"Juno and the Paycock is available on at least six DVD labels plus a VHS tape. The best quality is provided by the tape which unfortunately is missing the conclusion of the final scene. Therefore I recommend the St Clair copy which chops off heads occasionally and has two or three poorly graded images at the beginning. "Juno and the Peacock" (or Paycock) is not a movie that most Alfred Hitchcock fans will enjoy, being rather stagey, downbeat and slow- moving, but it does preserve the fine, stagey performances by Edward Chapman (as the Paycock, unrecognizable here in his film debut), Sidney Morgan (the Abbey player, NOT the director as IMDb once contended - I assume they have now corrected this error), Kathleen O'Regan, John Laurie (movie debut), and Sara Allgood. Although filmed for the most part in long takes, Hitch has opened the play up a bit, which certainly helps the pace. And Jack Cox photographed in his usual all-gray, no-whites-no-blacks style, which certainly contributes to the downbeat air.

You would never imagine that Alfred Hitchcock, of all people, had directed this film of the classic Irish play by Sean O'Casey (1880-1964), JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK (first performed onstage, 1924), set in Dublin during the Troubles. This film was originally released under that title but is also known by the rather more sensational one of THE SHAME OF MARY BOYLE, which does not suit the film at all. The cast partially consists of some of the famous Abbey Players from Dublin who originated the play on stage three years before, and the star is the amazing Sara Allgood, who plays the character Juno. Her husband Jack is the 'paycock', which is Irish dialect for 'peacock'. Sara Allgood had already worked with Hitchock earlier in this same year, appearing in his film BLACKMAIL (1929), which was only her second film (at the age of 50). Sara Allgood was a star of Dublin's Abbey Theatre in its grandest days, when the plays of Yeats, Synge, O'Casey, Shaw, and the other leading Irish playwrights were all being performed and attracting the attention of the entire theatrical world. Yeats was a close friend of hers. I first learned of her at the age of 17 when I befriended Bryan Herbert (real name Bryan Doyle) and his wife. Bryan loved to tell me stories of the grand old days in Dublin, and describe how he had played the Lion in Shaw's ANDROCLES AND THE LION at the Abbey, a theatre to which he was attached for some years. But his most enthusiastic tales concerned Sara Allgood. He told me she was the greatest dramatic actress of her time, and if only I had seen her in her famous roles at the Abbey Theatre as he did, I would understand her genius. He had himself appeared onstage with her there. I had never heard of her before and it has taken me all these years finally to see a film in which she plays one of her most famous dramatic lead roles with great power and magnificence. She is the Irish equivalent of Anna Magnani, whose performances in the films of the Tennessee Williams plays, THE ROSE TATTOO (1955) and THE FUGITIVE KIND (1960) are milestones of cinema history. Allgood's performance in this film in the second half rises to those standards. This film commences in a jolly mode, full of comedic scenes, and almost as jocular as a music hall act. But in its latter half, the story turns into an Aeschylean tragedy, and that is when Sara Allgood is at her best. In her later career, she appeared in many films in character roles, but to see the real Sara Allgood in action, as she was in her glory days, you need to see this film. Almost as effective as Sara Allgood is the young Scots actor John Laurie, who plays her son Johnny. This was his first film, and he was later to become famous to British television audiences as one of the regulars in the long-running series DAD'S ARMY, in which he appeared from 1968 to 1977 (80 episodes). In his long career, he appeared in 185 productions as an actor. But it is this, his very first screen role, that may be the most haunting role he ever played. Johnny does not say much but it is necessary to the story that he is constantly in shot and exuding powerful anguish. It is very difficult to be a lead actor in a sound film but have very few lines in which to express yourself. However, Laurie pulls it off in great style. This play was so popular in America that it ran on Broadway five times, in 1927, 1934, 1937, 1940, and 1988. Hitchcock's sense for sinister detail comes in very handy, because he finds the right faces and right moments to highlight menace and ambiguity, and punctuates the film with sounds of machine gun fire in the streets, which the family can hear through their open tenement window. His film did real justice to O'Casey's play and captures the very essence of the Irish, with their capacity for deep emotion, bawdy humour, wailing tragedy, poetic way of talking, sheer blarney, and their raw but courageous existences in those days. As one of the earliest sound films, it is difficult to think of this version of O'Casey's play being surpassed. The 'adaptation' of the play was done by Hitchcock, but the screenplay was written by his wife, Alma Reville, who gets a very small credit but should surely have more praise than that for the result. This play was filmed again seven times in later years, four times in English and three times in German. In one of the German productions, the young Klaus Maria Brandauer had the opportunity to glower in corners as Johnny, and as his eyes have always smouldered nicely, he must have done this very well too. This film certainly ranks among the classics of the screen.

The DVD I own of this film is of dire quality. It is, like other botched, cheapo versions of Hitchcock's early films, a disgraceful transfer from poor quality source. People's heads are cut off by the zoomed in picture, the foggy, grainy picture and awful sound quality detract greatly from viewing pleasure and yet I loved this film!Bear in mind this is a very early talkie with the disadvantages all early talkies have (even famous classics such as Frankenstein etc) namely: 1. Very static, plain camera work due to huge, unwieldy camera/sound equipment (the master Hitchcock naturally does better than others with this but his genius camera-work IS hampered) 2. Slightly theatrical acting by some actors as they ARE theatrical actors, not used to screen acting which had previously been silent.This is clearly a film of a play and therefore Hitchcock himself wasn't fond of it but he did a superb job as did most of the cast. It is amazingly hard-hitting, moving, emotionally involving and at the same time has gripping scenes of tension and classic Irish humour.I am disappointed this is so little known and not appreciated. It is a truly excellent film within its limitations.It is a disgrace that no company has released a restored version of this still!

I remember this sad hopeless play from college theatre classes. You start with a down and out family, throw in alcoholism and ennui and you have this story. The characters live under the black cloud that is Ireland at this time. They have a chance to get out (though it proves false) and instead of making sure of things they go on a binge and make their situation even worse. The movie has good performances and looks pretty good, but O'Casey has written such a downer, it's hard to enjoy it. Also, Hitchcock really didn't put a signature on it, other than the fact that it is well filmed. The oppressiveness of the dark shades of gray and the sunken eyes of the performers is pretty well presented. The play is plea to God to give them something for once, but it says that these people are incapable of receiving. It could use a ray of sunshine. The final scene makes a person want to cry because from what I've read, this was not atypical for these people at this time.