The Gelignite Gang

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The Gelignite Gang
The Gelignite Gang.jpg
American release poster
Directed by Terence Fisher
Francis Searle
Written by Brandon Fleming
Story byBrandon Fleming
Produced byBrandon Fleming
Geoffrey Goodhart
Starring Wayne Morris
Sandra Dorne
Cinematography Cedric Williams
Edited by Douglas Myers
Music byJerry Levy
Production
company
Cybex Film Productions
Distributed by Renown Pictures (UK)
Astor Pictures (US)
Release date
  • March 1956 (1956-03)(UK)
Running time
74 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Gelignite Gang is a black and white 1956 British second feature [1] crime film directed by Terence Fisher and Francis Searle, starring Wayne Morris and Sandra Dorne. [2] The film was released in the U.S. as The Dynamiters. [3]

Contents

Plot

American insurance investigator Jimmy Baxter works for the Anglo American Investigation Company in England. He searches for a gang of jewel robbers who use gelignite as part of their modus operandi. He goes to The Green Dragon Club to interview its owner Mr Popoulos. After he leaves, the head waiter, Bergman, calls him from a phone box, but before he can say much he is shot dead by an unseen assailant.

Baxter is more successful than his boss at chatting up the office secretary, Sally, and asks her to dinner at the Green Dragon Club.

Sally does some sleuthing on her own and finds valuable clues. Baxter tracks the gang to its lair, but then Sally is kidnapped by Mr. G, the gang's secret mastermind, and tied up in a warehouse.

Initially the old pawnbroker appears to be the mastermind. The gang are tracked to his pawn shop and when they fail to shoot their way out they set fire to the building. Ultimately Mr G. appears to be Rutherford, the boss of Anglo American.

Cast

Critical reception

Monthly Film Bulletin said "Straightforward crime thriller on a modest scale, with fast and furious action in familiar London surroundings." [4]

Chibnall and McFarlane in The British 'B' Film wrote: "It is hard to imagine anyone finding much pleasure in Francis Searle's The Gelignite Gang except for the frequent unintentional laughs provided by its clichéd script and wooden direction. ... The film's only redeeming feature is a reasonable well-filmed rooftop shootout." [1]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "mediocre", writing: "Fast-moving crime drama is short on actual action, has unintentional laughs in shoals." [5]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Chibnall, Steve; McFarlane, Brian (2009). The British 'B' Film. London: BFI/Bloomsbury. p. 126. ISBN   978-1-8445-7319-6.
  2. ↑ "The Gelignite Gang". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  3. ↑ "Gelignite Gang (1956) - Terence Fisher, Francis Searle - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie".
  4. ↑ "The Gelignite Gang". Monthly Film Bulletin . 23 (264): 47. 1956. ProQuest   1305821593 – via ProQuest.
  5. ↑ Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 313. ISBN   0-7134-1874-5.


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