Johnny Nobody

"He Came From Nowhere & Killed a Man He'd Never Seen!"

When the atheistic ranting of Irish-American author James Mulcahy upsets the inhabitants of the Irish village to which he has retired, a mob threatens him. But moments after he has dared God to strike him dead, a stranger appears and does so. The man, dubbed "Johnny Nobody" by the press, claims no knowledge of Mulcahy or even of himself. He asks the help of the village priest, Father Carey, in his upcoming trial for Mulcahy's murder. While the amnesiac Johnny goes to trial, Father Carey mulls questions of belief raised by the case. And then, the good father learns a little more about Johnny Nobody...

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CinemaSerf@Geronimo1967

March 14, 2024

"Mulcahy" (William Bendix) is a bit of a stirrer. Amidst a deeply religious Irish community, he invites the wrath of god by daring the deity to strike him down. To the shock of the crowd, that's exactly what happens. Thing is, it isn't a thunderbolt - but a bullet fired from a gun by a bystander. He makes no attempt to escape, and only adds to the enigma when the police can find no clue as to his identity. He (Aldo Ray) claims amnesia - not divine intervention - and looking the gallows fairly and squarely, he has to rely on the local "Fr. Carey" (Nigel Patrick) to try to put together the pieces. I did quite like the subject matter - and as we proceed to the courtroom aspects of the plot, the writing does raise quite a few interesting questions about the role of religion - and God - in the judicial process, and these are well posed by defending counsel Niall MacGinnis to the judge (John Welsh). Sadly, though, the story hasn't quite the courage of it's potential convictions and the last twenty minutes or so fall firmly into the standard pattern of crime-noir and that rather disappoints. Still, Nigel Patrick's direction keeps it all moving along well enough and he has assembled a reliable and solid cast of familiar, and personable, faces to help this into the top tier of standard Saturday afternoon features.