Lee Patterson (Ronnie), Kay Callard (Jackie), Alan Gifford (Phil), Kerry Jordan (drunk), Jeremy Bodkin (Charlie), John Dearth (father), Patsy Smart (mother), Margaret Withers (woman), Gerald Case (guard), John Lee (young man), Mark Baker (Gibbs), Geoffrey Bodkin (neat boy).
Producer/director: COMPTON BENNETT. Screenplay: Norman Hudis. Story: Ralph Smart, Jan Read. Photography: Peter Hennessy. Film editor: John Trumper. Art director: Jack Stevens. Wardrobe: Vi Murray. Make- up: Eleanor Jones. Hairdresser: Eileen Warwick. Camera operator: Paddy A'Hearne. Set continuity: Rita Davison. Music director: Stanley Black. Production manager: Freddie Pearson. Assistant director: René Dupont. Sound: Len Page. Executive producer: Peter Rogers. An Insignia Film.
Copyright 1957. U.S. release through U.A. U.K. release through Anglo-Amalgamated: 5 January 1958. Australian release through B.E.F.: June 1960 (sic). 6,225 feet. 69 minutes. U.S. release title: Mailbag Robbery.
SYNOPSIS: Suspenseful, ingenious crime story: A daring scheme is carried out to perfection in imagination, but then we see setbacks on the actual trip. An unusual and holding thriller (Picture Show).
COMMENT: "The Flying Scot" starts off most ingeniously with not a word spoken for the first 15 or 20 minutes. Of course, the idea was stolen from "Rififi" but it's still a suspenseful one even in this grade "B" work-out. The sequence turns out to be a neat joke on the audience, and thereafter the film follows a more predictable course.
All the standard "B" elements are then deployed. Lots of talk and the plot line contrived so as to use the same sets over and over again; lots of filling out with extraneous plot strands that have very little to do with the main story; and all the scriptwriter's ingenuity channeled into ways to eke out the running time rather than ways to make the film more exciting.
Odd to see Compton Bennett whose previous film was the elaborate "A" costume musical "After the Ball", reduced to working in the "B" league and this film, although it is competently directed within the limits of an exceedingly tight budget, is not likely to improve his status. Apart from the introductory quarter-hour, it's dull repetition all the way.
The heroine is attractively costumed in the introductory sequence, but for most of the film, she wears much less flattering attire.
Acting is competent enough on a "B"-grade shuffle level (the scriptwriter doubtless congratulated himself on his brainwave of giving the second lead a perforated ulcer that makes the said character move very slowly).
Producer/director: COMPTON BENNETT. Screenplay: Norman Hudis. Story: Ralph Smart, Jan Read. Photography: Peter Hennessy. Film editor: John Trumper. Art director: Jack Stevens. Wardrobe: Vi Murray. Make- up: Eleanor Jones. Hairdresser: Eileen Warwick. Camera operator: Paddy A'Hearne. Set continuity: Rita Davison. Music director: Stanley Black. Production manager: Freddie Pearson. Assistant director: René Dupont. Sound: Len Page. Executive producer: Peter Rogers. An Insignia Film.
Copyright 1957. U.S. release through U.A. U.K. release through Anglo-Amalgamated: 5 January 1958. Australian release through B.E.F.: June 1960 (sic). 6,225 feet. 69 minutes. U.S. release title: Mailbag Robbery.
SYNOPSIS: Suspenseful, ingenious crime story: A daring scheme is carried out to perfection in imagination, but then we see setbacks on the actual trip. An unusual and holding thriller (Picture Show).
COMMENT: "The Flying Scot" starts off most ingeniously with not a word spoken for the first 15 or 20 minutes. Of course, the idea was stolen from "Rififi" but it's still a suspenseful one even in this grade "B" work-out. The sequence turns out to be a neat joke on the audience, and thereafter the film follows a more predictable course.
All the standard "B" elements are then deployed. Lots of talk and the plot line contrived so as to use the same sets over and over again; lots of filling out with extraneous plot strands that have very little to do with the main story; and all the scriptwriter's ingenuity channeled into ways to eke out the running time rather than ways to make the film more exciting.
Odd to see Compton Bennett whose previous film was the elaborate "A" costume musical "After the Ball", reduced to working in the "B" league and this film, although it is competently directed within the limits of an exceedingly tight budget, is not likely to improve his status. Apart from the introductory quarter-hour, it's dull repetition all the way.
The heroine is attractively costumed in the introductory sequence, but for most of the film, she wears much less flattering attire.
Acting is competent enough on a "B"-grade shuffle level (the scriptwriter doubtless congratulated himself on his brainwave of giving the second lead a perforated ulcer that makes the said character move very slowly).