Night Boat to Dublin (1946)

Great Film overall

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Discounting shorts Robert Newton made 29 movies between his debut and 1950 when he played Long John Silver in Treasure Island and a rod for his own back. As a great admirer of pre-Long John Silver Newton, one of the finest 'character' actors in England I've been attempting to track down the bulk of these 29 titles and of late Talking Pictures and/or Renown have been screening some of them including this one in which Newton stars as a spy catcher. Filmed just as the war ended this is a world of espionage light years away from the world of James Bond yet theoretically the character played by Newton and James Bond may well have passed each other in the corridors of MI5. Newton here gives a very subdued performance and is all the more effective for the lack of histrionics. Raymond Lovell is the 'Mr Big' villain in both senses of the word and somewhat improbably Muriel Pavlov is the nearest thing to a love interest. Fascinating for its sense of period.

NIGHT BOAT TO DUBLIN is a fun spy thriller that must have been shot in the dying days of World War 2. Espionage and its deadly results are the name of the game here, as the British authorities pursue a Nazi organisation running out of Ireland and in particular aim to rescue a kidnapped Swedish scientist who may have the secret to unlocking the atomic bomb. Half of the action is centred around the titular ship, with plenty of cloak and dagger shenanigans to pass the time.And this film certainly passes the time well enough, coming across as fast paced and with just the right level of suspense to see it through. There's an early plot twist to rival PSYCHO and a delightfully urbane villain in the form of the charming Raymond Lovell, who has a real ball with the part. The sneaking around in hotel room material is good fun, too, and Robert Newton is a British hero in the finest stiff-upper-lip tradition. A triumvirate of Herbert Lom, Marius Goring, and Leslie Dwyer flesh out villainous parts, and the action-packed climax is delightful.

Robert Newton plays an MI5 man who infiltrates a gang of Nazi agents involved in the capture of a Swedish scientist whose work on developing the Atom bomb is being smuggled out via neutral Ireland. The eponymous night boat plays an important part in the early part of the story though most of the film takes place in England.Not a film of any great depth, its intricate plot and considerable amount of dialogue is directed with speed and skill by Lawrence Huntington, adroitly steering around several implausibilities in the plot. There are likable performances from Robert Newton, and the admirable Raymond Lovell, who seemed to appear in every other 1940s British film, gives a typically urbane performance as the chief villain; John Ruddock is creepily sinister as his secretary. Newton is assisted by the jaunty Guy Middleton, and the pair get away with several double entendres.With superb black and white photography by Otto Heller, it's a ripping yarn from a bygone age of trilby hats, clipped accents, and British pluck.

The flimsy plot of this wartime intelligence story relies on endless coincidences, hunches and lucky breaks. The determinedly amateur British intelligence operation is seriously lacking in direction and professional discipline, but who cares when the script writer is on your side? Such dull viewing could give spies a bad reputation.