Gaolbreak

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Gaolbreak
Gaolbreak 1962 film poster.jpg
Directed by Francis Searle
Written by A.R. Rawlinson
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Ken Hodges
Edited by Jim Connock
Music by Johnny Gregory
Production
company
Distributed by Butcher's Film Distributors
Release date
  • April 1962 (1962-04)
Running time
61 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
Language English

Gaolbreak is a 1962 British second feature [1] crime film directed by Francis Searle and starring Peter Reynolds, Avice Landone and Carol White. [2] The film was released as a supporting feature to Tiara Tahiti (1962).

Contents

Plot

A family of thieves plan a jewellery store robbery. One of them is the safecracking expert, and when he is arrested and jailed, they spring him from prison so he can take part in the job.

Cast

Production

The film was made by Butcher's Film Service, and shot at Twickenham Studios in West London, and on location. The film's sets were designed by the art director Duncan Sutherland.

Critical reception

Monthly Film Bulletin said "Running true to the traditional formula of British crime-story second features, this is nevertheless well cast and crisply put over. Most of the characters are effectively drawn but the prison escape looks far too easy." [3]

Steve Chibnall wrote in British Crime Cinema: "The presence of a young Carol White ... cannot compensate for the film's flat and sluggish direction, a script that would be embarrassingly simplistic in a children's matinee and two of the least-threatening villains in screen history (a newsagent and his mum)." [4]

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 1/5 stars, writing: "This typically down-at-heel crime story from low-budget specialists Butcher's is spiced up by a subplot about an unwanted pregnancy. It features an early performance by Carol White, who found fame in Ken Loach's television play Cathy Come Home [1966] and his feature Poor Cow [1967]. Sadly, this tale has barely enough plot to make a TV episode, let alone keep a cinema audience happy, and seems stretched even at its one-hour running." [5]

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References

  1. ↑ Chibnall, Steve; McFarlane, Brian (2009). The British 'B' Film. London: BFI/Bloomsbury. p. 68. ISBN   978-1-8445-7319-6.
  2. ↑ "Gaolbreak". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  3. ↑ "Gaolbreak". Monthly Film Bulletin . 29 (336): 112. 1962 – via ProQuest.
  4. ↑ Chibnall, Steve (1999). British Crime Cinema. Routledge. p. 98. ISBN   978-0415168700.
  5. ↑ Radio Times Guide to Films (18th ed.). London: Immediate Media Company. 2017. p. 355. ISBN   9780992936440.
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