John Mills won an Oscar for Ryan's Daughter. Playing an Irishman. Who was mute. This last point is most relevant since, on the basis of this film, dear Johnny - of whom I am very fond - couldn't do an Irish accent for toffee. Here, he and Dirk Bogarde play Republican brothers - suspend that disbelief! - at odds over how to fight the English during the Second World War. A list of films produced in the United Kingdom in 1952 (see 1952 in film): Leading British production or distribution companies included General Film Distributors, Associated British and British Lion. Hollywood studios also invested in British-based productions. October 28, 2023 , Bradley Hadcroft , No Comment Grimmfest 2023 – Film Review – 8 Found Dead (2023) October 8, 2023 , Bradley Hadcroft , No Comment Grimmfest 2023 – Film Review – AUXILIO – The Power of Sin (2023)

Points for the effort, and it’s not a disaster by any means, but it is a bit of a farce when it would have been stronger taking things more seriously. Terry, though, is now a wanted man – wanted by his former comrades, who intend to execute him for his “treachery”: and they are led by a truly unpleasant fanatic, Shinto, played by Robert Beatty. The Sullivans’ mother also hates the IRA, since her husband and another son have already died after their involvement with the organisation. Dirk Bogarde wasn’t even trying with that Irish accent, but I forgive him because he’s so handsome. In 1941, in wartime U.K., two Irish brothers working for the I.R.A. come against their local leader's ruthless methods.

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Overlapping dissolves to reveal a hidden bomb, director Basil Dearden & The Third Key (1956-also reviewed) cinematographer Gordon Dines following the divide between the brothers with an excellent, ultra-stylized Film Noir atmosphere, where Dearden cuts through the crisp high contrast lighting, with jagged panning shots over rugged terrain, push-ins on…

The Gentle Gunman was written by Roger MacDougall, based upon his earlier stage play (MacDougall’s plays were clearly popular at Ealing Studios around this time; The Man in the White Suit, based upon another of MacDougall’s plays, came out the same year as The Gentle Gunman). The film’s political interests are foregrounded right from the start, where two old men, one Irish and one English, discuss the legitimacy of English rule in Ireland. Yet both MacDougall and Dearden treat this discussion (as well as subsequent ones) with a light hearted, almost comic tone. Despite opening with this gentle political commentary, very soon Dearden allows his characters and noirish plot to dominate, with The Gentle Gunman never forgetting to be a briskly paced thriller first and foremost. The 20th Century proved to be a tumultuous period for conflict and war in Ireland. The early part of the era saw The Easter Rising in 1916, followed several years later by the Irish Civil War. The latter part of the century was of course defined by The Troubles in Northern Ireland, which finally culminated in peace with the signing of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Despite The Gentle Gunman’s admirable attempt at balanced rather than shallow characterisation, as well as the thrilling direction, things aren’t always perfect. As a drama, the film does stumble occasionally, nowhere more so than in the final moments, which sees the culmination of the previous 80 or so minutes conclude with a weak puff rather than with a dramatic punch. It means that is hard to recommend The Gentle Gunman on its dramatic chops alone, with the film ultimately feeling, despite Dearden’s best efforts, like a bit of a damp squib as the credits roll. October 28, 2023 , Bradley Hadcroft , No Comment Pigeon Shrine Halloween Frightfest Film Review – Superposition (2023)There have been a fair few films covering these two different time periods, from Ken Loach’s Palm d’Or winning The Wind that Shakes the Barely, to Jim Sheridan’s Danial Day Lewis vehicle In The Name of the Father and Yan Denamge’s underrated and agonisingly tense thriller ’71. Perhaps because both history and cinema tend to focus predominantly on these two key eras in Irish and Northern Irish history, it is easy to forget that Anglo Irish conflict and tension actually permeated throughout most of the 20th Century. Quite a few people may be surprised to learn, for example, that the IRA were operating in England during the Second World War. It is during this unusual time period that we find Basil Dearden’s 1951 nourish Ealing melodrama The Gentle Gunman taking place, shedding a light on an aspect of Northern Irish history that cinema doesn’t often choose to illuminate. GIRDLE OF GOLD | British Board of Film Classification". www.bbfc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2019-02-22.