The Day They Robbed the Bank of England

John Guillermen’s The Day They Robbed the Bank of England has much in common with The Siege of Sidney Street: both were released in 1960, both are set at the turn of the century, both center around an amateur criminal gang with a political agenda and an ambivalent female member, and both star Kieron Moore behaving like a bit of an ass. Aldo Ray stars as charming Irish-American Norgate, recruited by “the movement” for Irish independence (proto-IRA) to lead the effort to break in and steal gold bullion from the Bank of England’s vault (“the queen’s cash box”). His comrades include the widowed Iris Muldoon (Elisabeth Sellars) and the bitter Walsh (Moore), but his key helpers are a river scavenger (or “tosher”) who shows him how to access the sewer system and Lt. Monte Finch (Peter O’Toole) of the Brigade of Guards, with whom Norgate pretends to be friends to gain access to the vault. The film builds tension throughout, alleviated occasionally by an admittedly unnecessary romantic subplot, and suspense is wrung effectively when the gang burglarizes the bank museum, when Norgate attempts to take measurements while receiving an underground tour from the generous Fitch, when they strike a gas pipe during the final dig, etc. In an early career performance, O’Toole is exceptional, especially when he begins to connect the dots to realize he’s been aiding a criminal, and Ray injects the British production with requisite American brawn.