- 1960 may be the year of the heist film with The League of Gentleman in England and Ocean’s 11 on the other side of the pond.
- Basil Dearden (one of the co-directors of 1945’s Dead of Night) directs here-and he’d go on a nice little run after this including 1961’s Victim with Dirk Bogarde and 1966’s Khartoum
- Like Ocean’s – this has a rock solid cast- Jack Hawkins leads the ensemble, and then Nigel Patrick, Roger Livesey ( he is from (or rather is) Colonel Blimp) and Attenborough. If they make this film 10 years before – Livesey is the star, and certainly a few years later it would be Attenborough but for some reason (probably being in two of the last four best pictures with River Kwai in 1957 and Ben-Hur in 1959) Hawkins was a decently big star. I mean he’s a fine actor, but never exceptional.
Like Ocean’s 11 – this has a rock solid cast- Jack Hawkins leads the ensemble, and then Nigel Patrick, Roger Livesey ( he is from (or rather is) Colonel Blimp) and Attenborough
- As far as the heist subgenre- this is ten years after Huston’s Asphalt Jungle and five after Dassin’s Rififi
- These are ex-pats who have fallen on hard times. “I had a bloody good war” says one of them- to which his disinterested wife says “you might go off and find another one”. Much of the film is either getting the gang together or planning the heist- engaging all around. Hawkins is a born commander- precise- “I synchronize the watches” he says but Hawkins never gives off intelligence. This is a 180 from the Rat Pack oozing cool in Ocean’s. I mean Hawkins has zero charisma.
- Few spots of humor – portrait of Hawkins’ wife on the wall- “is that your wife? Is she dead?” to which Hawkins says “No, no- I regret to say the bitch is still going strong”
- Heist goes at 85 minute mark for about 15 minutes- noted for the gas masks
- At 101 minutes a great shot of Livesey in the center front of the frame—flanked by Hawkins and Patrick on the sides – easily the best shot in the film
- obviously not part of the film- but just a phenomenal poster
- Recommend but not in the top 10-15 of 1960
There are some stunning posters in Dearden’s filmography. I’m particularly fond of the ones for The Captive Heart and Life for Ruth. All Night Long has a great one too.
I think Jack Hawkins is solid in this role. He has the toughness and also just the general likability required for the part. I don’t want to dwell on criticizing him too much because he had developing throat cancer at the time and was struggling with his voice. I did think about quite a few actors for this role. I think Nigel Patrick himself would be pretty damn great if he got the lead role instead of the co-lead role. It feels like Attenborough is too short to play the part. He can make himself look big with his voice like in Guns at Batasi but he doesn’t have the natural look and stature of a leader. Both Jack Warner and Bernard Lee would have been interesting as well as feasible choices because they were name actors in the British film industry. These two made careers out of playing authority figures, police heads, community leaders. Both are totally effortless actors. But I haven’t seen them play extremely tough, stoic roles. I ultimately settled on John Clements. I think he would do an excellent job. I think he aged into this part by 1960 and has the charm and likability that made him sort of a sex symbol in the late 1930’s, 1940’s.
https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/where-begin-with-basil-dearden
@Malith – Alll Night Long and The Gentle Gunman seem like the correct answers here
@Harry- I would go with his “The Actor” segment in Train of Events personally.
@Harry- I need to see some Charles Crichton because his love triangles in Dead of Night and Train of Events crack me up.
@Harry- I definitely feel like The Blue Lamp/Pool of London (with its shadowy silhouettes) is a better starting point than The Gentle Gunman despite me rating The Gentle Gunman higher. Simply because The Gentle Gunman is super bleak.
