Five to One (film)

Five to One
Feature film poster
Directed by	Gordon Flemyng
Written by	Roger Marshall
Based on	short story The Thief in the Night by Edgar Wallace
Produced by	Jack Greenwood
Starring	Lee Montague Ingrid Hafner John Thaw
Cinematography	James Wilson
Edited by	Derek Holding
Music by	Bernard Ebbinghouse
Production company	Merton Park Studios
Distributed by	Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors
Release date	1963 (1963)
Running time	54 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Five To One is a 1963 British second feature ('B') ^[1] crime film directed by Gordon Flemyng and starring Lee Montague, Ingrid Hafner and John Thaw. ^{[2] [3]} It was made at Merton Park Studios as part of the long-running series of Edgar Wallace adaptations. The screenplay was by Roger Marshall, based on the 1928 Wallace story The Thief in the Night. ^[4]

Plot

Alan Roper, along with his partner-in-crime and his girlfriend, are planning the robbery of a betting shop. Alan asks crooked bookmaker Larry Hart to launder the money, but little does Larry know, it's his betting shop they plan to steal from.

Cast

• Lee Montague as Larry Hart
• Ingrid Hafner as Pat Dunn
• John Thaw as Alan Roper
• Brian McDermott as John Lea
• Ewan Roberts as Deighton
• Heller Toren as Mai Hart
• Jack Watson as Inspector Davis
• Richard Clarke as Lucas
• Ian Curry as Mycock
• Julian Holloway as Sergeant Jenkins
• Gordon Rollings as Walker
• Edina Ronay as girl on speedboat
• Clare Kelly as Jean Davis

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Straightforward in acting and presentation, the main interest of this compact film lies in its plot line; again adapted from one of Edgar Wallace's less familiar stories, it is an involved but neatly contrived variation on the Great Robbery Plan which has featured in so many films. The development is sufficiently intriguing to maintain interest, and though the film has no other real virtue, it emerges as a slightly above average addition to the now well-established Edgar Wallace series." ^[5]

References

1. Chibnall, Steve; McFarlane, Brian (2009). The British 'B' Film. London: BFI/Bloomsbury. p. 239. ISBN   978-1-8445-7319-6.
2. "Five to One". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
3. "Five to One (1963) - Gordon Flemyng | Cast and Crew". AllMovie.
4. Five To One (1963) British Board of Film Classification
5. "Five to One". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 31 (360): 39. 1 January 1964. ProQuest   1305834615 – via ProQuest.

External links

• Film page at BFI
• Five to One at IMDb