Ireland's Border Line

Jimmy O'Dea is an unemployed mechanic traveling in quack nostrums around the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. He gets into the car of two jewel thieves unbeknownst, but is pushed out when the police show up. He picks up their bag, identical to the one he carries his samples in; theirs contains fifty thousand pounds of stolen gems.

It's a remake of O'Dea's silent movie, and contains enough subplots to keep things moving on. The thieves want to recover their loot; the two local policemen, who are wooing the local pub owner's daughter, Hazel Hughes, want the promotions that would attend the capture of the loot; the locals want the five hundred pound reward; and for good measure, there are sparks between O'Dea and bar maid Myrette Morven.

For a 68-minute feature, it seems slow paced, mostly because of the deliberate manner in which everyone speaks. There's a nice celebration about halfway through, with musicians and dancing. For one of the rare Irish productions of the period, it must have been popular locally, and it was distributed in Britain and the US. It's competently produced in alll aspects, although I would guess that director Harry O'Donovan was not destined to strike any sparks in the movie industry. He never directed another film.