraying it.
Pearse was a Dubliner but his accent so far is neutral, but wouldn't he have a DoubliInn accent too?

As I said further up, the series is a mixed bag. Some really good and clever ideas combined with a lot of bad stuff.

The basic idea of nightly rolling news of the Rising in the way that Sky News or CNN would cover it now was brilliant and hugely ambitious for it's time especially for a new and small European broadcaster.

The downside is a lot of bad acting and poorly designed sets. A bit controversial too that the citizens of Dublin were portrayed in Episode 3 as self serving looters and not as the primary victims of the Rising, which they undoubtedly were.

Connolly speaking with an Irish accent is bizarre as is Pearse speaking with a rural Irish accent - if anything, he would have had a middle class Dublin accent as a barrister first and then headmaster.

Edit : still watching it every night but the more I see of it, the more I think it was a big mistake to go down the 'rolling news' route. It might actually have worked much better as eight half hour dramas. In it's current guise of having a TV news anchor, it is strangely disjointed and some of the scenes seem comical rather than dramatic or moving - the ropey acting of quite a few characters is not helping either.

bobbyss

What is striking me above all in this is how desperate the acting is. Tony Doyle, of The Riordans, Amongst Women (I think) Who dares wins (?) fame:an incredible actor. Yet here he is acting' like an idiot. Why are they all so bad? How come Doyle is so poor in this and yet is brilliant in other stuff? All the soldiers throwing themselves around the place 'dying' is comedic.

Is it a case that nobody really knew what acting was all about until a certain time, but not until after 1966 at any rate?

Did the director not spot how dire it was?

Shurimgreat

It lacks finesse and is very of its time. its also unfair to compare it to Rebellion as not the same genre.

Insurrection is just a docu-drama with not that much depth.

Strazdas

bobbyss wrote: »

What is striking me above all in this is how desperate the acting is. Tony Doyle, of The Riordans, Amongst Women (I think) Who dares wins (?) fame:an incredible actor. Yet here he is acting' like an idiot. Why are they all so bad? How come Doyle is so poor in this and yet is brilliant in other stuff? All the soldiers throwing themselves around the place 'dying' is comedic.

Is it a case that nobody really knew what acting was all about until a certain time, but not until after 1966 at any rate?

Did the director not spot how dire it was?

One very obvious factor is that TV drama was in it's infancy on RTE in 1966. I read somewhere that most of the actors in Insurrection were from the theatre and had no background in television acting.

Have to confess I'm surprised at just how poor most of the acting is. Even Pearse and Connolly are little more than caricatures or cardboard cut outs.

Strazdas

Shurimgreat wrote: »

It lacks finesse and is very of its time. its also unfair to compare it to Rebellion as not the same genre.

Insurrection is just a docu-drama with not that much depth.

Having watched all the episodes so far, I would say Insurrection is little more than a TV curiosity from the 1960s. I imagine it would be virtually unwatchable as a drama to anyone outside of Ireland in 2016 who is not familiar with the Rising, given how ropey the acting and the sets are.

TCDStudent1

I'm still watching it but I find it a little laboured. The episodes are just 20 minutes but it feels a long 20 minutes for me. In saying that, I think the news anchor approach is interesting and makes the show quite educational. If I was a history teacher and wanted to show something on 1916 to my students, this could be useful!
When rebellion was on, many compared insurrection to it. An extremely unfair comparison.It's not even like comparing apples and oranges. More like comparing apples with cars!

Shurimgreat

It probably seemed ground breaking at the time but now seems very dated. Sad really as I think a lot of people were looking forward to it. Still, its interesting to see how the Rising was remembered in 1966. Many of those who took part were still alive and you couldn't take the same liberties.

Its certainly not the world beating drama or docu drama we were lead to believe by some around here. Its very mediocre. Granted RTE were just starting out, but they probably could have done better given how we have always produced good writers.

