Fillums

by Hugh Leonard

In 1942, with war raging in Europe, the playwright "Perry" Perry and his wife Babs tire of Dublin literary life and move to the small, quiet coastal town of Drane. Drane, however, is more than it seems. Its social whirl revolves around the amateur dramatic society—"The Standing Ovations"—and the film society run by Dermo Grace, owner of the Robin Hood Hotel, a man with a finger in every pie. Perry loves the "fillums," though the Hays Code still applies ("total nudity not permissible"), and good always triumphs over evil. That's the way Judge Garrity, with his mortal loathing for sins of the flesh, thinks it should be. But it's not like life in Drane. Up on the hill is the German Embassy, rumored to be playing strange games; down below lies the church, and an explosive book left by the censorious Canon Turmoyle; and the astonished Perry is soon entangled in a web of hypocrisy and scandal, affairs and adultery, love, tragedy, and death.

Genres: Irish Literature

240 pages, Paperback

First published September 21, 2004

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Hugh Leonard was an Irish dramatist, television writer and essayist. In a career that spanned 50 years, Leonard wrote more than 18 plays, two volumes of essays and two autobiographies, one novel and numerous screenplays and teleplays, as well as writing a regular newspaper column.

Reviews

[Ned Thacker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of Irish fun, but one caveat: it helps a lot if you’re a film buff. If dropped names like Gabby Hayes and Nick and Nora Charles leave you blank, then you may remain puzzled for much of the book.
Which would be a shame, because there’s much humour to be found within, and Hugh Leonard, in one of only three novels he wrote, indulges an obvious love for classic movies. Casablanca, Stagecoach and Angels with Dirty Faces are all referenced along with more obscure stuff like Dodsworth and even Love Finds Andy Hardy.
Dublin luvvies Micheàl Mac Liammóir and Hilton Edwards make a passing appearance, and there are some great one-liners: “The smile on her face was so thin that she might have shaved off her moustache with it”.

[Ian Mapp · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has a very epiodic feel to it - all neatly written chapters where new events take place and gentle humour tickles but overall, the book seems without purpose or a message. A bunch of stuff happens.

Set in 1940's Ireland - its a gentle story of village life told in an Oirish patter - where the scandals are compared to the big screen presentations.

Starts in the present sense, where a narrator meets an old playright, Perry, and his wife Babs - it then moves to the past and tells the story from their perspective - never returning to our narrator (strangely).

Perry has writers block and moves to the village where no radio reception means that the cinema is the sole source of entertainment. Cinematic releases are contrasted with scandal in the village and Irelands involvement in the war.

Very laid back and nicely Oirish in terms of attitude and dialect. Gentle humour but ultimately tears up no trees or seems to have a pont to make.