The bomb in the subway shaft

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title The bomb in the subway shaft
Original title The Gentle Gunman
Country of production Great Britain
original language English
Publishing year 1952
length 86 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Basil Dearden
script Roger MacDougall
production Michael Relph
Basil Dean
music John Greenwood
camera Gordon Dines
cut Peter Tanner
occupation

The Bomb in the Underground Shaft (OT: The Gentle Gunman ) is a black and white film shot in England in 1952 . The premiere took place on October 10, 1952 in England, on January 30, 1953 in Sweden and on September 30, 1953 in New York .

action

The assassination

In 1941 members of the IRA plan to bomb the London Underground . Time bombs are said to be detonated on the London Underground. Actually, Terence "Tery" Sullivan was supposed to carry out these terrorist attacks . Tery is now convinced of the pointlessness of such actions, but does not reveal his Irish compatriots to the police. Nevertheless, he is considered a traitor at home . His brother Matt comes to London to speak to his older brother. He is looking for the accommodation of Connolly and McGuire, who have just completed a bomb , and immediately stands in for his brother as a bomb courier.

However, the project is not going quite according to plan. The underground also serves as a shelter for Londoners from the bombing of the German Air Force , and so children play in the underground stations and discover the ticking suitcase. Confused by these circumstances, Matt misses the departing train and has to flee on foot; his brother watched him do it. Apparently it was his plan to thwart the attack without betraying his comrades.

The fact that his brother Matt is now the bomb courier comes unexpectedly for Tery, but he keeps his nerve, snatches the bomb case from a railway official and throws it into a shaft so that no people are harmed. The panic after the explosion can take advantage of Tery and escape undetected. Matt makes himself suspicious, however, because he has got into a locked staircase; when he tries to solve this situation by jumping, he lands right at the feet of a guard.

A detective rushing to the station, the station is being cordoned off, but does not arrest Matt, but lets him go in order to shadow him . Tery now meets Matt and there is a first exchange; they agree to go to Connolly and McGuire separately so as not to attract any attention. However, Matt does not notice that he is being followed, and so lures the police to the conspiratorial apartment . When the police arrest Connolly and McGuire, Matt watches his brother from the roof and now actually believes that he is a traitor. Accordingly, the next exchange of words turns out to be violent when Tery intercepts his brother on the escape route he is also familiar with. Matt returns to Ireland and Tery follows his younger brother to help him change his mind.

The Fagan Garage

Both brothers' destination is the Fagan family gas station. The father was shot while he was working for the IRA. Shinto, the leader of the attack in London , is training and indoctrinating Johnny Fagan, the young son of the family. He is actually on his way to Belfast to work in the docks there. After the death of her husband, his mother Molly is no longer a supporter of the radical and violent path of the Irish struggle for freedom , but just like with Terence Sulivan, this departure does not lead to the terrorists' betrayal . But she tries to dissuade her son from an IRA career and hopes that his work in Belfast will lead to the breaking of old contacts. She therefore forbids her son to come home on the weekend and would rather visit him there herself.

Both the news of the arrest and Matt Sulivan now arrive at The Fingan Garage ; Matt confirms his brother's alleged betrayal, making him the favorite of Maureen Fagan, the daughter of the Fagan family, who was originally with his brother but is an ardent patriot and supporter of the violent liberation struggle .

Molly Fagan's efforts to keep her son out of involvement in violent IRA activity fail when his activities in the Port of Belfast suddenly become significant when it is learned that the two arrested in London, Connolly and McGuire, are to be disembarked for Belfast to be Born in Ireland to be imprisoned there in a prison. Johnny Fagan is now supposed to break into the port office and get the information of the arrival. Contact person is Matt Sulivan. This time, too, the plan does not quite work. The break-in succeeds, but Johnny Fagan loses his nerve, knocks down a guard and is shot while trying to escape. Matt now has a problem, he is in British-controlled Northern Ireland with a seriously injured man who has not yet disclosed his information. His phone call to the Fagan Garage , however, is intercepted by his brother, who uses gun violence to keep Shinto off the phone.