Basil Dearden films I have seen ranked-:
Films:
1. The Gentle Gunman (1952) – MP
2. Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948) – MP
3. The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970) – MS
4. Dead of Night (1945) – MS
5. The Square Ring (1953) – MS
6. The Mind Benders (1963) – MS
7. Frieda (1947)
8. All Night Long (1962)
9. Life For Ruth (1962)
10. Khartoum (1966)
11. Victim (1961)
12. The Ship That Died of Shame (1955)
13. Pool of London (1951)
14. The Secret Partner (1961)
15. The Blue Lamp (1950)
16. Woman of Straw (1964)
17. Cage of Gold (1950)
18. Sapphire (1959)
19. Violent Playground (1958)
20. The Assassination Bureau, Limited (1969)
21. The Rainbow Jacket (1954)
22. The Captive Heart (1946)
23. A Place to Go (1963)
24. The Halfway House (1944)
25. The Smallest Show on Earth (1957)
26. The League of Gentlemen (1960)
27. They Came to a City (1944) – R
Performances:
1. Dirk Bogarde – Victim
2. Dirk Bogarde – The Mind Benders
3. Roger Moore – The Man Who Haunted Himself
4. Charlton Heston – Khartoum
5. Patrick McGoohan – All Night Long
6. Michael Redgrave – Dead of Night*
7. Flora Robson – Saraband for Dead Lovers
8. Joan Greenwood – Saraband for Dead Lovers
9. Dirk Bogarde – The Gentle Gunman
10. John Mills – The Gentle Gunman
11. Ralph Richardson – Woman of Straw
12. Ralph Michael – Dead of Night*
13. Mervyn Johns – Dead of Night*
14. Mary Ure – The Mind Benders
15. Dirk Bogarde – The Blue Lamp
16. Max Adrian – Pool of London
17. Yvonne Mitchell – Sapphire
18. Gina Lollobrigida – Woman of Straw
19. Flora Robson – Frieda
20. Mai Zetterling – Frieda
21. Stewart Granger – The Secret Partner
22. Michael Redgrave – The Captive Heart
23. Richard Attenborough – The Ship That Died of Shame
24. Laurence Olivier – Khartoum
25. Sean Connery – Woman of Straw
26. David Farrar – Cage of Gold
27. Jean Simmons – Cage of Gold
28. Rachel Kempson – The Captive Heart
29. David Farrar – Frieda
30. Stewart Granger – Saraband for Dead Lovers
Favourite scene from every Basil Dearden:
* They Came to a City (1944) – Finding the utopian city door
* The Halfway House (1944) – The inn gets airstriked
* Dead of Night (1945) – The aftermath after the doctor murder
* The Captive Heart (1946) – Changing the identity list
* Frieda (1947) – The suicide attempt
* Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948) – The carnival setpiece
* Cage of Gold (1950) – The meeting in the foggy night
* The Blue Lamp (1950) – The bank heist
* Pool of London (1951) – The bank heist
* The Gentle Gunman (1952) – Freeing the prisoners on the street
* The Square Ring (1953) – The Main Event
* The Rainbow Jacket (1954) – The final horse race
* The Ship That Died of Shame (1955) – The ship ride in the mist
* The Smallest Show on Earth (1957) – The chaotic theatre breakdown
* Violent Playground (1958) – The gang confrontation
* Sapphire (1959) – The nightclub dance scene
* The League of Gentlemen (1960) – The bank heist
* Victim (1961) – The big reveal to the Sylvia Syms character
* The Secret Partner (1961) – The Norman Bird character gets a visitor
* Life For Ruth (1962) – The suicide attempt
* All Night Long (1962) – The scheming is exposed
* A Place to Go (1963) – The factory heist
* The Mind Benders (1963) – The mind bending experiment
* Woman of Straw (1964) – Coming back after the vacation
* Khartoum (1966) – The arrival in Khartoum
* The Assassination Bureau, Limited (1969) – The French brothel setpiece
* The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970) – The climax
It’s fascinating how interconnected Dearden’s films like The Blue Lamp, Pool of London, The Ship that Died of Shame, The Gentle Gunmen are. All these films have a friendship at its centre (brotherhood in The Gentle Gunman). And certainly crime is also very much front and centre in these films as well. The Ship that Died of Shame has a different sea bound setting though. But the other themes are very much present. The Blue Lamp is tame compared to the others. There is a clear division of good and bad. But the others have deeper and complex characters/situations. Incredible atmosphere. It’s prevalent throughout The Gentle Gunman. But certainly very much present in the second half of Pool of London (this is a very complex screenplay) and The Ship That Died of Shame as well. Characters in constant danger and everything has come to a boil. Very claustrophobic and there is no cutting elsewhere to get out of the intense danger. These are good characters who caused their own doom by associating themselves with criminals. I think certainly centering the films around a friendship/brotherhood is an excellent choice. There are loss, friendships that get broken, broken relationships that get repaired and things that test the strength of the friendship throughout these films.
