The League of Gentlemen (1960)
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.
Director – Basil Dearden
Writers – John Boland (from the novel by), Bryan Forbes (screenplay by)
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)
Watch “The League of Gentlemen” (1960)
Plot
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.
Leading the police is Superintendent Wheatlock (Ronald Leigh-Hunt) from whom Hyde learns the flaw in his plan. A small boy outside the bank had been collecting car registration (license plate) numbers, a common hobby at the time. The police, discovering the number, found it had been noted by the policeman who visited the warehouse. The policeman had also noted the number of Hyde’s own car. Thus a link was established between the robbery and Hyde.
Hyde is escorted to a police van in which the rest are “all present and correct”, each having been captured as he left the house.