The Gentle Gunman
| The Gentle Gunman | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Directed by | Basil Dearden |
| Produced by |
Basil Dean Michael Relph |
| Written by | Roger MacDougall |
| Starring |
John Mills Dirk Bogarde |
| Music by | John Greenwood |
| Cinematography | Gordon Dines |
| Edited by | Peter Tanner |
| Distributed by | Universal-International (USA) |
Release dates |
October 1952 (UK) 30 September 1953 (U.S.) |
Running time | 86 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Gentle Gunman is a black-and-white 1952 Ealing Studios drama film, directed by Basil Dearden and starring John Mills and Dirk Bogarde.
Plot
John Mills and Dirk Bogarde, bizarrely, were the actors chosen to play two IRA men under cover in London during World War II. The lads are captured after (Terry) starts questioning the worth of war, a line of thinking never popular with armies. They are sprung from captivity by Connolly (Liam Redmond) and his IRA men. Nice cameo by Jack McGowran.
Cast
- John Mills as Terence Sullivan
- Dirk Bogarde as Matt Sullivan
- Robert Beatty as Shinto
- Elizabeth Sellars as Maureen Fagan
- Barbara Mullen as Molly Fagan
- Eddie Byrne as Flynn
- Joseph Tomelty as Dr Brannigan
- Gilbert Harding as Henry Truethome
- James Kenney as Johnny Fagan
- Liam Redmond as Connolly
- Michael Golden as Murphy
- Jack MacGowran as Patsy McGuire
Critical reception
The British magazine Time Out thought the film was "stiff" and "overplotted",[1] while the British Film Institute thought the film struggled to "find the right tone" and culminated with a "car-crash of an ending".[2] The New York Times thought that the film had "failed to search beneath the surface" of the screen-play and described much of the content as "superficial".[3]
References
- ↑ "The Gentle Gunman". Time Out. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
- ↑ "Gentle Gunman, The (1952)". British Film Institute. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
- ↑ "The Gentle Gunman (1952)". British Film Institute. 1 October 1953. Retrieved 28 May 2014.