The League Of Gentlemen - 1960 (British Comedy Film - Jack Hawkins • Nanette Newman • Richard Attenborough) The League of Gentlemen is a 1960 British heist action comedy film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Jack Hawkins, Nigel Patrick, Roger Livesey and Richard Attenborough. It is based on the 1958 novel The League of Gentlemen by John Boland and adapted by Bryan Forbes, who also starred in the film. A manhole opens at night in an empty street, and out climbs Lieutenant-Colonel Norman Hyde (Jack Hawkins) in a dinner suit. He gets into a Rolls-Royce and drives home. There, he prepares seven envelopes, each containing an American crime paperback called The Golden Fleece, halves of ten £5-notes and an unsigned invitation from “Co-operative Removals Limited” to lunch at the Cafe Royal. The envelopes are sent to former army officers, each in desperate or humiliating circumstances. When they all turn up looking for the other halves of the £5-notes which are handed out, Hyde asks their opinion of the novel which is about a robbery. They show little enthusiasm, but Hyde then reveals each person's misdemeanours. Hyde has no criminal record but holds a grudge for being made redundant by the army after a long career. He intends to rob a bank using the team's skills, with equal shares of £100,000 or more for each man. The gang meet under the guise of an amateur dramatic society rehearsing Journey’s End to discuss the plan before moving into Hyde’s house and living a military regimen of duties and fines for being out of line. Hyde knows that a million pounds in used notes is regularly delivered to a City of London bank and has details of the delivery. They raid an army training camp in Dorset for arms and supplies. Hyde, Mycroft, Porthill and Race distract soldiers by posing as senior officers on an unscheduled food inspection. The others steal weapons while posing as telephone repairmen, speaking in Irish accents to divert suspicion to the IRA. Hyde has explained the reasoning behind this ruse by stating the one nationality to whom the British will never give the benefit of the doubt is the Irish. The gang rent a warehouse to prepare. Race steals vehicles including cars and a lorry which are fitted with false number plates. They are disturbed by a passing policeman who offers to keep an eye on their premises as he patrols. In Hyde’s basement, the gang trains with maps and models. On the eve of the operation, Hyde destroys the plans and recalls his former military glory. The robbery is bloodless and precise. Using smoke bombs, Sterling submachine guns, and radio jamming equipment, the gang raids the bank, near St Paul’s. The money is seized without serious injury and the robbers escape. At Hyde’s house, celebrations are interrupted by the unexpected arrival of Hyde’s old friend, Brigadier “Bunny” Warren (Robert Coote), who drunkenly recalls the old days. One by one, the members leave carrying suitcases filled with notes. Then the telephone rings; Hyde is told that police and soldiers surround the house. Cast Jack Hawkins as Lieutenant-Colonel Norman Hyde Nigel Patrick as Major Peter Race Roger Livesey as Captain "Padre" Mycroft Richard Attenborough as Lieutenant Edward Lexy Bryan Forbes as Captain Martin Porthill Kieron Moore as Captain Stevens Terence Alexander as Major Rupert Rutland-Smith Norman Bird as Captain Frank Weaver Robert Coote as Brigadier "Bunny" Warren Melissa Stribling as Peggy Nanette Newman as Elizabeth Rutland-Smith Lydia Sherwood as Hilda Doris Hare as Molly Weaver David Lodge as C.S.M. Patrick Wymark as Wylie Gerald Harper as Captain Saunders Brian Murray as Private "Chunky" Grogan Terence Edmond as Young PC (uncredited) Nigel Green as Kissing Man (uncredited) Patrick Jordan as Sergeant (uncredited) Dinsdale Landen as Young man in gym (uncredited) Ronald Leigh-Hunt as Police Superintendent (uncredited) Oliver Reed as Chorus Boy (uncredited) Norman Rossington as Staff Sergeant Hall (uncredited) Bruce Seton as AA Patrolman (uncredited) Michael Corcoran as Blackmailer (uncredited) Allied Film Makers was a short-lived production company founded by Dearden, actors Hawkins, Forbes and Attenborough, and producer Michael Relph. Forbes contributed many of the company's scripts. Dearden had previously directed The Blue Lamp. Cary Grant was offered the part of Hyde but turned it down. Queens Gate Place Mews, SW7, was used as the filming location for Edward Lexy's (Richard Attenborough's) garage. The magazines in Mycroft’s suitcase at the beginning of the film were borrowed from the set of Peeping Tom that was being filmed at the same time at Pinewood. Actor Oliver Reed had his first talk on role as a camp chorus boy ref https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Reed_filmography

• published: 11 Apr 2023
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