The League of Gentlemen (1960)

☆ ☆ ☆

The League of Gentlemen (1960) – B. Dearden

Droll, very British heist film that adopts a similar plot to Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing (1956).  A varied group of ex-military men with different skills (communications, explosives, quartermaster) are recruited by Jack Hawkins to participate in a bank robbery planned according to an American pulp novel (“The Golden Fleece”).  Director Basil Dearden builds things slowly as we are introduced to each character (and a very light amount of social commentary about their status/situations post-war).  But mostly this is a well-executed adventure film that doesn’t really rise to the peaks of the genre (Rififi, The Killing, Big Deal on Madonna Street – all from the years immediately preceding this film) but is enjoyable nevertheless and so very British.  The final scene with the drunk interloper is excruciating.  Of course, the Brits need their heist films too, of course, but, for my money, The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) wins out over this one too. Still, it was a big hit at the time.