The Flying Scot (film)
| The Flying Scot | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Directed by | Compton Bennett |
| Produced by | Compton Bennett |
| Written by |
Norman Hudis Jan Read Ralph Smart |
| Starring |
Lee Patterson Kay Callard Alan Gifford |
| Music by | Stanley Black |
| Cinematography | Peter Hennessy |
| Edited by | John Trumper |
Release date | 1957 |
Running time | 70 min |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Flying Scot is a 1957 British crime film directed by Compton Bennett and starring Lee Patterson, Kay Callard and Alan Gifford. [1] The film was released in the U.S. as Mailbag Robbery.[2]
Plot
A gang plans to steal a half-a-million pounds worth of banknotes from an express train.
Cast
- Lee Patterson - Ronnie
- Kay Callard - Jackie
- Alan Gifford - Phil
- Gerald Case - Guard
- Jeremy Bodkin - Charlie, the boy
- Mark Baker - Gibbs
- Geoffrey Bodkin - Neat boy
- John Dearth - Father
- Kerry Jordan - Drunk
- John Lee - Young man
- Patsy Smart - Mother
- Margaret Withers - Middle-aged lady
- Margaret Gordon - Drunk's Wife
Critical reception
TV Guide wrote, "The suspense is well built in this finely constructed feature":[3] while Sky Movies called it "An unheralded low-budget thriller which contains twice as much suspense as many more lavish productions. Taut, crisp, with a conspicuous absence of big name stars, it is a prime example of the British B-movie at its best. With a bit of Hitchcock here and a touch of Rififi there (a 15-minute sequence is acted in complete silence), the suspense is built up to a climax which leaves one hoping that just this once, crime will be allowed to pay." [4]
It was one of 15 films selected by Steve Chibnall and Brian McFarlane in The British 'B' Film, their survey of British B films, as among the most meritorious of the B films made in Britain between World War II and 1970. They note that it was shot in just three weeks on a budget of 18,000 pounds, and describe it as "a film not just of suspense, but of real fascination".[5]
References
- ↑ "The Flying Scot (1958)".
- ↑ "Mailbag Robbery (1957) - Compton Bennett - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie".
- ↑ "Mailbag Robbery".
- ↑ "The Flying Scot".
- ↑ Steve Chibnall & Brian McFarlane, The British 'B' Film, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2009, pp. 270–71.