A tale of ordinary people trapped in the web of northern ireland's troubles. James mason stars in carol reed’s classic film noir. An ira operative stages a robbery to steal funds for his cause, but as he makes his getaway he is wounded by the police and forced to go on the run. Staggering through the backstreets of belfast, the fugitive encounters a succession of people either willing to help him – or determined to turn him in. Carol reed's thriller, based on the book by fl green, with james mason, robert newton and kathleen ryan ‘documentary vividness with…a lively dickensian parade of characters.’ – guardian running time 111 minutes region region 2 release date 28 aug. 2006