Reviewing Movies

Well, tomorrow is St. Paddy’s Day. Moondance is a capricious madcap Irish brother movie in which two loving siblings take life as it finds them living a totally unbridled existence. They play hooky from school and church too as it happens, play cowboys and Indians indoors, and bath outdoors in a dory—the movie isn’t X-rated so they keep their pants on. Their idyllic lifestyle is upset by the arrival of Anya, a German girl here for the summer. Those Irish passions for Horses, Dogs and Ale also figure.

Unfortunately for the viewer too much of the back-story is missing and this leads one to ask uneasy questions. How do two minors get away with living alone and skipping school? How did their father die and why did their Mother go off to live in Africa? Why does their Aunt Dracula do nothing when her female charge shacks up with them? Why does the trio move to Dublin and how are they acquainted with Murphy the barkeep and dog racer?

True comic relief is provided when Patrick goes to work for the obviously gay duo of Dunbar and Dunwoody who cater to the Catholic trade in religious iconography, candles, and vestments. In a time when “Real Men don’t eat quiche”, one of the duo is heard to remark that he couldn’t wait to get rid of a pair of nuns as he’d just taken a quiche from the oven.

Although I can see the husky Chalky shipping off on a tramp steamer I wonder what use a captain would find for an under-age growing boy such as Dominic. He does have to pay his way to get on board. Mind you midshipmen have served on English battleships for centuries but the pretty Dominic might find need for Chalky’s support to save him from the fate midshipmen faced.