A lot of Dearden’s films are directly connected to World War 2. They are very authentic depictions of World War 2. Many actors he worked with took part in World War 2 as well (Jack Hawkins, Richard Attenborough, Dirk Bogarde). Sometimes in the battlefield (The Ship that Died of Shame), sometimes in an enemy Concentration Camp (The Captive Heart), sometimes life at the homefront (The Halfway House), and sometimes after the War but consequences and scarrs of World War 2 are still there (Frieda, The League of Gentlemen here). The Captive Heart is the only film where the entire film is away from home. In both The Ship that Died of Shame and The League of Gentlemen life after war is no good for these former soldiers. They turn to do criminal things to get back the juice and friendship they experienced during World War 2. But Dearden has the consistent worldview in his filmography where if you do criminal things you will always get caught. There is no getting away. His depiction of police especially is refreshing. Clearly a man of law and order. The Blue Lamp is basically a tribute to the Police.
Hawkins and Attenborough actually reunited for Guns at Batasi a few years later. Which was Attenborough’s BAFTA winning performance. And the film debut of Mia Farrow.
Favourite scene from every Basil Dearden:
* They Came to a City (1944) – Finding the utopia city door
* The Halfway House (1944) – The inn gets airstriked
* Dead of Night (1945) – The wild flashback climax*
* The Captive Heart (1946) – Changing the identity list
* Frieda (1947) – The suicide attempt
* Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948) – The carnival setpiece
* The Blue Lamp (1950) – The bank heist
* Pool of London (1951) – The bank heist
* The Gentle Gunman (1952) – Freeing the prisoners on the street
* The Square Ring (1953) – The Main Event
* The Rainbow Jacket (1954) – The final horse race
* The Ship That Died of Shame (1955) – The Ship ride in the mist
* The Smallest Show on Earth (1957) – The chaotic theatre breakdown
* Sapphire (1959) – The nightclub dance
* The League of Gentlemen (1960) – The bank heist
* Victim (1961) – The big reveal to Sylvia Syms
* The Secret Partner (1961) – Norman Bird gets a visitor
* Life For Ruth (1962) – The suicide attempt
* All Night Long (1962) – The scheming is exposed
* A Place to Go (1963) – The factory heist
* The Mind Benders (1963) – The Mind bending experiment
* Woman of Straw (1964) – Coming back after the vacation
* Khartoum (1966) – The arrival in Khartoum
* The Assassination Bureau, Limited (1969) – The French brothel setpiece
* The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970) – The wild flashback climax (TBC)
Basil Dearden I have seen ranked-:
Films:
1. Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948) – MP
2. The Gentle Gunman (1952)
3. The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970)
4. Dead of Night (1945)
5. All Night Long (1962)
6. The Mind Benders (1963)
7. Frieda (1947)
8. Life For Ruth (1962)
9. The Square Ring (1953)
10. The Ship That Died of Shame (1955)
11. Pool of London (1951)
12. The Blue Lamp (1950)
13. Woman of Straw (1964)
14. Sapphire (1959)
15. Khartoum (1966)
16. The Halfway House (1944)
17. The Assassination Bureau (1969)
18. The Secret Partner (1961)
19. Victim (1961)
20. The Rainbow Jacket (1954)
21. The Smallest Show on Earth (1957)
22. The League of Gentlemen (1960)
23. The Captive Heart (1946)
24. A Place to Go (1963)
25. They Came to a City (1944) – R
Performances ranked:
1. Dirk Bogarde – The Mind Benders
2. Dirk Bogarde – Victim
3. Roger Moore – The Man Who Haunted Himself
4. Charlton Heston – Khartoum
5. Patrick McGoohan – All Night Long
6. Flora Robson – Saraband for Dead Lovers
7. Joan Greenwood – Saraband for Dead Lovers
8. Michael Redgrave – The Captive Heart
9. Ralph Richardson – Woman of Straw
10. Michael Redgrave – Dead of Night*
11. Richard Attenborough – The Ship That Died of Shame
12. Mervyn Johns – Dead of Night*
13. Ralph Michael – Dead of Night*
14. Dirk Bogarde – The Gentle Gunman
15. John Mills – The Gentle Gunman
16. Max Adrian – Pool of London
17. Stewart Granger – Saraband for Dead Lovers
18. Stewart Granger – The Secret Partner
19. Mary Ure – The Mind Benders
20. Yvonne Mitchell – Sapphire
21. Gina Lollobrigida – Woman of Straw
22. Mai Zetterling – Frieda
23. Flora Robson – Frieda
24. Dirk Bogarde – The Blue Lamp
25. Laurence Olivier – Khartoum
@Malith – I’ve been wanting to watch Gentle Gunman but can’t find it anywhere. Where did you locate it?
