Tam Lin

Tam Lin is a collection of striking moments and scenes . It survives as a fine vehicle for Ava Gardner. It was true then and is still true now that good roles for women tend to be in short supply after the age of thirty-five or forty or so, and there's no doubt that Gardner, forty-seven when she made this, was well aware of it.

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It's her film, gifted to her by lifelong friend McDowall, and she grabs it with both hands. McShane, by some definitions is the protagonist. Cyril Cusack and Richard Wattis are solid in support, and in Michaela's following are some notables near the start of their careers: Stephanie Beacham, Sinead Cusack, Madeline Smith, Jenny Hanley, Joanna Lumley and Bruce Robinson among them.