Filmmaker: Brian Desmond Hurst
Festival to screen movie by prolific director Hurst, a man who was shunned by own city
Maureen Coleman
August 14 2021
He was mentored by Hollywood’s legendary moviemaker John Ford, worked with stars from Richard Attenborough to Roger Moore, and directed the 1951 festive film Scrooge starring Alastair Sim.
Despite being Ulster’s most prolific director, east Belfast man Brian Desmond Hurst remains relatively unknown.
Now, 35 years after his death, Hurst is to be honoured with one of his movies shown on the big screen this weekend.
On The Night Of The Fire (1939) will be screened tomorrow at the Strand Arts Centre as part of the EastSide Arts Festival.
The Strand has secured the rare 35mm reels of the film, regarded as an early example of British film noir and starring Ralph Richardson.
The screening coincides with the launch on Kindle of a comprehensive, 1,000-image book on the director’s life, Hurst On Film.
It has been curated by Caitlin Smith, whose father Allan Esler Smith was Hurst’s great- great-nephew, and Stephen Wyatt, who helped Hurst write his memoirs in the 1970s.
The notes were believed to have been lost but were later recovered and form part of Hurst’s vast estate, managed by Mr Smith. Both he and his daughter will join filmmaker and broadcaster Brian Henry Martin at Sunday’s event via Zoom to discuss the book and Hurst’s legacy.
“Brian Desmond Hurst was a flamboyant, gay man from east Belfast who died intestate, and his estate passed onto an older brother as he had no children,” said Mr Smith.
“His estate was a shambles; scattered to the wind, and he had given many of his possessions away, including a Picasso. Different family members had different things and I was able to consolidate it all.
“The archives hold thousands of movie stills, posters and scripts, but the gem is his memoirs.
“I discovered Stephen Wyatt by fluke really, who had written the memoirs straight out of Cambridge University, when Brian gave him a job.
“Stephen and Caitlin got together and wrote the book, Hurst on Film. It’s a fascinating book about a fascinating man.”
Hurst was born in 1895 in Ribble Street. He fought at Gallipoli in 1915, where his battalion was virtually wiped out in a day.
After the war he studied art in Canada, Paris and New York before hitchhiking to LA.
It was in Hollywood where he got his break when his art caught the eye of Ford. They became friends and Hurst made his screen debut in 1928 alongside John Wayne in a silent flick.
He turned his attention to working behind the camera, directing over 30 films including Scrooge, Theirs Is The Glory, Dangerous Moonlight and the controversial Ourselves Alone, a film about the Irish War of Independence that was banned here for many years.
Back home in Belfast his glittering career didn’t receive the recognition it deserved, and he wasn’t celebrated as one of the city’s favourite sons.
“Brian Desmond Hurst was an Ulster Covenant-signing, gay Protestant from east Belfast who converted to Catholicism under John Ford,” added Smith.
“That probably wouldn’t have sat too comfortably with some people, although his family were all fine with it. But it wouldn’t have been a great story to tell in the 1970s and might explain why he wasn’t accepted or recognised at home. Things have changed now and it’s only right that he is remembered.”
“After all, he’s a man of whom John Ford once said: ‘Brian was one of the most delightful men I ever knew. I once told Frank Capra, ‘It’s a good thing Brian went back to Britain. He could have given us out here a run for the money.’”
On The Night Of The Fire will be screened along with a discussion at Strand Arts Centre tomorrow at 11.15am.
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