Carol Reed’s intense manhunt thriller won the inaugural “Best Film” prize from the British Academy of Film Awards, and it remains one of the most highly regarded movies ever made in the United Kingdom. James Mason portrays beleaguered fugitive Johnny McQueen, an Irish Nationalist (the filmmakers were forbidden from using the name “Irish Republican Army”) on the lam after escaping from prison. While still in hiding, Johnny is roped into committing a heist that goes fatally wrong. Wounded, he caroms through the Belfast night trying to make it safely back to his guardian angel Kathleen (Kathleen Ryan), who has fallen for the escaped convict. Can Johnny navigate a nocturnal nightmare of danger and deceit? The stellar supporting cast, drawn mostly from Dublin’s Abbey Theatre, includes Cyril Cusack, Robert Newton, and William (Dr. Who) Hartnell. The cinematography by Robert Krasker is as good as his legendary work with director Reed on The Third Man. An all-time classic!