The Gentle Gunman (Vintage Classics) [Blu-ray] [2022]

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While not an example of any of the participants’ finest works, The Gentle Gunman is still a compelling film. It is easy to see why Dirk Bogarde went on to such a well-respected career, when he was turning in performances like Matt in The Gentle Gunman. Elizabeth Sellers plays the rather bland love interest, whose desire for the two brothers only seems to be motivated by how committed they are to the IRA cause.

On a remote Irish quayside, Terry meets with Barney (Harry Brogan) after Patsy and Connolly are sentenced.At the height of World War II, Terry (John Mills) and his younger brother (Dirk Bogarde) are undercover IRA foot-soldiers working in London. As a drama, the film does stumble occasionally, nowhere more so than in the final moments, which sees the culmination of the previous 80 or so minutes conclude with a weak puff rather than with a dramatic punch. Perhaps because both history and cinema tend to focus predominantly on these two key eras in Irish and Northern Irish history, it is easy to forget that Anglo Irish conflict and tension actually permeated throughout most of the 20th Century. Robert Beatty, playing committed IRA commander Shinto, arguably makes the biggest impression out of the central three characters, playing his role with a steely sense of cold determination.

Instead, you applaud both the character and the actor for taking what is literally a no filter approach in an age when we’ve come to expect nothing less than physical perfection, especially in front of the camera. It premiered at the Cambridge Arts Theatre before transferring to the Arts Theatre in London's West End where it ran for 31 performances between 2 and 27 August 1950.There are copious helpings of culpable tension, acted brilliantly not least by the two leads Mills and Bogarde. Recorded as a Zoom conversation, this half hour chat covers a wide variety of subject matter, from the film’s awkward accents all the way through to its politics. Mills is the older brother with a conscience, having been around long enough to become aware of the real costs of the conflict.

Terry has decided to spring from custody the two men arrested because of his information; he does, and they arrive to thank him just as he is about to be shot. My brother and I, when we were old enough, would spend many summer Saturdays helping out - getting there and back on the back of a lorry. Dirk Bogarde and John Mills deliver fairly engaging performances (although both are let down by some rather ropey Irish accents, with Mill’s attempt especially bad, seemingly taking in a tour around the British Isles by way of Belfast).Its significance would go right over his head, but it’s just one instance of the perfectly judged little gags quietly lurking in the script of Good Luck To You, Leo Grande, a film about sex and sex workers, self-image and the inevitability of aging.