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A British army colonel, pensioned off and embittered, assembles a motley group of specialist, criminal and deviant ex-officers who share his bitterness. He has in mind a bank robbery. They arm themselves, courtesy of their former employer, then execute the robbery impeccably, right in the centre of the City of London. The bags of loot are filled, but, at the pictures, crime seldom pays....

That this film has been reviewed as a comedy demonstrates, once again, that British and American are two cultures disguised by a common language. The humour here, of that characteristically British sardonic kind, is incidental to a drama of frustration, disappointment and inadequacy. The humour is just the way the British speak.

The clever and low key "raid" on the army training centre is finely done. So much so that it overshadows the robbery itself and therefore slightly unbalances the action.

This is one of those films, craftsmanlike and enjoyable, yet not desperately exciting, that finds its greatest value precisely in being a period piece. The League of Gentleman is a fascinating social document. Made in 1959, it catches the moment in British history when, as its Empire dissolved, the social infrastructure that supported it and that had made Colonel Hyde what he had been, also disintegrated. This aspect could almost have been deliberate, explaining the very long opening sequence (another unbalancing factor) that introduces us to the seven main characters. There are shockingly frank moments: the honourable man with the overtly promiscuous wife; the gigolo; the religious fraudster (or pervert - the message is obscured); another of the heroes an "other man", a homosexual; the pressure of life in a small house with a loud television set. So, too, the casualness with which machine guns are used in a robbery by men trained in the code of gentlemen. The dull and seedy presentation of Hyde's home and base, large but far from grand, is further evidence of the decline of his class. So, too, a robbery that was intended as a hymn to the effectiveness of military planning, brought to naught by one stupid mistake and a small boy.

Yet this is not a sententious film, their is no preaching, none of that British nostalgia for the old ways, but almost a respect for the robbers and a recognition that life had to become more ruthless as a stiff society began to flex. How it was elsewhere, I do not know, but this watchable film will show anyone what was happening in Britain just before the Sixties began to swing.

Jack Hawkins, excellent as always, heads a superb cast in this marvelously entertaining look at the moral decay of Britain's upper classes in the post-war period. Some of Britain's greatest film talent was at work on this project, including screenwriter Bryan Forbes, director Basil Dearden, and cinematographer Arthur Ibbetson. If you want to see the granddaddy of caper films, this is it. It's also your chance to see Oliver Reed playing a flaming queen: believe it or not!

This 1959 (or 1960) film shares the same title as the 1990's comedy about weird northern folk, but is a far more savage satire of decay in the establishment.

A redundant Colonel recruits a unit of marginally more corrupted subordinate Army officers, to stage an American Style heist, based on a US pulp fiction novel. Very few of the characters would initially be associated with the establishment. Their past failings include treason, war-crimes and negligence resulting in deaths.

Jack Hawkins (Colonel Hyde) knits the characters together over the course of the film. By reinventing a form of army discipline the characters appear to rediscover their aplomb.

The actual robbery is almost incidental, occupying ~ 10% of the film.

My real fascination was with the development and interaction of the characters. Even 40 years on their callousness is at times shocking and the 'Blame Ireland' example of scapegoating still resonates, especially in the context of the characters' personal failures in other theatres of the ex-empire.

The film is nearly 2 hours long, but seemed much shorter. Post war film of the City of London (and elsewhere) before 60s redevelopment is a bonus.

This is a heist film that really rises above the ante of its genre, due to the motivations behind the main characters. The characters are all former army officers, who were dismissed due to misconduct on their behalf, with the exception of the mastermind behind the robbery, who brings them all together. His name is Hyde, and he was halfway to becoming a full colonel before the army forced him into retirement. He is separated from his wife, and without army life, he has nothing left to do. So for the fun of it, rather than the money, he organises a heist.

The acting in the film is superb. The expressions that Jack Hawkins uses when playing Hyde signify that he is in it for the thrills rather than the loot. He looks on with joy, rather than stern, careful consideration, as he and his men organise everything that they need to do. He is in power again, since he is the head of the operation, and since he knows that everyone who he picks will want to go along. All of his men are not only crooks but ones with financial problems. And as the only one with plenty of money and no criminal record, he enjoys the idea that he can duck out at any time.

The supporting actors also show in the end that they are enjoying their work. While initially in it for the money, the return to army regulations - by which Hyde runs the operation - excites them. Nigel Patrick and Bryan Forbes are particularly good as the more suave members of the heist team. One problem though is that we never get to know the characters really well. They are defined by what we are told about them, rather than their actions, particularly with the Padre, played by Roger Livesey. A former quartermaster, he shows excitement at being able to take up the job again, but he is given very limited screen time, and his involvement with acts unbefiting a priest is oft mentioned, but his personality rarely shows anything more than that he is just another one of the men.

I find it rather odd that the film is marketed as a comedy. There is one section, when they raid the army, that is bouncing with humorous touches, and Gerald Harper, as a nervous army captain, gives off an excellent performance. The rest of the film though only has the slightest edge of humour, from Hyde badmouthing his wife to a rather awkwardly inserted cameo by Oliver Reed as a homosexual performer. The comedy is not important though, and the plot is intriguing enough as it is, but it does make the raiding the army section stand out, as it jars the film's mood and style.

