Challenging ‘Imperialist’ Cinematography: IRA Attacks on Dublin Cinemas, 1925-1939

Abstract

In mid-November 1925, the Masterpiece cinema in Dublin was called upon by armed men, who seized seven of its eight copies of the First World War film The Battle of Ypres. Shortly afterwards, on 20 November, it was reported that the showing of its remaining copy was enough for the IRA to explode ‘a powerful landmine in the wide entrance to the Masterpiece cinema in Talbot Street’. This marked the beginning of a series of attacks upon Dublin picturehouses. The 1920s and 1930s witnessed sustained denunciation of war cinematography in republican publications such as An Phoblacht and Irish Freedom, as well as occasional violent assaults upon cinemas. This was part of a broader ‘Boycott British’ movement, and an IRA campaign against what it saw as cultural imperialism. Drawing on state intelligence files, such as the Crime and Security papers of the Department of Justice, contemporary newspaper reports from both the mainstream and separatist press, and the archives of leading IRA figures such as Chief of Staff (1926-1936) Moss Twomey, this article demonstrates the manner in which the republican movement attempted to impose censorship on the Dublin cinema industry. It examines the manner in which several war films were selectively censored and amended before they were presented to the Irish public, indicating the fears of the authorities regarding potential political assault.