Night Boat to Dublin *** (1946, Robert Newton, Muriel Pavlow, Herbert Lom, Raymond Lovell, Guy Middleton) – Classic Movie Review 9161

Robert Newton, Muriel Pavlow and Herbert Lom enliven writer-director Lawrence Huntington’s very brisk and competent, entertaining 1946 British spy thriller Night Boat to Dublin, with a routine plot about an MI5 man, Captain David Grant (Newton), setting out on the overnight ferry to Dublin with fellow intelligence officer Captain Tony Hunter (Guy Middleton) to rescue from German spies Professor Hansen (Martin Miller), a refugee Swedish scientist in Britain working on the atomic bomb.

Grant and Hunter observe the German contact Keitel (Herbert Lom) and they start to suspect the lawyer Paul Faber (Raymond Lovell), whose London office is infiltrated by Grant, who agrees to a marriage of convenience to Marion Decker (Muriel Pavlow), a young Austrian woman desperate for British nationality.

Night Boat to Dublin is a decent, fast-paced ripping yarn, with very workmanlike direction and capable writing, even if there is little originality or imagination on show. The cast keeps it going enjoyably. Newton, Lom and Raymond Lovell, as the head Nazi Paul Faber, are particularly good value.

There is music from Edmundo Ros and his Rumba Band.

Also in the cast are John Ruddock as Bowman, 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 captured German spy Frederick Jannings, Olga Lindo as Mrs Coleman, Joan Maude as Sidney Vane, Wilfrid Hyde White, Gerald Case, Julian Dallas, Derek Elphinstone, Carroll Gibbons, Bruce Gordon, George Hirste, Hubert Leslie, Stuart Lindsell, Gordon Mcleod, Lawrence O’Madden and Hay Petrie.

Night Boat to Dublin is directed by Lawrence Huntington, runs 100 minutes, is made by Associated British Picture Corporation, is released by Pathé Pictures (1946) (UK), is written by Lawrence Huntington and Robert Hall, is shot in black and white by Otto Heller, is produced by Hamilton G Inglis, is scored by Charles Williams, and designed by J Charles Gilbert.

It was shot in July 1945 at Welwyn Studios, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England, and released on 1 April 1946. It earned £151,928 at the UK box office.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9161

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Muriel Pavlow talks to director Lawrence Huntington on the set of Night Boat to Dublin at Welwyn Garden Studios.