A Prize of Arms **** (1962, Stanley Baker, Tom Bell, Helmut Schmid, John Phillips, Anthony Bate) – Classic Movie Review 6,327

The gritty 1961 realist British noir crime thriller film A Prize of Arms stars Stanley Baker as a dismissed army captain who plots revenge on the army by planning a daring heist of their payroll cash.

The perfect crime goes astray – like it always does in the movies – in director Cliff Owen’s 1961 realist British noir crime thriller film A Prize of Arms, starring Stanley Baker as Turpin, a dismissed British army captain who plots a better life and revenge on the army by planning an elaborate heist of their big amount of payroll cash at their barracks. It is a top film of its popular heist movie kind.

A young Tom Bell and German actor Helmut Schmid co-star as Fenner and Swavek, Baker’s recruits to his desperate, do-or-die caper scam to infiltrate an army camp posing as soldiers, get the money, and get out and get away. It’s quite a tall order, and it’s seeing that unfold that makes the film so exciting.

Stanley Baker is extraordinarily fine, so focused and commanding, the mainstay of the film, while Tom Bell is good as the nervy younger man, and Schmid is dependable as the third man, someone Turpin can trust, especially with explosives, as he knew him in the old days. They make a credible team of bitter but still hopeful crooks, hell bent on getting away with the huge stash of cash the army has stowed away in a safe at the camp ready to use it for their immediately impending manoeuvres abroad on a national emergency.

The cool and collected Turpin’s plans for the robbery are military-man meticulous. He’s thought of everything. Or has he? Well, nearly everything. And he can adapt the plan as the robbery proceeds. He’s nothing except resourceful. What can go wrong?

The film is extremely well shot in remarkable noir-style black and white by Gilbert Taylor and Gerald Gibbs, producing some memorable images, sometimes spectacular images (especially the flamethrower stuff), and using the locations and army backgrounds imaginatively, while Robert Sharples adds a notable, vibrant, jazz-style score that adds to the tension, and Cliff Owen brings an intense atmosphere and a fast pace to proceedings.

There is a large cast, but basically only three roles of consequence in the entire film, though John Phillips as Colonel Fowler, Jack May as Medical Officer, Frank Gatliff as Major Palmer, Michael Ripper as Corporal Freeman, Roddy McMillan as Sergeant McVie, and Anthony Bate as Sergeant Reeve have just about enough screen time to make an impression.

Rodney Bewes (27 November 1937 – 21 November 2017) plays Private Maynard in his feature-film debut, though it is a blink-and-you’ll miss it appearance in the canteen, and it is also the feature-film debut of Glynn Edwards (who doesn’t have much more to so as breakdown truck crewman).

There is only one woman in the entire, large cast: Lynn Furlong as canteen girl serving tea at the NAAFI. So there’s no gratuitous tacked-on love interest, just story, and we get straight into the story and stick to it till it’s done. No romance, no sex. No digressions, no sub-plots.

This pacy, well-made crime-caper thriller may perhaps offer few surprises, but it threatens that it will at any moment, and it is very entertaining and satisfying, quite explosive every now and again. And the ending might certainly be a surprise. It is extremely tense and intense throughout, and there is a particularly good cast of the day to watch out for. A Prize of Arms is an excellent noir crime thriller film, especially fine of its type.

Paul Ryder’s screenplay is based on the original story by the English film director and cinematographer Nicolas Roeg and Kevin Kavanagh, with additional material by Roger Marshall.

Also in the cast are John Phillips, Tom Adams, Anthony Bate, Richard Bidlake, Mark Burns, Frank Coda, Michael Collins, Barry Keegan, Stephen Lewis, Fulton Mackay, Patrick Magee, Jack May, Roddy McMillan and Michael Ripper.

Most of the film takes place around the Army barracks, which was shot at the Royal Navy Air Station, Ford, West Sussex, England, though the opening 10 minutes was shot in and around a Sussex small town, and the ending in the Sussex countryside.

A Prize of Arms is directed by Cliff Owen, runs 105 minutes, is made by George Maynard Productions, is released by Bryanston Distributing and British Lion Film Corporation (UK), is written by Paul Ryder, based on the original story by Nicolas Roeg and Kevin Kavanagh, with additional material by Roger Marshall, is shot in black and white by Gilbert Taylor and Gerald Gibbs, is produced by George Maynard, and is scored by Robert Sharples [Bob Sharples], with art direction by Jim Morahan and Bernard Sarron, and special effects by Jim Hole.

The film was released in the UK on 12 October 1962.

It unexpectedly failed at the box office. Budget: £258,149. Box office: £43,000.

The film was released in the UK by Network on Region One DVD in May 2007.

Tom Bell and Stanley Baker had appeared together in Joseph Losey’ s 1960 crime film The Criminal [The Concrete Jungle].

Stanley Baker and William Marlowe later worked together in another heist film, Robbery.

Stephen Lewis and Michael Robbins later worked together in the 1960s TV sitcom On the Buses.

The cast

The cast are Stanley Baker as Turpin, Helmut Schmid as Swavek, Tom Bell as Fenner, John Phillips as Colonel Fowler, Patrick Magee as Regimental Sergeant Major Hicks, John Westbrook as Captain Stafford, Jack May as Medical Officer, Frank Gatliff as Major Palmer, Michael Ripper as Corporal Freeman, John Rees as Sergeant Jones, Tom Adams as Corporal Glenn, Anthony Bate as Sergeant Reeves, Rodney Bewes as Private Maynard, Douglas Blackwell as Day, Mark Burns as Lt. Ellison, Michael Collins as Leigh, David Conville as Captain James, Glynn Edwards as breakdown truck crewman, Stephen Lewis as Military Police Corporal, Fulton Mackay as Corporal Henderson, William Marlowe as Sergeant Ward, Reginald Marsh as Sergeant in Administration, Roddy McMillan as Sergeant McVie, Stanley Meadows as Sergeant White, Kenneth Mackintosh as Captain Nicholson, Garfield Morgan as Military Policeman, Geoffrey Palmer as Military Policeman, Michael Robbins as Orford, Derrick Sherwin as Lt. Sayers, and Peter Welch as W O Elsey.

Tom Bell (1933–2006).

Stephen Lewis (1926–2015).

Rodney Bewes (27 November 1937 – 21 November 2017).

Alex Macintosh (18 November 1925 – 7 September 1997).

Alex Macintosh, who plays Captain Nicholson, was a BBC presenter and continuity announcer from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. He voiced the first British-broadcast advert, for Gibbs SR Toothpaste on ITV on 22 September 1955: ‘The tingling fresh toothpaste that does your gums good, too. It’s tingling fresh. It’s fresh as ice. It’s Gibbs SR toothpaste.’

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6,327

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com