Page updated 12/9/2021
“Kathleen Mavourneen” (1938) (74 mins) Romance/Musical.
Sally O’Neil, Tom Burke and Jack Daley.
Director: Norman Lee.
Kathleen O’Moore (Sally O’Neil) returns to her home in rural Ireland and becomes torn between the affections of Michael Rooney (Tom Burke), a poor but honest man, and the wealthy squire with the power to make her dreams come true.
Not available.
“Kerry Dancer, The” (1913)
Jack Clarke, Gene Gauntier.
Director: Sidney Olcott.
“Kerry Gow, The” (1912)
Jack J.Clark, Gene Gauntier, Jack P. McGowan.
Director: Sidney Olcott.
Filmed at Beaufort in County Kerry.
“Key, The” (1934) (71 mins) Thriller.
William Powell, Edna Best, Colin Clive, Donald Crisp.
Director: Michael Curtiz.
aka “High Peril”
Filmed at the Warner Bros. Studios in California, USA.
Based on the play of the same name written by Jocelyn Lee Hardy and Robert Gore-Browne, set against the background of Hardy’s own experiences with the Auxiliary Division of the RIC during the counter-insurgency in Ireland. By a strange twist Jocelyn Lee Hardy is believed to have been involved in the murder of the Grandfather of Brendan O’Carroll, the Irish comedian and movie maker – see “Mrs. Brown’s Boys D’Movie”.
During the 1920s’ uprising in Ireland, British Captain Bill Tennant (William Powell) is in Dublin joining in the search for Sinn Fein leader Peadar Conlan (Donald Crisp). He moves into the same apartment building as his old friend Nora (Edna Best) and her husband, British Intelligence Officer Andrew Kerr (Colin Clive). Bill rekindles his old romance with Nora, but, when Andrew is captured by the Sinn Fein fighters, Bill forges an order to release him. His actions result in Nora and Andrew reuniting and Bill facing a prison sentence.
Now available as part of a Warner Bros. DVD box set featuring William Powell.
“Key, The” (1983) (45 mins) RTE TV movie.
Donal McCann, Tom Murphy, Robert Carrickford and Daragh O’Malley.
Director: Tony Barry.
Based on John McGahern’s short story “The Bomb Box” this short film is a sequel to “The Lost Hour” (1982) charting young Patrick Moran’s relationship with his father following his mother’s death.
Does not appear to be available.
“Keys to the City” (2012) (80 mins) Drama.
Rory Keenan, Conor Mullen, Natalia Kostrzewa, David Murray, Una Kavanagh, Art Kearns and Ger Ryan.
Directors: Laura Way, Chris Brennan, Mel Cannon.
The recession-based drama was crewed by a group of Digital Feature Film masters students in conjunction with Filmbase and Staffordshire University (UK).
Filmed in County Dublin.
Very, very low budget – circa €3,000.
What would a young mother do to keep her child clothed and feed? How far would a husband go to save his home and keep his family happy? How far would a young man go to keep from losing his life savings? Monika is from Poland caught in a minimum wage job as an office cleaner, Eoin is a businessman who finds himself unable to pay his bills or his mortgage and Paul is caught between threatening eviction on equally desperate tenants and a bank with no interest in personal stories. Through separate, but interlinked stories their choices affect their own lives as well as others. Together the stories provide an intimate portrait of ordinary people trying to keep their heads above water in a Dublin submerged in recession and filled with economic anxiety. http://www.chicagoirishfilmfestival.com/keys-to-the-city
Does not appear to be available.
Kidnapped (1995) (175 mins) Drama. TV mini-series.
Brian McCardie, Armand Assante, Michael Kitchen, Brian Blessed, Patrick Malahide, Brendan Gleeson, Alan Stanford, David Kelly, Bosco Hogan, Gerard McSorley plus many other well known Irish actors.
Director: Ivan Passer.
Executive Producer: Francis Ford Coppola.
Adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic.
Set in Scotland but filmed in Ireland – County Wicklow (Wicklow Gap etc.) and at Ardmore Studios in Bray.
In the politically divided Scotland of 1751, orphaned David Balfour (Brian McCardie) leaves the peace of his idyllic Lowland home to seek out his inheritance from his estranged Uncle Ebenezer (Patrick Malahide). But before he can claim his rightful fortune, his uncle sells him as a slave to a pirate ship. Davie is launched on an extraordinary and amazing adventure where he must battle with slave-traders, evade capture by the British army’s finest troops and learn some harsh truths about himself along the way. Fortunately for Davie he is helped in his quest by the one man in Scotland who is able to outrun and outwit even the cleverest and most dogged of pursuers: the notorious and flamboyant Jacobite rebel – Alan Breck Stewart (Armand Assante).
