Cash on Demand *** (1961, Peter Cushing, André Morell, Richard Vernon) – Classic Movie Review 10,836

Hammer Films’ most satisfying 1961 British black and white film noir crime thriller Cash On boasts a very fine performance from their big star Peter Cushing as an efficiency-obsessed bank manager made to help a suave but ruthless robber.

Director Quentin Lawrence’s 1961 British black and white film noir crime thriller Cash On Demand is based on a 1960 TV play called The Gold Inside by Jacques Gillies.

When Hammer Film Productions studios weren’t churning out horrors they were still making TV spin-offs like this tense, pacy, and most satisfying little thriller, with a very fine, distinguished performance from their big star Peter Cushing.

The yarn is about a snotty, efficiency-obsessed bank manager, Mr Harry Fordyce (Cushing), who is made to help a suave but ruthless robber, Colonel Gore Hepburn (André Morell), steal money from his own bank branch, in order to save his kidnapped wife (Vera Cook) and child. It is two days before Christmas, and Colonel Gore Hepburn arrives posing as an insurance investigator.

Unfortunately, some of the staff discover the truth, and Cushing has to beg for their silence. But Detective Inspector Bill Mason (Kenneth Stoney) of the police may be able to help out.

Also in the cast are Richard Vernon as Pearson, Norman Bird as Arthur Sanderson, Edith Sharpe as Miss Pringle, Barry Lowe as Peter Harvill, Lois Daine as Sally, Alan Haywood as Kane, Charles Morgan, Vera Cook, Gareth Tandy and Fred Stone.

The screenplay is adapted from the 1960 Theatre 70 teleplay The Gold Inside by Jacques Gillies, also directed by Lawrence, and featuring André Morell and Richard Vernon in the same roles. Theatre 70 was a 70-minute UK TV dramatic anthology series produced by ATV, and 25 episodes aired on ITV from 1960 to 1961.

There are two versions: it either runs 67 minutes (original 1963 UK theatrical release) or 80 minutes (US).

Hammer Film Productions produced the film for £37,000.

It was released in the UK by British Lion Films on 15 December 1963. Columbia Pictures distributed the film in the US from 20 December 1961 until April 1962.

It was shot at Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire, England.

Quentin Lawrence and Peter Cushing reunited for The Man Who Finally Died (1963).

The films of Quentin Lawrence: The Trollenberg Terror (1958), Cash on Demand (1961), The Man Who Finally Died (1963), We Shall See (1964), and The Secret of Blood Island (1964).

Cash On Demand is directed by Quentin Lawrence, runs 67 minutes (UK) or 80 minutes (US), is made by Hammer Film Productions, is released by British Lion Films (UK) and Columbia Pictures (US), is written by Lewis Greifer and David T Chantler, based on the 1960 teleplay The Gold Inside by Jacques Gillies, is shot in black and white by Arthur Grant, is produced by Michael Carreras (executive producer) and Anthony Nelson Keys (associate producer), and scored by Wilfred Josephs, with Production Design by Bernard Robinson.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 10,836

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