Sean O'Casey: The Spirit of Ireland

An off-screen narrator takes us into impoverished Dublin neighborhoods of tenements and heroes, not the least of whom is Sean O'Casey (1880-1964), playwright, poet, and Irish nationalist. We learn a bit about some of the women in his life, and we watch preparations for and the shooting of "Young Cassidy," a movie released in 1965 starring Rod Taylor as the young O'Casey. Rod sips stout and chats up the locals in public houses, in the name of research. We meet the director and see John Ford looking on.