Available on Region.1. DVD – scarce and expensive.
“Kilkenny Cross” (2006) (90 mins) TV Drama.
Sjoerd Dragtsma, Mariëlle Woltring and Ariane Schluter.
Director: Eric Oosthoek.
Filmed in Ireland – County Galway, Connemara and the Netherlands – Amsterdam.
Low budget €500,000 – 700,000.
The three most important things in the life of 17-year-old Jordi are the Internet, his girlfriend Tess, and the fantasy role-playing game “Magic: The Gathering.” However, when he discovers that the father he thought was dead is alive and living in Ireland, he makes a spur-of-the-moment road trip from Amsterdam to Ireland, he learns that he is not the person he thought he was.
Does not appear to have been released on DVD.
“Killinaskully” (2003/2008) (18.5 hours) Comedy. 5 seasons (36 x 26 minute episodes).
Pat Shortt, Páraic Breathnach, John Keogh, Pascal Scott, Jack Walsh, Maria McDermottroe, Joe Rooney and Gerry Walsh.
Filmed on location in the villages of Killoscully and Ballinahinch in County Tipperary, and also in County Limerick.
Available on DVD. Boxed set entitled “The Whole Feckin’ Package!”.
“Killing Bono” (2011) (114 mins) Comedy.
Ben Barnes, Robert Sheehan and Krysten Ritter.
Director: Nick Hamm.
Filmed in Belfast and England (London).
Ben Barnes plays Neil McCormick, a rock-mad Dublin teenager who grows up with Paul Hewson, later to be the legendary Bono. Both are in sixth-form bands, but when Hewson tries to get Neill’s talented guitarist brother Ivan (Robert Sheehan) to be in his group, Neill secretly scuppers this plan. Cruel fate takes its course. Hewson’s band become the world-famous U2, but Neill’s group remain failures and losers; Neill is convulsed with envy for his old schoolfriend and guilt at stopping Ivan from getting his ticket to global fame.
Available on DVD.
“Kill Ratio” (2016) (86 mins) Thriller 
Tom Hopper, Amy Huberman, Nick Dunning, Lacy Moore.
Director: Paul Tanter.
Aka “The Fixer”.
An attack on the new President of a fledgling Eastern European democracy pits an American covert operative against the country’s ruthless military leader determined to seize control of the government.
Filmed in the Deerpark Hotel, Howth, Co.Dublin.
Verdict: Probably amongst the worst films ever to be made in Ireland.
Cinema release in LA in 2016 and to video four days later.
Available on DVD.
“Kin” (2021) Crime Drama. 8 part RTÉ TV mini-series
Aidan Gillen, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Clare Dunne, Ciarán Hinds, Sam Keeley, Emmett Scanlan, Yasmin Seky and Baz Black.
Director: Diarmuid Goggins.
Filmed in Dublin.
Kin tells the story of the Kinsella’s, a Dublin crime family, embroiled in a gangland war. When a member of the clan is killed the family finds itself in a fight for survival with a rival drug cartel. Outnumbered, outgunned and lacking in finance – the Kinsella’s are soon holed up in their Dublin stronghold while their businesses fail, and family members and associates are picked off.
First episode aired on RTÉ .1. on 12/9/2021
“King Arthur” (2004) (126 mins) Fantasy Drama.
Clive Owen, Stephen Dillane, Keira Knightley, Ioan Gruffudd, Mads Mikkelsen.
Director: Antoine Fuqua.
Filmed in Wales; England – Pinewood Studios; Ireland – County Wicklow (Ardmore Studios), Powerscourt and Luggala Estates; County Kildare – Ballymore Eustace; also County Dublin.
Available on DVD.
“King of the Castle” (1977) Drama
Niall Toibin, Fionnula Flanagan, Robert Carrickford, Arthur O’Sullivan, Joe Lynch, Tony Doyle.
Based on a 1964 play by Eugene McCabe.
Filmed in County Wicklow – Rathnew.
‘Scober’ MacAdam (Niall Toibin) is king of the castle. He has acquired by greed and exploitation a former ‘Big House’ in County Leitrim. But he is sexually impotent. Goaded by gossip, he devises a plot to impregnate his young wife. The latent savagery of Eugene McCabe’s domestic tragedy discloses, in the couple’s struggle to converse, a series of wounds in the household and in the neighbouring community.
First broadcast on RTÉ Television on the 3rd October 1977.
“King of the Travellers” (2013) (80 mins) Drama.
