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The Flying Scot (film)
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Wikipedia article
'The Flying Scot' is a 1957 British crime film produced and directed by Compton Bennett and starring Lee Patterson, Kay Callard and Alan Gifford. The film was released in the U.S. as 'Mailbag Robbery'.
Plot
A gang plans to steal a half-a-million pounds' worth of banknotes from an express train.
Cast
* Lee Patterson as Ronnie
* Kay Callard as Jackie
* Alan Gifford as Phil
* Margaret Withers as Middle-Aged Lady
* Mark Baker as Gibbs
* Jeremy Bodkin as Charlie, the boy
* Gerald Case as Guard
* Margaret Gordon as Drunk's Wife
* John Lee as Young Man
* Kerry Jordan as Drunk
* John Dearth as Father
Critical reception
'TV Guide' wrote, "The suspense is well built in this finely constructed feature": 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), and a good touch of THE WINDOW (1949) with a boy who is a liar and nobody believes him, but... the suspense is built up to a climax which leaves one hoping that just this once, crime will be allowed to pay."
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 and describe it as "a film not just of suspense, but of real fascination".Steve Chibnall & Brian McFarlane, 'The British 'B' Film', Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2009, pp. 27071.
References
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