Updates and developments surrounding the legacy of Brian's work will appear here. There are currently several legacy events and articles in the pipeline and this will be the first place to feature news of each event/publication.

In Belfast this March/April, Queens Film Theatre pay tribute to the life and films of producer, writer, film-maker and photographer William MacQuitty. The William MacQuitty - A Life to Remember season includes Brian Desmond Hurst's The Black Tent (1956) and A Letter From Ulster (1943). The two men were great friends and these films pay tribute to their lasting legacy. The season also includes the retrospective Revisiting A Letter From Ulster (2011). 

Brian Desmond Hurst's Theirs is the Glory earned some of the highest critical praise ever afforded a British wartime docudrama. This is the film record of one of the most harrowing battles of WWII the Battle of Arnhem. The cast are the actual survivors of the battle and Hurst's experiences on the battlefield of Gallipoli in the First World War undoubtedly helped him get the very best and more out of the veterans replaying their role. Said by actual Airborne survivors to be the most accurate portrayal of the events surrounding Arnhem the film is available again from Strawberry Media/ ITV Studios Home Entertainment.  This link will take you to a very reasonably priced Amazon offering.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Theirs-Glory-DVD-Stanley-Maxted/dp/B005DR2QF2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331216312&sr=8-1

In November 2011, there was the 60th Anniversary Diamond release of A Christmas Carol, Brian's seminal classic adaptation of the Dickens novel. Mike Wilmington from Movie City News describes the film as 'one of the most faithful of all Carol adaptations and also one of the least sentimental, one of the most stylishly crafted and one of the more psychologically acute.' (read the full review here).

The DVD also features the documentary, The Human Blarney Stone: The Life and Films of Brian Desmond Hurst narrated by Allan Esler Smith, Brian's great-great nephew and biographer.

A five minute clip of the film can be seen on the doumentaries section of the website or by clicking here.

A 40 minute documentary The Human Blarney Stone on the life and films of Brian Desmond Hurst will be released in the USA in November 2011 to accompany the 60th anniversary of the release of Brian's classic of classics Scrooge/A Christmas Carol (1951).  Further details of the launch will be provided here

Following the back to back screening of Brian's A Letter From Ulster from 21st September to 25th September 2011 at the Aspects Arts Festival in Ireland the newly released 15 minute documentary Revisiting A Letter From Ulster is now exclusively available on this website- see Multimedia Film Clips or Filmography - A Letter From Ulster

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"Aspects" is the premier Irish Literature festival in Northern Ireland.  Based in Bangor, County Down and running from the 21st to 25th September the Festival is uniquely showing Brian Desmond Hurst's A Letter From Ulster back to back for every day throughout the Festival.  In addition Allan Esler Smith opens the Festival on 21st September with a talk about Brian, his films and especially A Letter From Ulster.  The 32 minute film was directed by Brian and, significantly, his assistant Director was former Bangor resident William (Bill) MacQuitty who went on to make the 'ultimate' Titanic film A Night to Remember.  The script is quite good as well- it should be as it was penned by the ultimate James Bond film director Terence Young. 

Perhaps most importantly A Letter From Ulster is an important piece of cultural history and helps us step back in time to 1942/43/44 when there were over one hundred thousand troops from the USA based in Northern Ireland. In addition to watching the Americans preparing for campaigns in North Africa and later Italy and there are some quite brilliant 'local' moments as the 'Yanks' learn to cope with ‘drizzle’ and breaks for a cup of tea. The backdrop is a canvas that that is well known in Ulster and includes Tynan Abbey, St Marys Church in Belfast, Cultra, Carrickfergus and Stabane.

Accompanying the screening of A Letter From Ulster will be a 15 minute documentary Revisiting A Letter From Ulster retracing the journey around Ulster with then and now footage.  The documentary was produced by Allan Esler Smith and edited and directed by Adam Jones-Lloyd.

For further information and to book see www.aspectsfestival.co.uk

On the 6th and 7th August 2011 RTE radio 1's acclaimed "Documentary on One" series broadcast  a 40 minute documentary on Brian Desmond Hurst by Allan Esler Smith and the Sony Gold award winning producer Adam Fowler.  It was also broadcast on CBC Canada.  Brian's unpublished autobiography beginning with the words "I am truly in a predicament - an Irishman chained to the truth".  The documentary is called "An Irishman chained to the truth" and charts Allan's search to understand Hurst's creative and psychological development from an East Belfast blacksmith family, to the cruel slaughter of Brian's regiment on the slopes of Gallipoli in the First World War, to Hollywood and, eventually, Belgravia in London.  The documentary includes some rare recordings of Brian talking about his life.   The broadcast is still available and can be heard at:

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone/radio-documentary-irishman-chained-to-the-truth-brian-desmond-hurst.html

A clip usage agreement has recently been completed with the rights holder BFI (on behalf of Crown Film Unit/Ministry of Information) and the first 4 minutes of each film are now included in the multimedia/film clips and filmography sections of this website.

Photo credit Patrick Devlin

The extended Hurst and Smith families and their guests assembled to pay tribute to their distinguished relative in Ribble Street in East Belfast where Brian Desmond Hurst had been born at number 23 on the 12th February 1895. The old back-to-back houses had long since disappeared through redevelopment but the building in which he attended school still stands on the other side of the Newtownards Road. The plaque was unveiled by Brian's great nephew Robert Hurst and his great niece Marion Smith.  Among the guests were Lord Empey, Councillor Ian Adamson, High Sheriff of Belfast and Councillor Jim Rodgers, former Lord Mayor of Belfast.

Councillor Ian Adamson, High Sheriff of Belfast's vivid account of the day can be found at:
http://www.impalapublications.com/blog/index.php?/archives/5689-The-Shire-Reeves-Tale22-by-Cllr-Dr-Ian-Adamson-OBE.html

The Ulster History Circle account and photographs of the day can be found at:
http://www.ulsterhistory.co.uk/130411.html

BBC Arts  presenter Marie-Louise Muir interviewing Allan Esler Smith in front of 23 Ribble Street on the unveiling of the Ulster History Circle plaque.  Listen in via the audio clip below and follow Marie-Louise Muir on BBC Radio Ulster Arts Extra on http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/radioulster/artsextra/marielouise.shtml

Photo Courtesy of the Allan Esler Smith collection

Photo credit Allan Esler Smith collection

Prior to unveiling their plaque to Brian Desmond Hurst only three other film directors have been bestowed with this magnificent honour- Michael Powell, Alexander Mackendrick and David Lean.  The event programme is featured below. The testimonials within the programme speak for themselves and it was fitting that the son of one of Brian's great friends who is also one of Ireland's leading film makers should unveil of the plaque, Redmond Morris.

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Left to right:  Simon Campbell-Jones, Chairman of the Directors Guild Trust, Allan Esler Smith great great nephew and biographer to Brian Desmond Hurst, Redmond Morris, Producer (The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Interview with the Vampire and Michael Collins), Jude Sharvin from the Belfast Film Festival and Ivor Benjamin Chairman ot the Directors Guild of Great Britain at the unveiling of the Blue Plaque to Hurst at Queens Film Theatre on Wednesday 13th April 2011.  Photo credit Neil Harrison

Some of the press coverage about Brian from around the time of the plaque unveils is featured below. Please click image to enlarge

Belfast Telegraph article by Matthew McCreary 8th April 2011

News letter Weekend Section article by Joanne Savage 25th March 2011