John Connors, Carla McGlynn, Thomas Collins, Michael Collins, Peter Coonan.
Director: Mark O’Connor.
Bloody, brutal, powerful and bound by the laws and traditions of the Irish traveller community, ‘King of the Travellers’ follows John Paul Moorehouse on his violent and destructive quest to uncover the truth about his father’s murder. But his thirst for revenge is swayed when he falls for Winnie Power, the daughter of the man he suspects killed his father. To ensure authenticity in the film, Travellers were cast to play the Traveller roles, many of whom had never acted before.
Available on DVD.
“Kings” (2007) (88 mins) Drama.
Colm Meaney, Donal O’Kelly and Brendan Conroy.
Director: Tom Collins.
Filmed in Belfast, Dublin and London.
In the mid 1970s, a group of six young men left their homes in the West of Ireland, took the boat out of Dublin Bay and sailed across the sea to England in the hope of making their fortunes and returning home. Thirty years later only one, Jackie Flavin, makes it home – but does so in a coffin. Jackie’s five friends reunite at his wake where they are forced to face up to the reality of their alienation as long term emigrants who no longer have any real place to call home.
Available from Amazon.co.uk on DVD – scarce!
“Kings in Grass Castles” (1998) (200 mins) Drama. Australian TV mini-series.
Ernie Dingo, James Fox, Stephen Dillane, Essie Davis, Rafe Andrews, Stewart Armstrong, Craig Ashley, James Fox, T.P.McKenna and Fionnula Flanagan.
Director: John Woods.
Based on a novel of the same name written by a grand-daughter of the main protagonist of this story – Patsy Durack
Filmed mainly in Australia with a small amount (?) of shooting in County Mayo.
An Australian historical mini-series based on the best-selling memoirs of Dame Mary Durack tracing three generations of a pioneering family and their tumultuous settlement in colonial Australia. Fleeing the Irish Potato Famine of 1853, the Durack family search for a better life in a harsh land of infinite possibilities, rich with rewards ready for the taking. Led by patriarch Patsy Durack (Stephen Dillane), they set about developing the extraordinary Kimberley Region, establishing a dynamic network of sheep and cattle properties throughout the countryside. Throughout their pioneering endeavours, the Duracks forge lifelong friendships with the many local indigenous people, discovering the severe hardship and tragedy of a people suddenly removed from their ancestral lands. These friendships would underscore the terrible historical irony of the dispossessed becoming the dispossessors.
Available on DVD.
“Kinkisha, The” (1977) (60 mins) Drama.
Barbara McNamara, John McArdle, Marcus McArdle, Catherine Gibson, Eamon Keane, David Byrne.
Writer/Director: Tom McArdle.
In rural Ireland, the relationship between a young couple, Margaret and Gerry, is being interfered with by Gran, Gerry’s mother, in whose house they live. A baby is born after Margaret becomes pregnant following her seduction, or maybe even rape, in a barn by Gerry. The baby is called a ‘kinkisha’ after a superstition that a child born on Whit will kill or be killed unless a robin is crushed to death in the baby’s hand during the first few weeks of its life. Margaret reluctantly catches a robin for the ritual and brings it home. After the robin is crushed in the baby’s hand, the family is apparently restored to normality. Ref: www.tcd.ie/irishfilm
Does not appear to have been released on VHS or DVD.
“Kisses” (2008) (72 mins) Drama.
Kelly O’Neill, Shane Curry, Paul Roe, Cathy Malone, Neili Conroy.
Director: Lance Daly.
Filmed in Dublin and Sweden.
Kisses, tells the story of Dylan and Kylie, who run away from dysfunctional homes into the streets of inner city Dublin searching for Dylan’s elder brother .Their new-found freedom turns sour when the darker side of Dublin’s nightlife starts to emerge; and when Dylan discovers that Kylie has deeper motives for running away he is forced to choose between his common sense and his loyalty to her. They will need more than everyday luck if they are to make it through to the morning. Element Pics.
Available on DVD.
“Kissing Candice” (2017) (102 mins) Drama
Ann Skelly, Ryan Lincoln, Conall Keating, Ryan McParland, Caitriona Ennis.
Writer/Director: Aoife McArdle.
Low budget – €300,000.
Filmed in Dublin and Louth.
17-year old Candice longs to escape the boredom of her seaside town, but when a boy she dreams about turns up in real life, she becomes involved with a dangerous local gang.
In Irish cinemas 22nd June 2018.
Available on DVD (2018).
“Klondike, An” (2015-) Drama/Western. 5 part TV mini-series. Bilingual.
Aka ‘Dominion Creek’.
