John Mills

Dirk Bogarde

Robert Beatty

Elizabeth Sellars

Barbara Mullen

Eddie Byrne

Joseph Tomelty

Gilbert Harding

James Kenney

Liam Redmond

Jack MacGowran

Michael Golden

Neil Wilson

Stephen Dunne

Patric Doonan

John Orchard

Terence Alexander

Harry Brogan

Harry Hutchinson

Doris Yorke

Patricia Stewart

Johnnie Schofield

Jean St. Clair

Seamus Kavanagh

Jack Rodney

Edward Byrne

Tony Quinn

E.J. Kennedy

John Warwick

Basil Dearden

Roger MacDougall

John Greenwood

Michael Relph

Peter Tanner

Gordon Dines

Thriller

Drama

Crime

Mystery

The Gentle Gunman

Michael Balcon Productions

General Film Distributors

Ealing Studios

J. Arthur Rank Organisation

United Kingdom

English

Ealing take on the Irish Troubles.

Directed by Basil Dearden and adapted to screenplay from his own play by Roger MacDougal, The Gentle Gunman finds John Mills and Dirk Bogarde as brothers in the IRA circa 1941. Matt (Bogarde) is the young and hungry in the name of the cause brother, Terence  (Mills) has grown tired of the violence and questions the IRA’s methods. This puts a strain on their relationship, whilst it also puts Terence on a collision course with the IRA superiors who brand him as a traitor.

The Irish Troubles has never been an easy subject to broach in movies, the political stand point of the film makers invariably leaning towards bias. Whilst critics and reviewers have to battle with their own convictions when trying to stay firmly on the fence. The Gentle Gunman is an attempt at being an anti violence movie, one with a “gentle” pro British slant from that most British of film studios, Ealing. 
Unfortunately it’s tonally all over the place, awash with a mixed bunch of characters that range from apparent comic relief, to rabid Irish terrorists and a town crier like British bigot. Things are further put into the realm of the unbelievable by Mills and Bogarde trying to hold down Irish accents, a shame because without the fluctuation of the vocal chords the performances are rather good.

It’s also a bit too stagey and the pace often drags itself into a stupor, making the adequate action scenes act more as a merciful release than anything truly exciting. On the plus side the film looks amazing at times, with Gordon Dines (The Blue Lamp) on cinematography dealing firmly in film noir filters. Which goes some way to explain how the film has come to be in a couple of reference books about British noir. But really it’s a marginal entry and all told it's just a routine drama from a Studio who were much better in other genre spheres. 6/10

The Gentle Gunman

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