Cinema: Good God

Johnny Nobody. In a peaceful Irish village, a blasphemous American author (the late William Bendix) enrages the Roman Catholic townsfolk by denying the existence of God and defying whatever powers there be to strike him dead. A stranger (Aldo Ray) steps out of a church and shoots him. Soon after, the anonymous killer, dubbed “Johnny Nobody” by press and public because he appears to be amnesic, is tried for murder. Defense counsel calls his chief witness, the village priest, and asks bluntly: “Do you believe that act was the direct intervention of Almighty God?”

The question may sound foolish, but it does give the movie consistency. When evidence turns up that Ray is a rival author, the Almighty is more or less exonerated, leaving this inspirational British thriller with no suspect worth a second thought. Actor Nigel Patrick directed Nobody and also cast himself as the sleuth-priest, thereby risking double jeopardy. The devil knows why.