Jackpot

Jackpot is a British low budget B movie thriller.

Carl Stock is a foreigner and an crook who was deported after being released from prison. Carl has illegally returned to Britain and wants his share of the loot and get back together with his wife.

Only to discover that his wife has move on with her life and the gangster Same Hare who was minding his share of the loot does not want to give it back.

Same runs The Jackpot Club and Carl plans to rob the safe as revenge. With the help of former safe cracker Lenny Lane who now runs a coffee shop, they steal £6000.

Unfortunately while making their getaway a policeman is shot dead. Now they are pursued by the police and the club owner.

A cheap routine thriller with a climax taking place in a football ground between Carl and Sam with the police being in little rush. Even with a short running time, there are long scenes of a drill being used on a safe.

Worth watching to see William Hartnell playing the detective on the hunt for the robbers and having little time for Sam Hare.

William Hartnelll always made interesting parts in interesting films, so that you could rely on his name to warrant a reward. This is a typical example, although you have to wait for his appearance, in a role out of the ordinary for him, for he is the criminal inspector. The stars are instead the crooks, George Mikell as a rather interesting and fascinating victim of injustice coming for his exoneration, and Eddie Byrne as the real villain, a gangster and leader of mobs who has made a fortune on his rackets, whom George Mikell with a German accent pays a visit to get back what has been stolen from him. Eddie Byrne refuses to cooperate, so there is a conflict, and Mikell robs him of £6000, which Eddie Byrne naturally raises hell by mishandling every person in connection with Mikell, trying to learn where the renegade is. Naturally there is a final settlement between the two, which naturally ends bad for both of them. We never learn what happened to the survivors.

It's an efficient thriller, well written with a top cast all the way, and every supporting part earns some high credits. The music like the drama is hard-boiled and perhaps a little too invasive, and the finale could have been made more efficient. However, as it is, the thriller is efficient enough with many interesting currents, every supporting part being of major importance.

A known fellon and thief (George Mikell) returns to London and demands money from a former associate (Eddie Byrne) who's the big shot owner of the 'The Jackpot Club', but refuses to hand him his owed money. He convinces another former associate (Michael Ripper), the owner of a worker's caff and now gone straight to help him rob the the club's safe.

A little seen low budget British crime film that holds the viewer's attention throughout and includes a finale shot at the Arsenal footaball stadium Gillespie Road grounds.

William Hartnell who would go onto play the future first Doctor Who three years after this film has a strong part as the police inspector. The film was recently restored and is better than the previously available print, but there are clearly several frames missing from the film.

A low budget British crime thriller from the early 1960s. The plot centres around a crook, Carl Stock (George Mikell). Having previously taken the rap for a robbery, he ended up doing time in prison and being deported from Britain, which not only cost him his share of the loot but also his marriage. Now he has finally managed to slip back into the country to reclaim what he considers to be his. However, his former colleague (Eddie Byrne) is now something of a big shot and is unwilling to entertain Stock's requests for financial recompense. Likewise Stock's wife, Kay (Betty McDowall) has moved on with her life and isn't altogether pleased when he turns up again out of the blue. And so the situation plays out, and it isn't long before the local police, headed by Superintendent Frawley (William Hartnell, just before he would land his defining role as television's original Doctor Who) are concerned with events.

Although the situation has plenty of potential, unfortunately the film plods along in a very pedestrian fashion and seems incapable of delivering a genuinely surprise twist, tension or intrigue. The majority of the characters are completely one-dimensional and the relationships between them, including crucially the one between Stock and his wife, lack any depth whatsoever. The film's saving grace for me was the character of Lenny Lane, former safe-cracker now gone straight, who is dragged back into the mire. The role is played by Michael Ripper, too often relegated to bit parts in films but here he gets something more substantial and shows how capable a performer he is. Lane and his young friend Sally (Sylvia Davies) are probably the only characters in the whole piece who are anything other than bland. Even settings in the London streets, a nightclub and (notably) Arsenal FC's football stadium fail to come alive under Montgomery Tully's limp direction.

Little-seen for many years, Jackpot recently underwent a restoration allowing it to be broadcast on television again. This restored print unfortunately still shows signs of damage and ends very abruptly before cutting into what are clearly recreated closing captions. I would hope the original release had a more satisfying closing scene but given the amount of dross that makes up the bulk of the picture, I wouldn't be at all surprised if it hadn't.

As a point of interest, this was the third project that Eddie Byrne and Betty McDowall had starred in together in little over a year, having previously collaborated on the film Jack The Ripper and the TV series Call Me Sam.

During the course of the film it is stated that Carl is making for Gillespie Road Station.Well of course this is Arsenal.The climax of the film actually takes place in Highbury during after a match,possibly against Bolton,which I might have attended.So many memories came flooding back.This may have been a damaged print but I am grateful to Talking Pictures for showing it.Incidentally Tim Turner,the narrator of Look At Life is featured in a small part.