The Good Die Young *** (1954, Laurence Harvey, Gloria Grahame, Richard Basehart, John Ireland, Margaret Leighton, Joan Collins, Stanley Baker, Robert Morley) – Classic Movie Review 9741

A particularly strong cast with eight unusual stars contributes to director Lewis Gilbert’s entertaining noir-style 1954 British crime thriller The Good Die Young about a gang who plan a heist on the Royal Mail postal van carrying a large amount of cash.

Laurence Harvey stars as unscrupulous playboy Miles ‘Rave’ Ravenscourt, who recruits broken-down boxer Mike (Stanley Baker), American war veteran Joe (Richard Basehart) and AWOL Air Force sergeant Eddie (John Ireland) into the gang, but their plan starts to crumble as their thin veneer of confidence is whittled away by a host of particular personal troubles.

Gilbert and co-scripts directs the low-key, but well done character-driven adventure story with steely-eyed confidence, bringing out all the tension and atmosphere he can muster. Harvey ‘s aloof persona is well used here in a fine, convincing display of a controlling, manipulative character.

Vernon Harris and Lewis Gilbert’s screenplay is based on the novel by Richard Macauley.

It also stars Margaret Leighton, Gloria Grahame, Joan Collins and Robert Morley.

Also in the cast are René Ray, Freda Jackson, James Kenney, Susan Shaw, Lee Patterson, Sandra Dorne, Leslie Dwyer, Walter Hudd, George Rose, Patricia Owens, Jean Heal, Thomas Gallagher, Alf Hinds, Marianne Stone, Hugh Moxey, Philip Ray and Edward Judd.

The Good Die Young is directed by Lewis Gilbert, runs 100 minutes, is made by Romulus Films and Remus Productions, is released by Independent Film Distributors (1954) (UK) and United Artists (1955) (US), is written by Vernon Harris and Lewis Gilbert, based on the novel by Richard Macaulay, is shot in black and white by Jack Asher, is produced by Jack Clayton and is scored by Georges Auric.

It is filmed at filmed at Shepperton Studios, Surrey, and at various locations in London.

Margaret Leighton and Laurence Harvey were married from 1957 to 1961. British actor John Fraser and Frank Sinatra’s valet George Jacobs both write of Harvey being gay. Margaret Leighton’s next husband was Michael Wilding, who allegedly had an affair with playwright Noël Coward in the mid-1930s. But he sued gossip columnist Hedda Hopper in 1964 for implying that he was gay in her book The Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth and won $100,000.

Wilding had four wives, Leighton had three husbands, and Harvey had three wives.

Lithuanian-born actor Laurence Harvey (born Laruschka Mischa Skikne; 1 October 1928 – 25 November 1973): ‘Someone once asked me, “Why is it so many people hate you?” and I said, “Do they? How super! I’m really quite pleased about it”‘.

Laurence Harvey: ‘I’m a flamboyant character, an extrovert who doesn’t want to reveal his feelings. To bare your soul to the world, I find unutterably boring. I think part of our profession is to have a quixotic personality.’

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9741

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