@Harry- I have a Blu-ray of it. I love how relentless The Gentle Gunman is. Usually the norm in his crime films is to build up to the crime until the midway point. But not here.
Also my last watch of his films is The Square Ring (1953). It’s one of the most brutal films I have ever seen. Fascinating and thought provoking. The whole film is set during one night during a 5-match fight card. This type of timeline and one night scenario foreshadows All Night Long of course. Given how popular things like the UFC and other things are today you’d think many films like these are made today. But there isn’t. New filmmakers can learn a lot from this film and many other entries in Basil Dearden’s filmography of course.
@Malith – awesome to hear, I will check out The Square Ring as well then.
@Harry- Did you see The Rainbow Jacket (1954)?
It’s another Sports film for Dearden. And the only one I’m aware of that focuses on Horse racing!!! It’s shot in Technicolor to capture the lushness surrounding the sport and looks pretty amazing despite few dated issues with the revelatory racing scenes the filmmakers are attempting here. Like using wooden horses for close-ups. The same can be said with The Assassination Bureau and the Zeppelin scenes. Brand new for the time. It’s a pretty ambitious and epic production, that like The Square Ring focuses on both the good (wealth, fame) and bad side (cheating, injuries) of the sport. I have a screenshot collection of it here.
https://imgur.com/a/rainbow-jacket-1954-o5jiV0O
@Malith – I have not seen it but the screenshots look very good so added to list.
This is actually part of a bunch of “Crime gone Wrong” genre of films Dearden made. Along with The Blue Lamp, Pool of London, and The Ship That Died of Shame. This is much more humorous than the others and the crime is treated as a good thing(until it goes wrong of course). In the others, it’s very serious. Also, the nostalgia aspect of war veterans is a big part of both this and The Ship That Died of Shame.
Coming back to The League of Gentlemen, I think Jack Hawkins has some really strong closeup reactionary scenes towards the end and the scene where he tells off Patrick is strong as well. He is fine overall. But he doesn’t come off naturally. There is too much trying going on in his performance. I’d like to see this with Bernard Lee coming off Dunkirk and before the dozen James Bond films. Lee is a great natural screen presence.
Dearden’s The Ship That Died of Shame in 1955 is a great companion piece to this film. Both concerns disillusioned war veterans struggling to adjust to normal life after the war and trying to get back into “action”. The 1955 film is much darker and better. And has a glorious Richard Attenborough performance. Maybe his best one ever. Great dissolves amidst the sea. And the scene with the creepy stranger is so good. Fog everywhere. Apocalpyse Now esque creepiness. Foreground/background brilliance in many scenes. A great film. It’s the 2nd best at least I’ve seen from Dearden after All Night Long which also has Attenborough.
Hawkins is out of his depth in this film. This is a better film with Nigel Patrick in the main lead role. He is fantastic here and even better in his previous Dearden collaboration, the racial issue drama Sapphire in the lead role.
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