Night Boat to Dublin
Night Boat to Dublin | |
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Directed by | Lawrence Huntington |
Written by | Lawrence Huntington Robert Hall |
Produced by | Hamilton G. Inglis |
Starring | Robert Newton Raymond Lovell Muriel Pavlow |
Cinematography | Otto Heller |
Edited by | Flora Newton |
Music by | Charles Williams |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Pathé Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 100 mins |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Box office | £151,928 (UK)[1] |
Night Boat to Dublin is a 1946 British thriller film directed and co-written by Lawrence Huntington. It stars Robert Newton, Raymond Lovell, Guy Middleton, Muriel Pavlow and Herbert Lom.[2][3]
Plot
[edit]During the Second World War, a captured German spy (Marius Goring) is executed at the Tower of London, without revealing the whereabouts of Professor Hansen, a refugee Swedish scientist in Britain. He is believed to be unwittingly passing information on the atomic bomb to Germany through the neutral Irish Free State. British intelligence attempts to locate him and break this link.[4]
Two intelligence officers, Captain Grant and Captain Wilson, travel incognito on the overnight ferry to Dublin. They observe the German contact, Keitel, and their suspicion falls on lawyer Paul Faber. Grant manages to get a clerical job in Faber's London office, using a false identity. He allows himself to be exposed as an ex-army officer who's gone AWOL, and allows himself to be blackmailed by Faber into doing a number of illegal jobs. These include a marriage of convenience to Marion, a young Austrian girl who is desperate to acquire British nationality; also the theft of some radioactive items from a docks warehouse.
Eventually, the trail leads Grant, Hunter and the police to the fictional village of Hunstable in Devon, and from there to a cliff-edge mansion where Hansen is being hidden. A showdown in a sea cave under the mansion leaves the police triumphant.
Grant is directed to a room where his wife, Marion, is held. She expects a spy is entering and breaks a vase on his head. The film end with her kneeling next to him saying "Oh David".
Cast
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/96/Birth_of_a_Star-_Everyday_Life_For_Actress_Muriel_Pavlow%2C_England%2C_UK%2C_1945_D24343.jpg/220px-Birth_of_a_Star-_Everyday_Life_For_Actress_Muriel_Pavlow%2C_England%2C_UK%2C_1945_D24343.jpg)
- Robert Newton as Captain David Grant
- Raymond Lovell as Paul Faber
- Guy Middleton as Captain Toby Hunter
- Muriel Pavlow as Marion Decker
- Herbert Lom as Keitel
- John Ruddock as Bowman
- Martin Miller as Professor Hansen
- Brenda Bruce as Lily Leggett
- Gerald Case as Inspector Emerson
- Scott Forbes as Lieutenant Allen
- Leslie Dwyer as George Leggett
- Valentine Dyall as Sir George Bell
- Marius Goring as Frederick Jannings
- Olga Lindo as Mrs. Coleman
- Joan Maude as Sidney Vane
- Hay Petrie as the Station Master
- Lawrence O'Madden as Captain Wilson
- Stuart Lindsell as Inspector Martin
- Gordon McLeod as Inspector Longhurst
- Derek Elphinstone as Naval Surgeon
- Bruce Gordon as Hood
- Carroll Gibbons as Self
- Edmundo Ros as Self
- George Hirste as Station Official
- J. Hubert Leslie as Ticket Collector
- Wilfred Hyde-White as Taxi driver
Production
[edit]Filming took place in July 1945.[5] It was shot at the Welwyn Studios in Hertfordshire with sets designed by the art director Charles Gilbert.
Reception
[edit]- C.A. Lejeune in The Observer said the film was "effectively done in a small way and has the frankly preposterous zest of a boys' adventure story."[6]
References
[edit]- ^ Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000 p483
- ^ "Night Boat to Dublin". Monthly Film Bulletin. Vol. 13, no. 145. London. 1 January 1946. p. 2.
- ^ "NIGHT BOAT TO DUBLIN. (Directed by Lawrence Huntington.) Pathé. Associated British Hughes, Maud". Picture Show. Vol. 50, no. 1232. London. 9 February 1946. p. 2.
- ^ Film synopsis
- ^ "Future of soldier actors". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. VI, no. 35. Sydney. 15 July 1945. p. 34. Retrieved 7 May 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Lejeune, C A. (24 February 1946). "THE FILMS". The Observer. p. 2.
External links
[edit]- Night Boat to Dublin at IMDb
- Night Boat to Dublin at BFI
- Review of film at Variety
- 1946 films
- 1940s spy thriller films
- British spy thriller films
- World War II spy films
- Films set in England
- Films set in Ireland
- Films set in London
- Seafaring films
- Films directed by Lawrence Huntington
- British black-and-white films
- 1940s English-language films
- 1940s British films
- Films scored by Charles Williams (composer)