Sir, - I don't know why TnaG keeps announcing that Brendan Behan's Dublin was produced by the BBC (Television, March 27th). The same statement was obviously included in the press release for its previous showing on December 30th 1998, as both The Irish Times and the continuity announcer repeated it.
In fairness to the late Norman Cohen, I would like your readers to know that he directed it for his own company, Norcon Film Productions, and the producer was Greg Smith. It is a great compliment to the late Ray McAnally that the impression given in the preview is that Brendan himself provided the commentary. In fact he had died two years earlier and the commentary was written by me and spoken by Ray. The 29-minute film was shot by Robert Monks in Eastmancolour in 1966 and distributed by Compton Films. It was first shown at the Cork Film Festival on Tuesday, September 20th, 1966, supporting the MGM film Woman Without a Face, starring Jean Simmons and James Garner.
I wish Norman had known that his film was to be screened twice within a few months on Irish television. He would have been so pleased. - Yours, etc., Carolyn Swift,
Upper Leeson Street, Dublin 4.