The folks at Criterion selected three of Basil Dearden's films to include in a recent collection that pays homage to the great British director. Two of them are currently available for streaming on Hulu. This review covers one of those titles-- the marvelous heist film THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN from 1960.GENTLEMEN resonates rather well for me, though I am not exactly a fan of this sub-genre due to its often repetitive plot twists. You know, where the caper promises to be a perfect crime, but then it all falls apart and fails miserably. But perhaps I enjoy Dearden's treatment of this subject, because he manages to avoid the clichés, and his version wisely does not lapse into predictability or sentimentality. It also helps considerably that such material is placed into the hands of a distinguished set of actors who slyly punch up the more dramatic aspects of the story, which was scripted by Bryan Forbes, who happens to number among the crooks.Besides Forbes, the cast includes several first-rate performers. Roger Livesey plays a member of the cohort nicknamed Padre; Richard Attenborough is Lexy, a womanizing associate; and Robert Coote has a funny bit as a meddling outsider who inextricably becomes involved in the criminal activity. But it's star Jack Hawkins who holds it all together with his smooth portrayal of an ex-colonel that masterminds the robbery with his right-hand man-- I mean, major-- played by Nigel Patrick.Another great thing about this picture is the pacing. The gathering of the gang; the next sequence of stealing the guns from a government base; the heist itself at a nearby bank; and the 'victory' party at the end are all evenly presented. It's a nearly two-hour movie that hums along nicely and gives us, at every turn, a sense of being pleasantly entertained. Yes, two hours of movie-watching time has been stolen from us by these gentlemen, but it is well worth the price.

This is a stylish, cynical, hard yet bittersweet film. Its obviously influenced by the skills brought to Britain from the USA by those writers and directors blacklisted in the 1950s and gained work in the UK bringing a harder edged style of filmmaking that in turn influenced homegrown talent.Jack Hawkins is a retired army colonel, embittered in retirement and assembles a shady bunch of former officers with a crooked past. They need money and they have army training. The mission is to rob a bank in London and to prepare for it they need to carry out several other jobs.One of them being a raid at an army barracks to steal weapons which they blame on Irish dissidents.As the film begins we see these rogues in action, some of them living dissatisfied lives or being involved in petty criminal work. The chance of a big score looks like a godsend and they blend well together.Whereas in the early 1960s we still had films looking back to the war with stiff upper lips and a class structure, round the corner we were going to embark on the kitchen sink dramas heralding social change. The League of Gentleman is almost a bridge between these two styles of filmmaking.We have the plummy tones of Jack Hawkins as the Colonel, Nigel Patrick as Race calling everyone Darling. To more seedy characters such as Roger Livesey playing a padre with a suitcase full of glamour magazines and once caught arrested for indecency in a public toilet which at that time meant homosexual activities. He is not the only member of the gang who is implied to be gay. Director Basil Dearden made the film the Victim the following year which was upfront about the subject of homosexuality.Bryan Forbes who wrote and acted in this film is a gigolo, Terence Alexander is a cuckolded husband. Right from the off you see what looks like real people, who served in the war, made mistakes, some several times and struggling in Civvy Street. The hard edge continues during the bank robbery scene where the gang don gas masks and come in heavily armed.The film has elements of comedy as well, its not just an action thriller. Its very well acted, sharply written and due to the censorship laws of the time where the bad guys could not be seen to be getting away with their crimes. It really is a sucker punch that the Colonel's meticulous planning could not had anticipated that is their undoing.

Yes they get busted at the end. It's 1960 in England, who were more conservative then France, and maybe even America at this point, when it comes to crime films. Still, a great film for us men to watch, especially veterans who can relate to the camaraderie. I knew from the start they would get busted, somewhere along the line they would get revealed, a kid taking down license plate numbers? Whatever. It could have been a person in the street who recognized something, it's like whatever we all knew they would get busted because ALL films back then demanded that. I'm thinking this film actually brought on some back lash as to how lame crime films were. In about 5 or so years the endings would most likely stay the same but then again, maybe not? The times were changing and you can't fault this film too much for an ending that was demanded of it. 8 of 10, great caper film despite the state demanded ending. BTW, doesn't the Adjunct (XO in America) look like a mid aged Bill Murray? Thats the way I watched it through. Cheers.

This terribly British film has it's upper lip so firmly starched you can taste the cornflour. Although it sets out to be a light-hearted heist rather than a comedy, it comes from the same camp of British Film making as the Lady Killers and The Lavender Hill Mob. It is an enjoyable and entertaining watch, however it's just not quite as well directed as a true Ealing Comedy to which it seems to hark back. Frankly, I was surprised that the director, Basil Dearden, is the same director who only three years previously made the delightful gem "The Smallest Show On Earth" (which somehow only gets a an average 6.9 on IMDb.) But here's the thing. I was only about half-way through when it suddenly struck me that, deliberate or not, "The League of Gentlemen" must surely have been the inspiration for "The Dirty Dozen". The parallels are just to strong to be mere co-incidence. An army colonel gets together a team of hard-luck ex-army types and takes them on one last mission (a heist, in this instance.) As part of their operation they must break into an army camp to steal weapons. In order to achieve this, one of them must disguise himself as a senior officer and perform a surprise inspection - sound familiar? You probably won't want to put this on your film bucket-list, but it's worth spending "a few bob" on, as I believe they said in Britian in those days, or at least recording when it comes round on TV. The two hours spent watching it won't drag.