Five To One *** (1963, Lee Montague, John Thaw, Ewan Roberts, Ingrid Hafner) – Classic Movie Review 13,175

John Thaw stars as Alan Roper, who, along with his partner-in-crime John (Brian McDermott) and his girlfriend Pat (Ingrid Hafner), is planning to rob a betting shop, in the 1963 Edgar Wallace British B-movie Five To One.

Director Gordon Flemyng’s 1963 British B-movie Five To One stars John Thaw, Ewan Roberts, Ingrid Hafner. It is made at Merton Park Studios as part of the long-running series of 48 Edgar Wallace Mysteries film adaptations, released between 1960 and 1965. The screenplay by Roger Marshall is based on Edgar Wallace’s 1928 story The Thief in the Night. Flemyng and Marshall previously collaborated on another one of the Edgar Wallace Mysteries – Solo for Sparrow (1962).

When a gang of three crooks plans to rob the safe at Larry Hart (Lee Montague)’s betting shop, their well-laid plans go awry. Luckily, he’s got another safe at home, and the improvising crooks find a last-minute way to target that too.

John Thaw plays Alan Roper, who, along with his partner-in-crime John (Brian McDermott) and his girlfriend Pat (Ingrid Hafner), is planning the robbery of a betting shop. Alan asks creepy crooked bookmaker Larry Hart (Lee Montague) to launder the £60,000 money he is going to steal from a robbery, and Hart offers to launder the money in exchange for most of it, four fifths of it, five to one (‘You give me the £60,000 and I’ll give you £12,000 of the most anonymous money you ever saw’) – but Larry doesn’t know that it is his betting shop that they plan to steal from.

Five To One (1963) is a enjoyable, satisfyingly complex crime story, but alas they have attempted too much for 55 minutes, and the film is slightly spoiled by a rushed, unsatisfying ending. However, in a low-key, credible performance of weasly greed, the young John Thaw is outstanding in the main villain role. It is entirely his film. What a good actor he was!

There’s tension and interest all the way through, which makes the ending even more frustrating. It feels like they’ve just chucked away pages on the script to get it finished on time and on budget, or maybe merely clumsily edited /hacked it down to fill the slot. Interesting characters and interesting actors lead the way though, plus the unusually complicated, twisty plot.

Top billed Lee Montague plays a relatively minor character, very well though, and convincingly low key, like all the performances. Jack Watson’s pivotal role as Inspector Davis at the climax doesn’t have enough time to breathe, and is only merely a belated twist surprise. Do the crooks ever get away with it any of the Edgar Wallace Mysteries?

There’s a lot of outside filming that’s very helpful for realism and flavour, and now also period charm.

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.

Five to One Feature is directed by Gordon Flemyng, runs 54 minutes, is made by Merton Park Studios, is distributed by Anglo Amalgamated Film Distributors, is written by Roger Marshall, based on short story The Thief in the Night by Edgar Wallace, is shot in black and white by James Wilson, is produced by Jack Greenwood, and is scored by Bernard Ebbinghouse,

Release date: December 1963.

John Thaw can only have been 21, although he looks older. His first film role was a bit part in The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962) starring Tom Courtenay. In Five to One, the crooks put up a poster of Tom Courtenay starring in Billy Liar (1963) on a wall next to the betting shop. They were great friends at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) which Thaw entered the at the age of 16 (two years underage), and where he won the Academy’s Vanburgh Award. Courtenay attended the memorial service for Thaw on 4 September 2002 at St Martin-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square.

Thaw also stars in the 1965 Edgar Wallace Mysteries film Dead Man’s Chest.

Gordon Flemyng (7 March 1934 – 12 July 1995) was the father of actor Jason Flemyng. He directed two Edgar Wallace Mysteries – Solo for Sparrow (1962) and Five to One (1963) – and the two Dalek feature films, Dr Who and the Daleks (1965) and Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 AD (1966). He also directed The Split (1968), with Jim Brown, Ernest Borgnine and Gene Hackman, Great Catherine (1968) starring Peter O’Toole, Zero Mostel, Jeanne Moreau and Jack Hawkins, and the British war film The Last Grenade (1970).

English screenwriter Roger Marshall (15 March 1934 – 1 April 2020) was co-creator of the TV series Public Eye (1965 to 1975) starring Alfred Burke.

Lee Montague (born Leonard Goldberg; 16 October 1927)

The Edgar Wallace Mysteries

There were 48 films in the British second-feature film series The Edgar Wallace Mysteries, produced at Merton Park Studios for Anglo-Amalgamated and released in cinemas between 1960 and 1965.

• Urge to Kill (March 1960)
• Clue of the Twisted Candle (September 1960)
• The Malpas Mystery (October 1960)
• Marriage of Convenience (November 1960)
• The Man Who Was Nobody (December 1960)
• Partners in Crime (February 1961)
• The Clue of the New Pin (February 1961)
• The Fourth Square (June 1961)
• Man at the Carlton Tower (July 1961)
• Clue of the Silver Key (August 1961)
• Attempt to Kill (September 61)
• Man Detained (October 1961)
• Never Back Losers (December 1961)
• The Sinister Man (December 1961)
• Backfire! (February 1962)
• Candidate for Murder (February 1962)
• Flat Two (February 1962)
• The Share Out (February 1962)
• Number Six (April 1962)
• Time to Remember (July 1962)
• Solo for Sparrow (September 1962)
• Playback (September 1962)
• Locker Sixty-Nine (September 1962)
• Death Trap (October 1962)
• The Set Up (January 1963)
• Incident at Midnight (January 1963)
• The £20,000 Kiss (January 1963)
• On the Run (February 1963)
• Return to Sender (March 1963)
• Ricochet (March 1963)
• The Double (April 1963)
• To Have and to Hold (July 1963)
• The Partner (September 1963)
• Accidental Death (November 1963)
• Five to One (December 1963)
• Downfall (January 1964)
• The Verdict (February 1964)
• We Shall See (April 1964)
• The Rivals (May 1964)
• Who Was Maddox? (June 1964)
• Face of a Stranger (September 1964)
• Act of Murder (September 1964)
• Never Mention Murder (November 1964)
• The Main Chance (November 1964)
• Game for Three Losers (April 1965)
• Change Partners (July 1965)
• Strangler’s Web (August 1965)
• Dead Man’s Chest (October 1965)

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,175

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