What I liked most about this crime caper is how it preserves and honours the humanity of its characters, particularly the two leads, the bank manager, Fordyce (Peter Cushing), and the robber, Hepburn (Andre Morell). It's clear from the outset that Fordyce is a troubled man, and that his meanness and pathological obsessiveness cover up deep insecurities. He's a tin-pot tyrant, with little or no understanding of people. Watching his perfectionism as he hangs up his coat is fascinating. He's a lonely man. Later in the film he cries out in desperation, as his world falls apart, begging for mercy for his family because they're all he's got - he has no friends.
Hepburn is the opposite - gregarious, confident, boastful, even charismatic. He sees through people, and he's got Fordyce nailed, and in a tither. He can don an aura of menace that is very convincing, but is it just show? We eventually find out.
Watching these two men go at it is the essence of the movie, and I have to say that I have rarely, if ever, seen a match-up so exciting and exhilarating in a movie. Both actors bite into their roles as if they were juicy plums. The tables are turned on Fordyce as Hepburn baits and humiliates him, just as Fordyce did earlier to his loyal clerk, Pearson (Richard Vernon). And Pearson finally has his moment, too. As the robbery unfolds, and an increasingly desperate Fordyce (actually, both men are desperate) tries to keep it together, the suspense ramps up to unexpected heights.
This is due to a script that is crisp, clean, witty and focused, and to direction by one Quentin Lawrence that is restrained but articulate (I started to notice his cannily placed camera, making the most of the interior spaces and subtly underlining the drama). All of the supporting characters (and actors) stand out. Everyone involved in this project seems to have been inspired and, in the case of Cushing, grateful to get such a meaty role.
I will say one more thing. This is a low budget, black-and-white 1962 British movie with virtually no violence. Yet it is so fresh and natural that, I think, it would play well to younger audiences today if they would give it a chance. A lovely surprise - thank you, Turner Classic Movies / Noir Alley.
Hepburn is the opposite - gregarious, confident, boastful, even charismatic. He sees through people, and he's got Fordyce nailed, and in a tither. He can don an aura of menace that is very convincing, but is it just show? We eventually find out.
Watching these two men go at it is the essence of the movie, and I have to say that I have rarely, if ever, seen a match-up so exciting and exhilarating in a movie. Both actors bite into their roles as if they were juicy plums. The tables are turned on Fordyce as Hepburn baits and humiliates him, just as Fordyce did earlier to his loyal clerk, Pearson (Richard Vernon). And Pearson finally has his moment, too. As the robbery unfolds, and an increasingly desperate Fordyce (actually, both men are desperate) tries to keep it together, the suspense ramps up to unexpected heights.
This is due to a script that is crisp, clean, witty and focused, and to direction by one Quentin Lawrence that is restrained but articulate (I started to notice his cannily placed camera, making the most of the interior spaces and subtly underlining the drama). All of the supporting characters (and actors) stand out. Everyone involved in this project seems to have been inspired and, in the case of Cushing, grateful to get such a meaty role.
I will say one more thing. This is a low budget, black-and-white 1962 British movie with virtually no violence. Yet it is so fresh and natural that, I think, it would play well to younger audiences today if they would give it a chance. A lovely surprise - thank you, Turner Classic Movies / Noir Alley.