The Safecracker | |
---|---|
Directed by | Ray Milland |
Written by | Lt Col. Reginald Danbury 'Rhys' Davies Bruce Thomas Paul Monash |
Produced by | David E. Rose John R. Sloan |
Starring | Ray Milland Barry Jones Jeanette Sterke Victor Maddern |
Cinematography | Gerald Gibbs |
Edited by | Ernest Walter |
Music by | Richard Rodney Bennett |
Production company | Coronado Productions |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 96 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | $471,000 [1] |
Box office | $855,000 [1] |
The Safecracker is a 1958 British crime film noir directed by Ray Milland and starring Milland, Barry Jones and Victor Maddern. [2] [3] [4]
Colley Dawson lives a quiet life at home with his mother, but he is an expert safecracker at weekends, breaking into wealthy homes and stealing valuable art. When he is eventually arrested and convicted, Colley is approached in prison by Major Adbury, who offers him a deal in exchange for helping with the war effort. Colley will be given his freedom if he uses his safecracking expertise to perform a mission behind enemy lines. The dangerous mission is to breach a difficult safe in a Nazi chateau and steal a list of German spies operating in England. Colley agrees and is trained as a commando and parachuted into Belgium for the mission.
The film was originally known as The Tale of Willie Gordon. Ray Milland left for England in June 1957. [6]
In December 1957, producer David E. Rose announced that he and Milland would produce a second film together, but the project did not materialise. [7]
As a curiosity: German soldiers wear helmets with Afrikakorps insignia, probably remnants from a film about Rommel.
In The New York Times , Bosley Crowther called the film "a good, not great, suspense thriller," adding, "The film is full of those tense situations in which the hero slips into a room and opens a safe in terrifying silence. Mr. Milland is good in it. So is Barry Jones." [8]
According to MGM records, the film earned $280,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $675,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $59,000. [1]
Three Smart Girls is a 1936 American musical comedy film directed by Henry Koster and starring Barbara Read, Nan Grey, Deanna Durbin, and Ray Milland. The film's screenplay was written by Adele Comandini and Austin Parker, and is about three sisters who travel to New York City to prevent their father from remarrying. The three plot to bring their divorced parents back together again.
Gail Russell was an American film and television actress.
Wendell Reid Corey was an American stage, film, and television actor. He was President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a board member of the Screen Actors Guild, and also served on the Santa Monica City Council.
Patrick Barry Sullivan was an American actor of film, television, theatre, and radio. In a career that spanned over 40 years, Sullivan appeared in over 100 movies from the 1930s to the 1980s, primarily as a leading actor after establishing himself in the industry, and later as a character actor.
Helena Carter was an American film actress in the 1940s and 1950s who is best known for her work in the film Invaders from Mars as Dr. Patricia Blake. From 1947 to 1953 she would appear in 13 films, during which time she also worked as a model.
Rhubarb is a 1951 screwball comedy noir film adapted from the 1946 novel Rhubarb by humorist H. Allen Smith. Directed by Arthur Lubin, the movie stars the cat Orangey, along with Ray Milland and Jan Sterling. Cinematography was by Lionel Lindon. The supporting cast features William Frawley and Gene Lockhart.
Footsteps in the Fog is a 1955 British Technicolor Victorian-era crime thriller starring Stewart Granger and Jean Simmons, with a screenplay co-written by Lenore Coffee and Dorothy Davenport, and released by Columbia Pictures. Directed by Arthur Lubin, the film is based on the W. W. Jacobs short story "The Interruption".
Kitty is a 1945 film, a costume drama set in London during the 1780s, directed by Mitchell Leisen, based on the novel of the same name by Rosamond Marshall. The screenplay is by Karl Tunberg. It stars Paulette Goddard, Ray Milland, Constance Collier, Patric Knowles, Reginald Owen, and Cecil Kellaway as the English painter Thomas Gainsborough.
Captain Carey, U.S.A. is a 1950 American crime thriller film noir directed by Mitchell Leisen and starring Alan Ladd and Wanda Hendrix. An American returns to post–World War II Italy to bring a traitor to justice. It was produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film was based on the 1948 novel After Midnight by Martha Albrand. It was filmed under the title O.S.S. and then the title After Midnight.
Chase a Crooked Shadow is a 1958 British suspense film directed by Michael Anderson and starring Richard Todd, Anne Baxter and Herbert Lom. It was the first film produced by Associated Dragon Films, a business venture of Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Ebb Tide is a 1937 American Technicolor adventure film directed by James P. Hogan and starring Oscar Homolka, Frances Farmer and Ray Milland.
Suicide Battalion is a 1958 World War II film directed by Edward L. Cahn and starring Mike Connors and John Ashley, who made the film while on leave from the United States Army. In 1968, it was remade for television by Larry Buchanan as Hell Raiders, which was the film's original working title.
A Man Alone is a 1955 American Western film directed by Ray Milland and starring Milland, Mary Murphy, Raymond Burr and Ward Bond. The story involves a man who stumbles onto the aftermath of a stagecoach robbery in the Arizona desert from which there were no survivors.
Everything Happens at Night is a 1939 American drama-comedy film starring Sonja Henie, Ray Milland and Robert Cummings.
Bugles in the Afternoon is a 1952 American Western film produced by William Cagney, directed by Roy Rowland and starring Ray Milland, Helena Carter, Hugh Marlowe and Forrest Tucker, based on the 1943 novel by Ernest Haycox. The story features the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
No Time to Die is a 1958 British war film directed by Terence Young and starring Victor Mature, Leo Genn, Anthony Newley and Bonar Colleano. It is about an American sergeant in the British Army during the Second World War.
The Highwayman is a 1951 American historical adventure film directed by Lesley Selander and starring Philip Friend, Wanda Hendrix and Cecil Kellaway. The film was shot in Cinecolor and distributed by Allied Artists, the prestige subsidiary of Monogram Pictures. It was based on the poem of the same name by Alfred Noyes.
Jamaica Run is a 1953 American Technicolor adventure drama film directed by Lewis R. Foster and starred Ray Milland, Arlene Dahl and Wendell Corey. Much of the personnel in this movie worked on the previous year's Caribbean Gold. The plot concernsownership of an old estate set on the island in the Caribbean.
Rockabilly Baby is a 1957 American musical film directed by William F. Claxton and written by William Driskill and William George. The film stars Virginia Field, Douglas Kennedy, Les Brown, Irene Ryan, Ellen Corby, Marlene Willis and Judy Busch.
Three for Jamie Dawn is a 1956 American film starring Laraine Day and Ricardo Montalbán.