The Gentle Gunman

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The Gentle Gunman
The Gentle Gunman (1952 film).jpg
Directed by Basil Dearden
Written byRoger MacDougall
Based on The Gentle Gunman by Roger MacDougall
Produced by Basil Dean
Michael Relph
Starring John Mills
Dirk Bogarde
Elizabeth Sellars
Robert Beatty
Cinematography Gordon Dines
Edited by Peter Tanner
Music by John Greenwood
Production
company
Distributed by General Film Distributors
Release dates
  • October 1952 (1952-10)(UK)
  • 30 September 1953 (1953-09-30)(U.S.)
Running time
86 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Gentle Gunman is a 1952 British drama film directed by Basil Dearden and starring John Mills, Dirk Bogarde and Elizabeth Sellars. It was written by Roger MacDougall based on his 1950 play of the same title [1] that was televised by the BBC in September 1950. [2] It was produced by Ealing Studios. The film's sets were designed by the art director Jim Morahan.

Contents

Plot

Terence and Matthew Sullivan are two IRA men in London during World War II. Terry starts questioning the worth of the IRA's war against the United Kingdom that involves planting bombs in a crowded London Underground station and becomes marked for death by the IRA. In addition to Terry's questioning of the IRA's methods, Matt is affected by a mother whose husband and son had joined the IRA with fatal results. Though Matthew escapes capture in London, his comrades-in-arms Connolly and Patsy are captured by the British police. Both Terry and the IRA leader Shinto vow to free the men and take them from their trial in Belfast to safety in the Irish Free State, but Shinto favours more violent methods than Terry.

Cast

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "The Gentle Gunman does not suffer from such familiar weaknesses of filmed theatre as restricted sets and excessive dialogue; rather, the stage original has been broken down so that climaxes come at moments of violence, and the flavour of the picture is primarily that of a thriller. But in spite of this the film retains a certain theatrical artificiality, notably in the last scenes, and the insistence on action has itself resulted in a scrappy organisation of the material and in a dissipation and lack of force in the presentation of the central theme." [3]

Time Out stated the film was "stiff" and "overplotted". [4]

Philip Kemp of the British Film Institute thought the film struggled to "find the right tone" and culminated with a "car-crash of an ending". [5]

The New York Times indicated that the film had "failed to search beneath the surface" of the screen-play and described much of the content as "superficial". [6]

Quotes

Englishman: "The situation in England is serious, but it's never hopeless"
Irishman: "The situation in Ireland is hopeless but it's never serious"

References

  1. ↑ "Production of The Gentle Gunman | Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
  2. ↑ "Radio Times". London: BBC. 24 September 1950. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  3. ↑ "The Gentle Gunman". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 19 (216): 153. 1 January 1952. ProQuest   1305816945.
  4. ↑ "The Gentle Gunman". Time Out. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  5. ↑ "Gentle Gunman, The (1952)". British Film Institute. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  6. ↑ "A Double Bill". New York Times. 1 October 1953. Retrieved 6 March 2025.
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