In fact, Bogarde’s performance in The Gentle Gunman feels rather restrained, his character coming across as ineffectual and subdued for most of the running time, certainly standing in marked contrast to his more violent and belligerent turn in The Blue Lamp. There's no doubt that any Irishman would find this utter codswallop, though its message is all those English niceties of comfort, steady work, and good sense with stout courage at the heart of it.

Sadly it’s not done very well at all - Mills’s accent wanders all over the place and everything after the tense stand off in the doctor’s house is rushed and a bit silly. The uptight Nancy ( Emma Thompson) would remember it, which might account for her alarm when she sees the young man she’s booked for the next two hours tucking into one.

Goodbye Mr Chips, The Importance of Being Ernest, Billion Dollar Brain, Inn of the Sixth Happiness, Lifeboat, The Conversation, Notting Hill, The Birds, Clockwork Orange, Oliver Twist, League of Gentlemen, Malta Story, The Gentle Gunman and probably several others.

The Sullivans’ mother also hates the IRA, since her husband and another son have already died after their involvement with the organisation. He knows what is in the case, runs down the platform, picks it up, and throws it into the tunnel, where it explodes safely. John Mills’ earnest goodness, repentance and determination shine through here, giving the film its heart.On a remote Irish quayside, Terry meets with Barney (Harry Brogan) after Patsy and Connolly are sentenced. 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. The film’s political interests are foregrounded right from the start, where two old men, one Irish and one English, discuss the legitimacy of English rule in Ireland. Terry, though, is now a wanted man – wanted by his former comrades, who intend to execute him for his “treachery”: and they are led by a truly unpleasant fanatic, Shinto, played by Robert Beatty.

When his co-conspirators are arrested, he ensures that his brother Matt (Sir Dirk Bogarde) escapes back to Ireland.

It is fair to say that this film may not be considered the finest and most credible work of any of the actors here, in many ways.