Johnny Nobody

Last updated

Johnny Nobody
"Johnny Nobody" (1961).jpg
British quad poster
Directed by Nigel Patrick
Screenplay by Patrick Kirwan
Based onstory The Trial of Johnny Nobody by Albert Z. Carr
Produced by John R. Sloan
StarringNigel Patrick
Yvonne Mitchell
William Bendix
Aldo Ray
Cinematography Ted Moore
Edited by Geoffrey Foot
Music by Ron Goodwin
Production
companies
Viceroy Films Ltd.
Warwick Film Productions
Distributed by Eros Films (UK)
Release date
October 1961
Running time
88 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Johnny Nobody is a 1961 British drama film made in Ireland and directed by Nigel Patrick, starring Yvonne Mitchell, William Bendix and Aldo Ray. It was produced John R. Sloan for Viceroy Films, with Irving Allen and Albert R. Broccoli as executive producers. [1] A man arrested for murder claims to be suffering from amnesia. Father Carey investigates the case, and looks for the killer's motive.

Contents

Story

Irish American writer James Ronald Mulcahy is murdered moments after he has dared God to strike him dead. His murderer looks for help from the man who must decide his fate, the local priest, Father Carey. The killer is tagged "Johnny Nobody" by the press because of his claim to have total amnesia, but further investigation by Carey leads him to question whether or not "Johnny" was acting for God or, as seems more likely, a woman known as Miss Floyd who turns out to be his wife.

Cast

Production

The film was shot at Ardmore Studios in Bray, Ireland. [2] [3]

Critical reception

Monthly Film Bulletin said "The combination of religion (or at any rate Providence) and an Irish setting has produced a story even more fantastic than The Singer Not The Song [1961], though the film itself is disappointing on any level. The plot resembles nothing so much as a cosy murder mystery, moving in the convulsive jerks of a lesser British Thirties thriller, while the unreal dialogue has a compulsive predictability. Intriguing films have been made from equally bizarre material. Unfortunately this is not one of them. ... The more one thinks of it, the more one is amazed that anyone should have thought a plot and players as uniformly unlikely as these could have worked out satisfactorily." [4]

Variety wrote "Imported suspenser run-of-the-mill programmer despite stroger than usual casting. [The film] has a cast that compares for talent with many bigger-budgeted and more ambitious efforts. And that's about the only thing it has going for it." [5]

Boxoffice said "An engrossing display of histrionic talents by an internationally known and respected cast. ... Nigel Patrick's delineation is at once sentimental and suave, penetrating and philiosophic." [6]

Leslie Halliwell said: "A mysterious rigmarole which irritates more than entertains." [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>Wake Island</i> (film) 1942 film directed by John Farrow

Wake Island is a 1942 American action drama war film directed by John Farrow, written by W. R. Burnett and Frank Butler, and starring Brian Donlevy, Robert Preston, Macdonald Carey, Albert Dekker, Barbara Britton, and William Bendix. The film tells the story of the United States military garrison on Wake Island and the onslaught by the Japanese following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russ Tamblyn</span> American actor

Russell Irving Tamblyn, also known as Rusty Tamblyn, is an American film and television actor and dancer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aldo Ray</span> American actor (1926–1991)

Aldo Ray was an American actor of film and television. He began his career as a contract player for Columbia Studios before achieving stardom through his roles in The Marrying Kind, Pat and Mike, Let's Do It Again, and Battle Cry. His athletic build and gruff, raspy voice saw him frequently typecast in "tough guy" roles throughout his career, which lasted well into the late 1980s. Though the latter part of his career was marked by appearances in low-budget B-movies and exploitation films, he still appeared occasionally in higher-profile features, including The Secret of NIMH (1982) and The Sicilian (1987).

Events in the year 1970 in Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nigel Patrick</span> English actor and stage director

Nigel Patrick was an English actor and stage director born into a theatrical family.

<i>Night of the Big Heat</i> (film) 1967 British film by Terence Fisher

Night of the Big Heat is a 1967 British science fiction film directed by Terence Fisher, and starrig Patrick Allen, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Jane Merrow.It was based on the 1959 novel of the same name by John Lymington, and was released in the UK by Planet Film Productions.

