Prince Hugh of Donegal & The Wonderful World of Disney

We've been enjoying The Wonderful World of Disney for the past week --- and more to go. When you hear the word "Disney", it's always the animated fairy tales that pop to mind. It is for me, anyway. Well, Disney made a lot of live-action films (just think of Fred MacMurray, Dean Jones, etc.), and it is those that we have been trying. How this came about is a long string of circumstances, but Elizabeth ordered a whole bunch from the library for us to work through. We've seen Hans Brinker (wonderful, sweet and definitely worth watching!), The Great Locomotive Chase (Fess Parker and Jeff Hunter in a real-life Civil War adventure) and The Happiest Millionaire (Fred MacMurray and a great cast in a hilarious Disney-style musical).

That's not all we've seen, though. We've been watching a bunch of them that are period stories in England, Ireland and Scotland. Specifically, The Sword and the Rose (the story of Mary Tudor, sister to Henry VIII), Kidnapped (not at all the type of story that I thought it was --- and absolutely fabulous!), Rob Roy (another great one!) and The Fighting Prince of Donegal.



The Fighting Prince of Donegal. Wow! It's the story of Red Hugh O'Donnell, a prince of Ireland who lived from 1572 to 1602. The story is based on some real events in the life of O'Donnell (of course, it's been modified for the screen!). He gets captured by the British and held in Dublin Castle. He escapes. He gets recaptured. He escapes again. He leads the clans in a battle against the British at Donegal Castle. He falls in love. Really, it's a fabulous story. Fabulously acted and so well produced. I really liked it. Peter McEnery, the actor playing The O'Donnell is as good as it gets --- followed by Andrew Keir as The McSweeny. I don't want to spoil the movie for anyone, so I won't say more.

The acting in Disney's film is great. The sets are great, and you'll see some beautiful painting by Peter Ellenshaw. Disney movies wouldn't have half of their beauty without the remarkable talents of Mr. Ellenshaw. Wow! So, if you haven't seen the story of the Prince of Donegal, then you should. :) It's just fabulous. More later.