''Dublin Nightmare'' is a 1958 British second feature ('B')

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

directed by John Pomeroy and starring

William Sylvester William Sylvester (January 31, 1922 – January 25, 1995) was an American actor, chiefly known for his film and television work in the United Kingdom. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he was a star of British B-movies in t ...

Marla Landi Marla Landi, Lady Dashwood (born Marcella Teresa Scarafia in 1933, Turin, Italy) is an Italian-born British film actress and television presenter. Career Landi's major roles included '' Across the Bridge'' (1957), '' Dublin Nightmare'' (1958), ...

and

Richard Leech Richard Leeper McClelland (24 November 1922 – 24 March 2004), known professionally as Richard Leech, was an Irish actor. Richard Leeper McClelland was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of Isabella Frances (Leeper) and Herbert Saunderson McCl ...

. The screenplay was by John Tully based on the 1951 novel of the same title by Robin Estridge (as Philip Loraine).

Plot

Irish nationalists plan to seize a security van to raise money for their movement. When one of his friends is murdered during the raid, photographer John Kevin begins to investigate.

Cast

as John Kevin *

as Anna Monti *

as Steve Lawlor * Harry Hutchinson as Finian * William Sherwood as Edward Dillon * Jack Cunningham as O'Connor * Gerald Lawson as tramp * Helen Lindsay as Mary O'Callaghan * Pat O'Sullivan as Danny O'Callaghan * John McCarthy as Morgan

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...

'' wrote: "The Dublin locations are the principal point of interest in this unconvincing, weakly acted and sluggish second feature, which despite its brevity, barely escapes dullness; a less cautious treatment of the material available in the backgrounds of the city at night might have made a more exciting film." ''

Picturegoer ''Picturegoer'' was a fan magazine published in the United Kingdom between 1911 and 23 April 1960. Background The magazine was started in 1911 under the name ''The Pictures'' and in 1914 it merged with ''Picturegoer''. Following the merge it was ...

'' wrote: "With a little more ingenuity and energy this could have been a distinguished thriller. As it is, the Dublin backgrounds, distinctive acting and a neatly concocted plot make it a decently satisfying one ... Though some of the Irish 'character' is a little ebullient, the film moves with a swift sense of purpose." ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' called it "a routine crime drama." In ''British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959'' David Quinlan rated the film as "average", writing: "Irish version of ''

The Third Man ''The Third Man'' is a 1949 film noir directed by Carol Reed, written by Graham Greene, and starring Joseph Cotten as Holly Martins, Alida Valli as Anna Schmidt, Orson Welles as Harry Lime and Trevor Howard as Major Calloway. Set in post-Worl ...

''." In ''The

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manage ...

Guide to Films''

Tony Sloman Anthony B. Sloman (born 6 May 1945 in Waltham Abbey, Essex) is an English film producer and screenwriter. Tony Sloman is a cinema critic and historian, whose long career has encompassed many facets of film making. He has worked intermittent ...

gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "This is a totally shameless B-movie rip-off of ''The Third Man'', with Dublin substituted for Vienna and the IRA taking the place of penicillin. William Syivester and Marla Landi are perfectly adequate stand-ins for Joseph Cotten and Alida Valli." ''Britmovie'' described it as a "compact

b-movie A B movie, or B film, is a type of cheap, low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second ...

based on the novel by Robin Estridge and effectively directed by John Pomeroy that transposes a ''Third Man'' style plot to 1950s Ireland."

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0124451
Review
at Classic Movie Ramblings 1958 films British thriller films 1950s thriller films 1950s English-language films 1950s British films Films scored by Edwin Astley English-language thriller films Films set in Dublin (city)