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employees will suffocate. The crooks improvise a plan to leave the keys to the vault in a telephone box and alert the police by an anonymous phone call. Alec has this task. He is seen driving off but is killed in a road accident. Griff and Len receive a knock on the door from the police. The news of Len's brother's death is given. Len panics at news of his brother's death but blames the two bank employees, vowing not to help Griff in helping to release them.
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belongings include a strongroom key, something a car-breaker shouldn't possess. The police track down the maker of the key and he advises them to which bank it belongs. The police initially suspect the bank manager of absconding, but it is pointed out that no bank employee should ever have both keys – and therefore something is very amiss.
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Meanwhile, in the vault the two are calculating their length of air supply: a maximum of 12 hours if they conserve their breath... they will not live until
Tuesday morning when the vault is opened. They hope someone will rescue them. However, the manager's friends, who he had agreed to meet up him at
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torch and try their best to break through to the suffocating bank workers (Griff having persuaded Len that, by not doing so, they're essentially putting their own necks on the block). In the meantime, having been contacted by the coroner's assistant, the police sergeant spots that the dead brother's
389:. The characters of the young crooks are particularly well drawn, though the duologues between the bank-manager and his secretary (the admirable Ann Lynn) tend to be strained. But the three threads of the drama are neatly developed and the last shot has a shock impact which is positively masterly.
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The police catch Len and Griff boring a hole in the strongroom door. When the boys explain that they're trying to free the workers trapped inside, reluctant at first, the
Inspector agrees to let them continue. The duo get an air line through the door but their relief is shattered when, though the
382:
Allowing that the plot is improbably "loaded" and coincidental, this sharp, brisk thriller is a soundly entertaining job of minor film-making. With the same director, Vernon Sewell, and young players, Derren
Nesbitt and Keith Faulkner, it works up as credible a suspense as that other commendable
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The stuffy bank manager, Mr
Spencer, and his secretary, Rose are locked in the bank's airtight vault, or "Strongroom" by the crooks when two cleaners unexpectedly arrive. The robbers escape but realise that they face possible murder convictions as the bank will be closed for days and the two
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Len tries to retrieve his dead brother's belongings from the coroner's assistant but gets angry when told that the items, which include the strongroom keys, cannot be returned until the police give permission to do so. The duo decide to get hold of an
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vault is opened and the bank manager taken out (barely alive), a police officer states "This one (Rose) is DEAD sir!" The look from Griff and Len sums up the impending doom for the pair, as murder was a capital offence at that time in the UK.
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the bank, left when seeing his car gone and have started their round of golf without him. Rose's family believe her to be away (alone) for the weekend.
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Three small-time crooks, Griff, Len and Len's brother Alec, hold up a bank just after closing time on a
Saturday preceding an
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wrote, "director Vernon Sewell sets up this improbable story quite neatly, but it's hardly breathless entertainment."
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447:"Bryanston Films : An Experiment in Cooperative Independent Production and Distribution"
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Filming took place at
Twickenham Studios in late 1961. Sewell called it "a terrific movie."
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239:. A group of criminals lock two bank employees in a safe during a robbery.
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called the film an "excellent race-against-time thriller."
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said: "Suspenseful second feature with gloss and pace."
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582:"Strongroom | Film review and movie reviews"
454:Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television
428:called it "Sewell's most wholly achieved film."
570:(336): 84. 1 January 1962 – via ProQuest.
629:(7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 972.
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356:Duncan Lewis as Charlie, mortuary attendant
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478:Chibnall, Steve; McFarlane, Brian (2009).
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518:British Film Institute Collections Search
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544:British Entertainment History Project
7:
1084:English-language crime drama films
16:1962 British film by Vernon Sewell
14:
1064:Films directed by Vernon Sewell
338:John Chappell as John Musgrove
1:
1044:British black-and-white films
790:The Ghosts of Berkeley Square
445:Petrie, Duncan James (2017).
1074:1960s English-language films
584:. Radio Times. 8 April 2013
538:Fowler, Roy (8 July 1994).
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998:Curse of the Crimson Altar
774:The World Owes Me a Living
625:Halliwell, Leslie (1989).
417:Chibnall and McFarlane in
341:Pamela Conway as secretary
1049:British crime drama films
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563:The Monthly Film Bulletin
375:The Monthly Film Bulletin
320:Diana Chesney as charlady
35:Theatrical release poster
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1059:Films about bank robbery
950:The Man in the Back Seat
386:The Man In The Back Seat
329:Colin Rix as P.C. Harper
1039:1961 crime drama films
990:The Blood Beast Terror
974:Strictly for the Birds
627:Halliwell's Film Guide
426:British Film Institute
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878:Johnny, You're Wanted
830:The Floating Dutchman
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870:Where There's a Will
806:The Jack of Diamonds
606:. Movies.tvguide.com
481:The British 'B' Film
419:The British 'B' Film
410:British film critic
326:as Sergeant McIntyre
1079:1960s British films
1054:British heist films
604:"Strongroom Review"
966:A Matter of Choice
942:The Wind of Change
744:Films directed by
650:McFarlane, Brian.
369:Critical reception
353:as police sergeant
309:W. Morgan Sheppard
216:is a 1962 British
1069:1960s heist films
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499:978-1-8445-7319-6
223:film directed by
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862:Radio Cab Murder
854:Dangerous Voyage
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608:. Retrieved
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558:"Strongroom"
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521:. Retrieved
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514:"Strongroom"
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351:Kevin Stoney
345:Colin Tapley
335:as Creighton
324:Jack Stewart
291:Colin Gordon
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268:oxyacetylene
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252:bank holiday
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233:Colin Gordon
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177:Running time
153:Release date
135:Theatrecraft
112:John Trumper
103:Basil Emmott
89:Colin Gordon
18:
822:Black Widow
396:Radio Times
317:as charlady
221:crime drama
71:Produced by
58:Max Marquis
41:Directed by
1034:1961 films
1029:1962 films
1023:Categories
958:Strongroom
846:Counterspy
838:Ghost Ship
704:Strongroom
696:Strongroom
685:Strongroom
674:Strongroom
636:0586088946
523:14 January
490:Bloomsbury
484:. London:
432:References
361:Production
213:Strongroom
181:80 minutes
128:Production
75:Guido Coen
51:Written by
24:Strongroom
758:Morgenrot
462:1465-3451
347:as Haynes
333:Ian Colin
168: (UK)
109:Edited by
690:AllMovie
404:TV Guide
297:Ann Lynn
287:as Griff
237:Ann Lynn
194:Language
117:Music by
93:Ann Lynn
81:Starring
63:Story by
378:wrote:
205:£17,000
197:English
186:Country
164:1962-05
162: (
130:company
1009:(1972)
1001:(1968)
993:(1968)
985:(1967)
977:(1964)
969:(1963)
961:(1962)
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769:(1943)
761:(1933)
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610:28 May
588:28 May
496:
460:
202:Budget
709:TCMDB
456:: 7.
450:(PDF)
679:IMDb
631:ISBN
612:2014
590:2014
525:2024
494:ISBN
458:ISSN
424:The
393:The
279:Cast
243:Plot
235:and
147:(UK)
707:at
688:at
677:at
486:BFI
218:'B'
1025::
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166:)
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
