Night Boat to Dublin (1946)

Directed by Lawrence Huntington; produced by Hamilton G Inglis

In the Second World War, the race to develop atomic weapons is on, and the Germans have captured Hansen, a Swedish nuclear physicist, to help them with their plans. While a lead about Hansen’s whereabouts sends British Intelligence operator Captain David Grant (Robert Newton) to Ireland, that’s just the beginning of his mission. He is soon moving from Dublin, to London, to rural Devonshire trying to stop the Nazis’ plans.

Though produced immediately after the end of the war, Night Boat to Dublin takes place during its height, and manages to combine the urgency of war-time operations and the clue-laden story of a whodunnit with the light-hearted tone of a Boys’ Own Paper adventure tale. The running time is a hundred minutes, longer than many films of the era; nonetheless, there are no dull moments, despite genuine action featuring only in the climax.

The script and the direction work together to create some tense and exciting moments, such as when Grant has a face-off with a German agent (Herbert Lom) in the latter’s hotel suite, each trying to get the drop on the other, or when Grant’s colleague, Toby Hunter (Guy Middleton), must scale a cliff to escape a locked room. There is also some typically dry English humour, usually in the dialogue between Grant and Hunter. An interesting aspect of the story is that it shows the British operation to be the opposite of a one-man show, with several police units and intelligence branches working together.

The centre of the movie is Newton. This accomplished and versatile actor is best-known now for his portrayal of Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1950), and viewers who know him only from that will find his work in Night Boat to Dublin a contrast. Here, his Grant is suave without trying to be, a polite, velvety-voiced English gentleman never riled, and rarely out of ideas. Though not successful as a romantic figure - he doesn’t try to be - Newton even so creates a man who is strong and compassionate enough to attract the young refugee, Marion Decker (Muriel Pavlow).

Middleton plays Hunter as a good foil: superficially, he’s a Bertie Wooster-type silly ass, but proves himself to be resourceful and rather sharp. Raymond Lovell may seem bland as the villain but it’s more like the banality of evil, rather than a banality of character. Lom and Marius Goring have small parts in Night Boat to Dublin, but would both appear in bigger roles in 1952’s The Man Who Watched Trains Go By, recently reviewed on this blog. Look fast for Wilfred Hyde-White as an elderly taxi-driver (though only 42 at the time, his voice always made him older than he was.)

Production values are low - sound-stages predominate - but everything else is above average, making Night Boat to Dublin an undemanding spy/adventure story. It takes itself seriously, but wants the audience to have fun while watching it.