This directs Matt on a lonely path so that he can escape the border control , and together with the seriously injured Johnny they visit an Irish doctor who is considered trustworthy. Tery is able to convince his brother to transfer Johnny to a hospital, which the latter refuses at first because he still needs the information about the prisoner transport. Shinto soon arrives at the doctor's house. Since Matt has now received the crucial information from Johnny, he allows the transport to the hospital and locks Tery, the doctor and his guest Mr. Truehome in the Fangan's garage .

The Liberation

Now that the ship and its arrival are known, Shinto wants to attempt a violent liberation. With the help of Molly Fagan, Tery manages to break free. He believes that he can prevent the action by removing the basis from it; d. That is, he wants to liberate the prisoners himself in an intelligent way beforehand.

To do this, he takes a boat to meet the ship on which Connolly and McGuire are being transported and fakes an accident . As expected, he was picked up by the ship and the prisoners were released. Tery now sets out to prevent the (now unnecessary) violent action in the harbor, but neither Shinto nor his brother Matt want to believe him. Two IRA members die in the senseless and poorly executed procedure. The group makes their way back to the Fagan Garage . Since Connolly and McGuire have not yet arrived there, a death sentence is now being passed on Terence Sullivan in an express court . When this is to be carried out, the two arrive at the last moment.

However, the police are on their way since the name "Shinto" was dropped by Molly on her son's bedside when he was about to be interrogated by the police. Johnny slaps his mother in the face and later dies. The IRA members flee from the approaching police. Matt and Terence "Tery" Sullivan now walk together and leave Maureen Fagan at the gas station; for both of them their violent IRA careers are apparently over.

backgrounds

  • The IRA actually planned attacks on the London Underground during World War II . On February 3, 1939, there were attacks on Tottenham Court Road and Leicester Square Station . The IRA and the film are moving decades ahead of the later term of the backpack bomber , which was created by the BBC on the occasion of the terrorist attacks on July 7, 2005 in London .
  • The so-called Northern Ireland Conflict (1969–1998) with its escalations is well behind the 1952 production year of the film; the infiltration of the IRA from Ireland over the Green Border to Northern Ireland and back, but is apparently correctly adapted from reality in the film.
  • Michael Balcon Productions chose the Ealing Studios in London as the location ; the film was presented by the J. Arthur Rank Organization and published by General Film Distributors Ltd. Other scenes were filmed in Aldwych underground station .
  • The script is based on a play by Roger MacDougall , which probably explains the relatively small number of locations; The focal point is The Fagan Garage .
  • The subway station of the assassination bears the label Camden R (oa) d , in the associated district of Hampstead the actor Dirk Bogarde was born, who carried out the assassination attempt on the station in the film as Matt Sullivan.
  • The film music was recorded by the Philharmonia Orchestra under Ernest Irving .
  • The bus that brings Johnny Fagan to Belfast points to Dundalk ; the city is on the M1 / ​​N1 of the “National Primary Route” between Dublin, Ireland and Belfast, Northern Ireland, and 20 km from the dividing border. Accordingly, The Fangan Garage must be located near Dundalk, either between Dublin and Dundalk or on a branch route between the border and Dundalk.

Reviews

"The film, which appeals to intellect and feeling in equal measure, which most convincingly opposes any violence in a humorous marginal incident, puts murderous nationalism in the wrong and - brilliantly played - stands up for reason, tolerance and inviolability of life."

- Lexicon of international film

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kevin Gordon: A Time Line for Policing the Railways ( Memento of August 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), BTP History Society, January 13, 2003 (English)
  2. ^ JE Connor: London's Disused Underground Stations. Capital Transport, London 2001, ISBN 1-85414-250-X . Pp. 98-99.
  3. ↑ The bomb in the subway shaft. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used