Strazdas

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

I'm still watching it but I find it a little laboured. The episodes are just 20 minutes but it feels a long 20 minutes for me. In saying that, I think the news anchor approach is interesting and makes the show quite educational. If I was a history teacher and wanted to show something on 1916 to my students, this could be useful!
When rebellion was on, many compared insurrection to it. An extremely unfair comparison.It's not even like comparing apples and oranges. More like comparing apples with cars!

I kept reading on Twitter during 'Rebellion' stuff like "RTE should get this garbage off our screens and show us Insurrection instead". I'd say there must be a few embarrassed tweeters around at this point. Rebellion is a masterpiece compared to this programme. Its portrayal of James Connolly for example is brilliant, really brings the guy to life.

You say "educational" but that really is the problem with Insurrection. It seems little more than an eight part history lesson for schools with a bit of acting thrown in.

Strazdas

Shurimgreat wrote: »

It probably seemed ground breaking at the time but now seems very dated. Sad really as I think a lot of people were looking forward to it. Still, its interesting to see how the Rising was remembered in 1966. Many of those who took part were still alive and you couldn't take the same liberties.

Its certainly not the world beating drama or docu drama we were lead to believe by some around here. Its very mediocre. Granted RTE were just starting out, but they probably could have done better given how we have always produced good writers.

I suppose all of the excitement in 1966 was around the fact that this was the first ever dramatic portrayal of the Rising and the birth of the Irish state. I'm guessing drama on RTE was in very short supply at time, so I can see how the audience was transfixed. It's aged very badly though as a piece of drama or entertainment, especially given that it seems a poor production overall.

mick malones mauser

Post Colonial self loathing alive and well on here.

Insurrection has its faults but it wipes the floor with Rebellion any day

One big plus is of course......


NO BLOODY GLEESONS

mick malones mauser

Strazdas wrote: »

I kept reading on Twitter during 'Rebellion' stuff like "RTE should get this garbage off our screens and show us Insurrection instead". I'd say there must be a few embarrassed tweeters around at this point. Rebellion is a masterpiece compared to this programme. Its portrayal of James Connolly for example is brilliant, really brings the guy to life.

You say "educational" but that really is the problem with Insurrection. It seems little more than an eight part history lesson for schools with a bit of acting thrown in.

Jesus wept

Rebellion and Masterpiece in the same sentence

You have lost the plot old chum:)

Strazdas

mick malones mauser wrote: »

Post Colonial self loathing alive and well on here.

Insurrection has its faults but it wipes the floor with Rebellion any day

One big plus is of course......


NO BLOODY GLEESONS

You're talking as if Insurrection is somehow part of Irish republican heritage. Both shows are TV dramas made by the same broadcaster.

bobbyss

Shurimgreat wrote: »

It probably seemed ground breaking at the time but now seems very dated. Sad really as I think a lot of people were looking forward to it. Still, its interesting to see how the Rising was remembered in 1966. Many of those who took part were still alive and you couldn't take the same liberties.

Its certainly not the world beating drama or docu drama we were lead to believe by some around here. Its very mediocre. Granted RTE were just starting out, but they probably could have done better given how we have always produced good writers.

When we were young everything seemed great and fantastic.

The series is poorly produced and is quite embarrassing to watch really. The second I saw a British soldier walk up the steps to a house on Northumberland Road (I think it was) I knew he was going to be shot. Same as Tony Doyle. The way he was hetting up and started to whistle/sing was the moment we knew he was going to be shot. And surely if he got abullet in the head he would have jolted back? Instead he fell silent. At least Ray MacAnally did not put on a faux English accent as a newsreader/reporter.

I had thought it was great when I was a young child. However. If you meet your heroes you will surely be disappointed.

Shurimgreat

mick malones mauser wrote: »

Post Colonial self loathing alive and well on here.

Insurrection has its faults but it wipes the floor with Rebellion any day

One big plus is of course......


NO BLOODY GLEESONS

Ah no it doesn't really.

Insurrection looks like it was all done in a studio on a very limited budget, much like most of what RTE did in those days. I'm old enough to remember when Bosco and Wanderly Wagon were considered "ground breaking" but they had similar production values to Insurrection.

