The League Of Gentlemen makes it clear from its very first scene that this is to be a very unusual film. The opening sequence shows Jack Hawkins(looking dapper in a tuxedo) climbing up out of a manhole cover onto a deserted London street in the early hours of the morning. He narrowly avoids being drenched by an approaching road sweeper that is hosing down the gutters. He then replaces the lid and drives off. What is this all about? All will be revealed as this cracking British heist film unfolds.
The League Of Gentlemen was directed by Basil Dearden(Pool Of London, Sapphire, Victim), and is based upon John Boland’s 1958 novel of the same name. The screenplay was written by actor and screenwriter Bryan Forbes, who was soon to become one of the finest British directors of the 1960’s with the likes of Whistle Down The Wind and Séance on a Wet Afternoon.
Producer and screenwriter Carl Foreman had bought the rights to the novel in 1958, and had intended the main roles to be played by major stars, including Cary Grant, Trevor Howard and James Mason. Foreman commissioned Bryan Forbes to write the script. After Cary Grant turned the role of Colonel Hyde down, Foreman sold the rights to the script to Basil Dearden and his partner Michael Relph. The League Of Gentlemen went on to become one of the biggest successes at the British box-office upon release, and its influence on the heist genre can be seen in films and series such as The Dirty Dozen(1967), The Italian Job(1969), Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels(1998), Heist(2001)and Hustle(2004-2012).The League Of Gentlemen was the second film that Dearden made after leaving Ealing Studios; his first had been the ground-breaking Sapphire, which focuses on a murder investigation into the death of a mixed-race woman. The League Of Gentlemen was also the debut feature from the British production company, Allied Film Makers, which had been founded in 1959. The Company consisted of a consortium of filmmakers who distributed their own projects: director Basil Dearden, actor Jack Hawkins and his brother, actor Richard Attenborough, actor and screenwriter Bryan Forbes, cinematographer and director Guy Green, and producer Michael Relph, who worked as Dearden’s filmmaking partner for twenty years.
Lieutenant-Colonel, Norman Hyde(Jack Hawkins)is a retired British Army officer. He was forced into retirement as a result of no longer being required. He’s resentful and hurt. He has organised a robbery of a London bank. He’s planned it all down to the tiniest detail. He just needs to hire the men to help him carry it out. He hires fellow Armed Forces personnel. The amount of cash up for grabs? £100,000 for each member of the gang. If any member of the gang engages in bad behaviour or disregards orders, the punishment will be financial deduction from his share. Hyde’s band of brothers consists of seven men: Captain Mycroft(Roger Livesey), a former Army Chaplain discharged for gross indecency; Major Peter Race(the always fabulous Nigel Patrick), who resigned after being discovered running a black-market ring; Captain Stevens(Kieron Moore), who was discharged for his sexuality; Lieutenant Edward Lexy(Richard Attenborough), who was discharged for giving information to the Russians; Major Rupert Rutland – Smith(Terence Alexander)who is heavily in debt and reliant on his wife(Nanette Newman, the wife of Bryan Forbes) ; Captain Frank Weaver(Norman Bird),who was discharged after his drunken negligence caused the deaths of four bomb disposal officers; and Captain Michael Porthill(Bryan Forbes)discharged for shooting suspects while stationed in Cypress.
The gang move into Hyde’s house where they all live as a military unit under military discipline and requirements. In the lead up to the date of the robbery, the gang raid an Army camp in order to steal military weapons, and hire a warehouse under the name of a fake business, Co-Operative Removals Ltd., in order to prepare the vehicles and various pieces of equipment and weaponry that they will require on the day. Dearden slowly ramps up the tension and suspense as the film goes on. He saves all the flourishes and big moments for the robbery sequence. The robbery sequence is one of the most iconic and unforgettable in all of British cinema. Hyde’s men become monstrous and faceless in their gas masks; emerging out of the smoke-filled streets(they’ve set off smoke bombs outside to conceal what is happening) and into the bank like vengeful wraiths. The gas masks also conjure up memories and images of the two world wars in which Britain fought. It makes you realise that these men, like so many others in real life, came home unfit for a return to the steady and dull routines of civilian life. Hyde’s men are out on the fringes of the society that once revered, lauded and cheered them. While each of these men are individually struggling in one way or another, those struggles fall away on the day of the robbery; in that moment they are as one: a well-oiled, well-disciplined, calm and collected group working in unison. They’re invincible in this moment.
What I love about this film is that we like all of these men despite their past and present actions. We also want them to get away with it and make a new and happier life with their respective amounts of cash. Yet, as is so often the rule of the heist genre, we know that as the big day approaches, something is bound to go wrong for them. I will not divulge anything about the ending. You need to discover it for yourself. As much as I love the heist element of the film, my favourite thing about the film is the romantic and sexual attraction that is so strongly evident throughout between Hyde and Race. Sparks fly between the pair from their first meeting. Much of the dialogue between the two is highly suggestive, flirtatious and playful. Jack and Nigel share so many knowing and charged looks. They are such an old married couple. It’s wonderful to see in a film made at a time when being gay was sadly illegal here in the UK, something that would thankfully be overturned in England and Wales in 1967, and in Scotland in 1981. Basil Dearden’s next film, Victim, would bravely and boldly turn the spotlight openly onto homosexuality at a time when it was still so dangerous and taboo to do so.
The cast are all superb. Each actor and character gets their chance to shine. It’s one of the best ensemble casts I’ve ever seen. Bryan Forbes and Richard Attenborough in particular really stand out and steal every scene they’re in. Nigel Patrick delivers my favourite performance in the whole thing. It is such a shame that so few people seem to know him these days. If you also love him in this, then be sure to check him out in The Informers, The Browning Version, Sapphire, Johnny Nobody, Grand National Night and The Sound Barrier. Keep an eye out for a hilarious appearance from a young Oliver Reed as an effeminate actor who is appalled at Hyde’s group having booked a theatre rehearsal room for a meeting. The League Of Gentlemen is a delightful and superbly crafted gem. One of the best British films ever made. I urge you all to accept Colonel Hyde’s invitation to join his mission.