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It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

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

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN is a classy, black and white British caper film about a group of distinguished gentlemen who team up to commit a daring robbery. In that respect it has much in common with the likes of THE Italian JOB, although THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN could have done with a few more laughs to make it that bit more entertaining; there's a wonderful cast in this one, but it can be a slog in paces.The script is a bit uneven at times and the pacing flags here and there, only really coming to life during the excellent heist scenes. They could have shorn 20 minutes or so off the running time to make this a more exciting production. Still, the ensemble cast is enough to keep you watching, with the likes of Jack Hawkins, Nigel Patrick, Richard Attenborough, and Terence Alexander all excelling in their parts and plenty of smaller roles for familiar faces. A shame about that downbeat ending, though.

The folks at Criterion selected three of Basil Dearden's films to include in a recent collection that pays homage to the great British director. Two of them are currently available for streaming on Hulu. This review covers one of those titles-- the marvelous heist film THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN from 1960.GENTLEMEN resonates rather well for me, though I am not exactly a fan of this sub-genre due to its often repetitive plot twists. You know, where the caper promises to be a perfect crime, but then it all falls apart and fails miserably. But perhaps I enjoy Dearden's treatment of this subject, because he manages to avoid the clichés, and his version wisely does not lapse into predictability or sentimentality. It also helps considerably that such material is placed into the hands of a distinguished set of actors who slyly punch up the more dramatic aspects of the story, which was scripted by Bryan Forbes, who happens to number among the crooks.Besides Forbes, the cast includes several first-rate performers. Roger Livesey plays a member of the cohort nicknamed Padre; Richard Attenborough is Lexy, a womanizing associate; and Robert Coote has a funny bit as a meddling outsider who inextricably becomes involved in the criminal activity. But it's star Jack Hawkins who holds it all together with his smooth portrayal of an ex-colonel that masterminds the robbery with his right-hand man-- I mean, major-- played by Nigel Patrick.Another great thing about this picture is the pacing. The gathering of the gang; the next sequence of stealing the guns from a government base; the heist itself at a nearby bank; and the 'victory' party at the end are all evenly presented. It's a nearly two-hour movie that hums along nicely and gives us, at every turn, a sense of being pleasantly entertained. Yes, two hours of movie-watching time has been stolen from us by these gentlemen, but it is well worth the price.

It's very strange, but within the caper film genre, there are TONS of wonderful films....tons. Movies like "Rififi", "Grand Slam" and "The Italian Job" are all top entertainment...and "The League of Gentlemen" follows in this same tradition.The film begins with Hyde (Jack Hawkings) sending an invitation to seven men. When the men all arrive at this dinner party, Hawkins shocks them all by telling them their sordid military histories. All served dishonorably and all are rogues...just the sort you'd like to recruit for some illegal acts. In this case, they will commit a very daring daytime bank robbery, but this is much later in the film. In the meantime, they all move in together and behave much like a precise military unit. Next, they have another, smaller but very daring raid to do so they'll have the proper equipment for the big robbery. How all this works together so precisely is why the film is worth seeing. Very well written, directed and acted--this is rousing entertainment from start to finish. It also offers enough novelty to make it different enough from these other films.By the way, an interesting notion is the character played by Kieron Moore. Though never explicitly stated, it sure is apparent he's supposed to be gay. And, speaking of this, look for a tiny role played by a young Oliver Reed--a very, very stereotypically gay role...VERY.

Release just 12 days apart and on both sides of the Atlantic were a pair of caper films involving a group of war veterans pulling off a big heist. On the American side was Ocean's Eleven the first and best of the Rat Pack film where Frank Sinatra and his ring-a-ding army pals try to rob five casinos in Las Vegas. And on the British side was Jack Hawkins recruiting The League Of Gentlemen for a caper of his own.We never learn the reason why Hawkins is so disgruntled, but I'm sure it was a good one. And unlike Sinatra who recruited friends Hawkins did some meticulous research and came up with seven total strangers all of whom had disgraced the uniform in some manner. With all their resumes in front of him, Hawkins is sure he's found his crew. And they include Nigel Patrick, Roger Livesey, Richard Attenborough, Bryan Forbes, Kieron Moore, Terence Alexander, and Norman Bird.Ocean's Eleven depended on the chemistry of the players and since all there were buddies in good standing with Sinatra, it had a casual kind of feeling even during the scenes of the actual robbery. In The League Of Gentlemen it was a different kind of chemistry as Hawkins forges a unit together. Not without problems because these guys are by definition individualists who did not take kindly to military discipline in the first place. Besides Hawkins who seemed to like the idea of being back in the army so to speak, the best performances were from Nigel Patrick as the most individual of the lot who gives Hawkins some reasonable concern and Roger Livesey. I don't think Livesey's character would have been allowed on the American cinema as the Code was still in place. He plays a disgraced and defrocked chaplain. When we meet all of them in their dwellings as they get the mysterious invitation to join Hawkins at his club, we see they don't exactly have the best domestic situations going. Part of why they were easy to recruit.This one has to rank as one of Jack Hawkins's stellar cinematic efforts. And it holds up very well for today's audience.