A lot of what RTE did in the 60s and 70s has dated badly. I'd say some of the dramas look pretty wooden in comparison to today.

I was prepared to give Insurrection an open mind like I do most things, but it was a big letdown for me and it seems others. I can't see past the wooden acting, the poor sets, and not so great writing.

And yet it does make Rebellion look like a masterpiece. At least Rebellion is slightly layered and has a bit of subtlety to it. Insurrection is just a straightforward "shoot 'em up", sort of like a cowboy movie of the era.

Strazdas

Shurimgreat wrote: »

Ah no it doesn't really.

Insurrection looks like it was all done in a studio on a very limited budget, much like most of what RTE did in those days. I'm old enough to remember when Bosco and Wanderly Wagon were considered "ground breaking" but they had similar production values to Insurrection.

A lot of what RTE did in the 60s and 70s has dated badly. I'd say some of the dramas look pretty wooden in comparison to today.

I was prepared to give Insurrection an open mind like I do most things, but it was a big letdown for me and it seems others. I can't see past the wooden acting, the poor sets, and not so great writing.

And yet it does make Rebellion look like a masterpiece. At least Rebellion is slightly layered and has a bit of subtlety to it. Insurrection is just a straightforward "shoot 'em up", sort of like a cowboy movie of the era.

Yes, from all the descriptions I'd heard, I was expecting something like the BBC's Colditz from the early 1970s ie. fairly low budget and filmed mostly inside a studio but strong on characterisation and dialogue and drama.

Insurrection seems to have been thrown together as an eight part history lesson about the week of the Rising and getting the relevant facts and figures in, but scarcely bothering with things like characterisation and drama. I'm finding it clunky and disjointed and yes, quite boring even though the subject matter should make it interesting.

beauf

I think some people were hoping for game of thrones 1916.

mick malones mauser

beauf wrote: »

I think some people were hoping for game of thrones 1916.

I think some were hoping that the rebels would surrender, apologise, acknowledge the error of their ways and we would remain part of the United Kingdom forever, England would thrash Australia at cricket and win the world cup constantly.
Ruth and Kevin would become the king and queen of Ireland.
Ah shure and begorra twill be grand

mick malones mauser

Oh and by the way
Rebellion was rubbish

Strazdas

Tonight's episode was the best of the seven by far, concentrating on drama and actual dialogue.

In retrospect, the TV studio and rolling news idea with reporters and microphones was a big mistake IMO. I think Insurrection would have worked far better as eight half hour dramas and just a narrator doing a voice over as we saw tonight. Previous episodes were very disjointed and impossible to get into, it was like watching an archived 1960s news bulletin.

TCDStudent1

Strazdas wrote: »

Tonight's episode was the best of the seven by far, concentrating on drama and actual dialogue.

In retrospect, the TV studio and rolling news idea with reporters and microphones was a big mistake IMO. I think Insurrection would have worked far better as eight half hour dramas and just a narrator doing a voice over as we saw tonight. Previous episodes were very disjointed and impossible to get into, it was like watching an archived 1960s news bulletin.

I'm not sure I agree with you about the news reporter being a bad idea. The story of 1916 is a complex one to tell. The news reporter angle allowed the viewer to get a good overview of what was happening all over Dublin. If agree that the episode you reference was one of the better ones

Strazdas

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

I'm not sure I agree with you about the news reporter being a bad idea. The story of 1916 is a complex one to tell. The news reporter angle allowed the viewer to get a good overview of what was happening all over Dublin. If agree that the episode you reference was one of the better ones

I think the makers of the programme and RTE got caught between two stools. They obviously wanted to make an educational and informative series about the timeline of the Rising but also wanted to dramatise it. They probably succeeded with the former but it was at the expense of the latter. It's very difficult to get any sort of dramatic narrative going with all these news reports and cutting backwards and forwards between the TV studio and the dramatised segments.

Had they made it as a straightforward drama, it probably would have aged better as a series but I suppose it did what it said on the tin in 1966 and pulled the viewers in.