Owen McDonnell, Dara Devaney, Seán T. Ó Meallaigh.
Creator: Dathaí Keane.
Budget: €1,600,000 (estimated)
Official website: www.anklondike.com
Filmed in Connemara, County Galway.
An Klondike is the first Western to be made in Ireland and tells the story of the Connolly Brothers; three Irish emigrants who travel from Montana to the Yukon during the Klondike gold rush of the 1890’s in the hope of striking it rich.
In 1897 gold was discovered in the wilds of Northern Alaska and immediately the stampede began. Over 100,000 adventurers, gamblers, con men and fortune-hunters struck out for the remote Klondike Valley goldfields. Amongst them were thousands of Irish emigrants like the Connolly brothers who undertook the dangerous journey to the heart of the Yukon in search of gold and adventure.
An Klondike follows the Connolly brothers from Montana to Dominion Creek, a town on which they will leave a permanent mark. Dominion Creek is a town built on greed in a land that God, if he exists there, has created in anger. The Connollys arrival in Dominion sets in motion a chain of events that leads to a deadly showdown with Jacob Hopkins, the man who runs the town.
Available on DVD as ‘Dominion Creek‘.
“Knights of the Round Table” (1953) (115 mins) Drama.
Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, Mel Ferrer, Stanley Baker, Felix Aylmer.
Director: Richard Thorpe.
Filmed in England – Dartmoor, Cornwall and in Ireland – Powerscourt, County Wicklow.
Many locals were employed as extras.
Long live King Arthur (Mel Ferrer) and Camelot! Yet in all of ancient England’s new found peace there is “a fraying link in Arthur’s chain” the growing passion between heroic knight Sir Lancelot (Robert Taylor) and beautiful Queen Guinevere (Ava Garner).
One of history’s most beloved legends is vibrantly retold in an adaption downplaying fantasy elements and giving 6th-century England a new kind of a fantasy: a dazzling Hollywood sheen bursting with the CinemaScope-sized pageantry, conflicts and imposing citadels of location-lensed 1950s spectaculars.
Trivia: Apparently – I haven’t seen it yet – a truck is visible in the background of a large battle scene.
Available on VHS and DVD.
“Knocking on Death’s Door” (1999) (95 mins) Horror.
David Carradine, Brian Bloom, and Kimberly Rowe.
Director: Mitch Marcus.
Filmed in County Galway.
Two paranormal psychologists are assigned to investigate a series of mysterious incidents at Hillside House. In the process they discover the ghost of a young boy and are pursued by a terrifying supernatural force which tries to stop their investigations and threatens their lives. Will they solve the tragic crime before they fall victim to the horror themselves?
Available on DVD.
“Knocknagow” (1918) (90 mins) Drama. B+W, silent.
Brian Magowan, J.M. Carre, Alice Keating, Cyril Cusack, Kathleen Murphy.
Director: Fred O’Donovan.
Based on the novel by Charles Kickham, which is set shortly after the Great Hunger of 1845-1851.
Trivia: A 5-year old Cyril Cusack appears as an evicted child.
Filmed and first shown around Clonmel.
1848, County Tipperary. Land Agent Pender threatens Mrs. Honor Lahy and her daughter Norah with eviction unless they pay their rent arrears. However, Independent Freeholder Matt the Thrasher challenges Pender’s designs to clear the land of tillage farmers so that the land can be used for more profitable grazing.
Not available on VHS or DVD, but the full movie is currently on YouTube – see above.
“Korea” (1995) (90 mins) Drama
Donal Donnelly, Andrew Scott, Fiona Moloney, Vass Anderson, Christopher Callery, Eileen Ward, Pat Fitzpatrick, Sadie Maguire.
Director: Cathal Black.
Based upon a story by John McGahern.
Filmed in Dublin and County Leitrim.
A powerful story of the relationship between father and son, John and Eamon Doyle. It is set in rural Ireland during the 1950′s, a period of mass emigration and social change. Young Irish emigrants, on arriving in America, have been enlisted and sent to fight in the Korean War.
One of those emigrants, Luke Moran, dies in Korea and his home village is awash with rumours about the compensation the Moran family received on Luke’s death. John Doyle hears the rumours but remains silent. Ben Moran is John’s arch-enemy, a feud traced back to the Civil War. Eamon comforts and falls in love with Una Moran. His father feeling betrayed, blames Ben Moran for everything and is prepared to sacrifice Eamon in seeking vengeance as a contemporary Romeo and Juliet story unfolds.
Available on download here: www.volta.ie/films/korea
Not released on VHS or DVD – yet!
Irish Movie Madness 