<i>Red Light</i> (film) 1949 film noir

Red Light is a 1949 American film noir crime film directed and produced by Roy Del Ruth, starring George Raft and Virginia Mayo, and based on the story "This Guy Gideon" by Don "Red" Barry, featuring strong religious overtones.

<i>Holiday</i> (1938 film) 1938 film by George Cukor

Holiday is a 1938 American romantic comedy film directed by George Cukor, a remake of the 1930 film of the same name.

Ardmore Studios, in Bray, County Wicklow, is Irelands's only four wall studio.

<i>Too Hot to Handle</i> (1960 film) 1960 British film by Terence Young

Too Hot to Handle is a 1960 British neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Terence Young and starring Jayne Mansfield, Leo Genn and Carl Boehm.

Patricia Lynch was an Irish children's writer and a journalist. She was the author of some 48 novels and 200 short stories. She is best known for blending Irish rural life and fantasy fiction as in The Turf-Cutter's Donkey which was illustrated by Jack B. Yeats.

<i>80,000 Suspects</i> 1963 Brtish film by Val Guest

80,000 Suspects is a 1963 black-and-white British drama film directed by Val Guest and starring Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, Yolande Donlan, and Cyril Cusack. It is based on the 1957 novel Pillars of Midnight by Elleston Trevor. An outbreak of smallpox in Bath, England, leads to a race to contain the virus.

<i>The Woman in Question</i> 1950 British film

The Woman in Question is a 1950 British murder mystery film directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Jean Kent, Dirk Bogarde and John McCallum. After a woman is murdered, the complex and very different ways in which she is seen by several people are examined. It was loosely adapted into the 1954 Indian film Andha Naal.

The Secret of The Purple Reef is a 1960 20th Century Fox CinemaScope DeLuxe Color film based on a short story by Dorothy Cottrell entitled "The Silent Reefs". It starred soon-to-be-famous actors Richard Chamberlain and Peter Falk. It is a Caribbean-based mystery involving the disappearance of a ship called the Cloud.

<i>The Traitors</i> (1962 film) 1962 British film

The Traitors is a 1962 British thriller film directed by Robert Tronson and starring Patrick Allen, Jacqueline Ellis, Zena Walker and James Maxwell.

<i>Enter Inspector Duval</i> 1961 British film

Enter Inspector Duval is a low budget 1961 British crime film directed by Max Varnel and starring Anton Diffring, Diane Hart and Mark Singleton.

The North Monastery, commonly known as The Mon, is a co-educational education campus comprising Scoil Mhuire Fatima Primary School, North Monastery Co-educational Secondary and Gaelcholáiste Mhuire AG, located at Our Lady's Mount, Cork, Ireland.

Louis Elliman was an Irish impresario and theatre manager.

<i>Mrs. Pym of Scotland Yard</i> 1939 British film

Mrs. Pym of Scotland Yard is a 1939 British comedy-drama film directed by Fred Elles starring Mary Clare in her only title role and Nigel Patrick in his film debut. It is based on the Mrs Pym novels by Nigel Morland, and written by Morland, who re-used the title for a 1946 book.

<i>A Question of Suspense</i> 1961 film

A Question of Suspense is a low budget 1961 British black and white crime drama "B" film directed by Max Varnel, based on a story by Roy Vickers, starring Peter Reynolds, Noelle Middleton and Yvonne Buckingham.

References

  1. "Johnny Nobody". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  2. "Johnny Nobody (1960)". BFI. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012.
  3. Irish, T. R. (17 May 1960). "Ardmore to Make Two More Films". The Irish Times. ProQuest   523557996.
  4. "Johnny Nobody". Monthly Film Bulletin . 28 (324): 166. 1 January 1961. ProQuest   1305828652 via ProQuest.
  5. "Johnny Nobody". Variety . 241 (2): 6. 1 December 1965. ProQuest   1017123165 via ProQuest.
  6. "Johnny Nobody". Boxoffice . 88 (9–10): a11. 20 December 1965. ProQuest   1476006645 via ProQuest.
  7. Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 541. ISBN   0586088946.