Strongroom (1962)

From my favorite movies..

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Strongroom is directed by Vernon Sewell and written by Max Marquis and Richard Harris. It stars Derren Nesbit, Colin Gordon, Ann Lynn, Keith Faulkner and W. Morgan Sheppard. Music is by Johnny Gregory and cinematography by Basil Emmott.Three men enact a bank robbery and lock up the manager and his secretary in the vault. Upon making their getaway it dawns on them that the two in the vault could die from lack of oxygen and thus landing them as murderers should they be caught...Every once in a while a "quota quickie" or "B" crime movie really strides out on its own to stand tall and proud, Strongroom is one such film. Originally the support feature to the George Chakiris film Two and Two Make Six, Sewell's picture went down well enough with the public that it often became the main feature in some theatres.Compact at just 80 minutes in length, it's a picture heavy on claustrophobia and thematic stings, embracing that old noir devil of fate along the way. It's directed in a tight no-nonsense way by Sewell, who manages to keep things moving without it being at cost to nail biting suspense. Well performed by all involved, it's a film that never once cops out, right up to, and including, the quite brilliant finale. 8/10

This crime or film noir from the golden days of British film-making (Yes, the '50's/'60's B-flicks), proves good plot and script, however lesser-known a movie is, is still effective even today.The two crooks, played by Nesbitt and Faulkner and another hold up a bank - they're not vicious in any real way, however wrong they are. The stuffy bank Manager, Colin Gordon and his secretary played by Ann Lynn are locked in the 'Strongroom' or vault if you want to call it that, by the two crooks, with the intent that they will hand the keys in at a police station and let the cops know the two bank workers are in there - all the time running out of air - but that's excused as it's done and dusted, isn't it, that they will soon be released? Wrong! Faulkner's brother, also a member of the gang is tasked with this - he's seen driving off to do just that, but of course - he has an accident and dies! Faulkner and Nesbitt receive a knock on the door from the police - unknowing of what's happened at this stage, panicking slightly. But then the news of Faulkner's brother's death is given. A little panic of both his brother's death and what'll happen to the bank workers by Faulkner surfaces but he knows he has to keep his mouth shut.Faulkner has tried to retrieve his brother's belongings angrily as he's promptly told by the police the dead brother's items can't be returned not for weeks - which of course includes the Strongroom keys! The remaining duo decide to get hold of the usual bank busting equipment, Oxycetelene gear etc., and try their best to break through to the suffocating bank workers. In the meantime, an astute person has noted that part of the dead brother's belongings are a Strongroom key, after Faulkner's rantings lead them to suspect something was wrong.The police then hurry to the bank after contacting an experienced locksmith as to what bank/door it belongs to.They're about to make their pinch, when the boys tell them that they're trying to free the workers. Reluctant at first, they understand and let them continue - they get the door open - a huge look of relief from them is shown at what appears as the very last scene but at this point their relief is shattered as a police officer states :'This one is DEAD sir!' The look from Nesbitt and Faulkner sums up the impending doom for the pair, as hanging is still a capital offence at that time in the UK. However, it beckons from us up to and after the credits still a legal position that they may get a manslaughter charge - but the film doesn't give them the chance they thought they had.Excellent and good performances all round and sadly not shown enough.

Seriously underrated little noir and, in some ways, a repeat of the 1960 movie "The Man In The Back Seat" which also starred Nesbitt and Faulkner as two crooks for whom fate deals a dirty hand. Both movies are excellent (and both directed by the equally underrated Sewell) and both have very neat twists in the tail. These two linked movies are unusual in that, given the era they were made in, the viewer is NOT subjected to "happy endings". As "Strongroom" was made in 1962, it might make for an interesting legal discussion as to whether either or both of the miscreants would hang or not......once again, Faulkner plays the conscience to Nesbitt's more hard-headed felon. I doubt whether that would count for too much with a contemporary criminal court jury, however. Faulkner is a fine foil to Nesbitt - they make a fine team in both movies...not sure why he gave up films. If anyone does, let me know...

i came across this old gem a couple of years back and taped it off the t.v. It's an old black and white bank robbery film. The robbers plan a one-off bank robbery, but it doesn't quite go to plan after they lock two hostages in a safe. Their guilty consciences get the better of them, and they return to the scene. Simple, exciting tale that i can watch time and again.