1961 British film
Johnny Nobody is a 1961 British drama film made in Ireland and directed by Nigel Patrick, starring Yvonne Mitchell, William Bendix and Aldo Ray. It was produced John R. Sloan for Viceroy Films, with Irving Allen and Albert R. Broccoli as executive producers.[1] A man arrested for murder claims to be suffering from amnesia. Father Carey investigates the case, and looks for the killer's motive.
Story
Irish American writer James Ronald Mulcahy is murdered moments after he has dared God to strike him dead. His murderer looks for help from the man who must decide his fate, the local priest, Father Carey. The killer is tagged "Johnny Nobody" by the press because of his claim to have total amnesia, but further investigation by Carey leads him to question whether or not "Johnny" was acting for God or, as seems more likely, a woman known as Miss Floyd who turns out to be his wife.
Production
The film was shot at Ardmore Studios in Bray, Ireland.[2][3]
Critical reception
Monthly Film Bulletin said "The combination of religion (or at any rate Providence) and an Irish setting has produced a story even more fantastic than The Singer Not The Song [1961], though the film itself is disappointing on any level. The plot resembles nothing so much as a cosy murder mystery, moving in the convulsive jerks of a lesser British Thirties thriller, while the unreal dialogue has a compulsive predictability. Intriguing films have been made from equally bizarre material. Unfortunately this is not one of them. ... The more one thinks of it, the more one is amazed that anyone should have thought a plot and players as uniformly unlikely as these could have worked out satisfactorily."[4]
Variety wrote "Imported suspenser run-of-the-mill programmer despite stroger than usual casting. [The film] has a cast that compares for talent with many bigger-budgeted and more ambitious efforts. And that's about the only thing it has going for it."[5]
Boxoffice said "An engrossing display of histrionic talents by an internationally known and respected cast. ... Nigel Patrick's delineation is at once sentimental and suave, penetrating and philiosophic."[6]
Leslie Halliwell said: "A mysterious rigmarole which irritates more than entertains."[7]
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