If not flawless, it is still a very well made film. The rousing, grand music score is excellent, not just because it fits well over the action, but because it is sort of a parody of the scores of old war movies. The film looks great in black and white, and some of the sequences are very well shot. One example that stands out in memory is a shot where the camera goes through the walls of two different rooms, crabbing to the right, and swooping a little bit, almost like a person trying to not bump into a vase as he passes through a wall. The visual look of the film and the audio are just excellent, and well suited to the interesting screenplay.

Well ... if your name is "Half Colonel" Hyde, you thank Her Majesty very much, and take your future into your own hands!

Hyde, played to gruff perfection by Jack Hawkins, is supremely proud of his meticulous planning skills, gained and sharpened in a 25 year military career. Ignominiously pensioned off, he puts these strengths to good use in plotting a daring million-pound robbery.

As an ex-military man, Hyde is aware that his "operation" cannot succeed without putting together a squad of the very best experts. Displaying the kind of guile and ruthlessness that earned him his lofty rank, he also knows that it's rather handy if one's selected team has nothing much to lose.

The film opens by introducing us to Hyde's hand-picked candidates in turn - each receiving a mysterious invitation to lunch, stapled to one half of a crisp new fiver none of them can afford to ignore. A rum bunch they are, too - we witness a splendidly gloomy panorama of post- war London, scattered with promiscuous wives, doomed businesses, loveless marriages and good times going rapidly bad.

Enough, surely, to make a fellow wish he were back in the army - especially should he happen to be a bogus clergyman, an "odd man out" or simply a chap who always makes the same mistake twice ...

Was late-1950s Britain, in fact, a land fit for heroes? Does pride come before a fall? Or might crime, perhaps just this once, pay?

Join these esteemed Gentlemen for a wonderfully enjoyable caper movie, and find out for yourself! The story entertains (and possibly even informs) throughout - particularly to be relished is the interplay between Hawkins and the always-watchable Nigel "Old Darling" Patrick.

Notwithstanding a youthful Oliver Reed's jarringly unfunny cameo, this is easily one of my top ten movies.

May we be spared for ever the Hollywood or - even worse - the BritPack re-make!!

A thriller about perfect robberies with the typically hilarious British humor that fills the screen. It contains comedy, thrills , electrifying suspense, plot twists and nice performance that keeps things going smoothly. Involuntarily-retired Lieutenant Colonel Hyde: Jack Hawkins recruits seven other dissatisfied ex-servicemen for a special project. They're as follows: Nigel Patrick as Race, Roger Livesey as Mycroft, Richard Attenborough as Lexy, Bryan Forbes as Porthill, Kieron Moore as Stevens, Terence Alexander as Rupert and Norman Bird as Weaver. Each of the men has a skeleton in the cupboard, and the job is a bank robbery, and they follow a military discipline commanded by Hyde. They also carry out an Army raid that was inspired partly by a real I. R. A. Raid when I. R. A. Members impersonated officers and stole weapons from a barracks. What is the league ... Who are the gentlemen ?. Now It's a Record Shattering Motion Picture !. Thrills - Adventure - Excitement - Laughter !.

A good and attractive film that results to be a feast of thrills, excitement, adventure and loads of comedy. Based on a best selling novel and a popular radio serial este film displays many surprises, plot twists and hilarious moments. Stars Jack Hawkins as an ex-Army officer plots a daring bank robbery using specially skilled military personnel and irrepochable panache. No better tribute to the interpretation style of British bulldog Jack Hawkins could be screened than this nice heist film. This hold-up picture combines thrills and laughs in equal proportions. This was one of Bryan Forbes' first big movie breakthroughs as a writer and he also would direct various films. Besides, he plays one of the gentlemen who plan a well-devised raid on an army camp. Remaining support cast is frankly fabulous, such as: Richard Attenborough, Kieron Moore, Terence Alexander, Norman Bird, Robert Coote, Melissa Stribling, Nanette Newman, David Lodge, Patrick Wymark and uncredited: Nigel Green, John Richardson and Oliver Reed in an early and brief role as mannered young man interrupting the group meeting.

The motion picture was competently directed by Basil Dearden, a good British artisan with a long and interesting career. Dearden sometimes shows a tendency to pull horror and humor tricks to enlive twisted intrigues in his films. Dearden was a stunning British filmmaker, directing all kinds of genres with success enough, such as : "Dead of night , Captive heart , Train of events , The Blue Lamp, Who Done it ? ! , The Smallest Show on Earth , Frieda , Sapphire , The league of Gentlemen , Victim , Karthoum , The Assassination Bureau, The Man Who Haunted Himself" and several others . Rating : 6.5/10 , notable. The flick will appeal to British cinema fans, as well as bank robbery or caper enthusiasts. Worthwhile watching .

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.

One of the original five against the house films, this one set in Great Britain Ex soldiers use their skills to knock over a formidable source of money.

In this case a bank.

This succeeds where Ocean's Eleven failed miserably. Why? When one looks at these films, a person with any foresight can see that the project is one difficult to make interesting.

It sounds interesting when five or six friends talk about the idea, but to the smartest in the group, it will look like what it is, a dead end.

It's just hard to make something like this interesting.

Five Against the House was fairly dull. Sinatra's original Ocean group was worse than boring. It was the pillar of tedium. And we know there were many charismatic actors in that film. It isn't the actors, it is the idea that is lame, and it requires superb writing and directing to make it even partly bearable.

Hawkins and crew are an asset. This role really fits a presence like Hawkins more than a charismatic "everyman" like Sinatra.

The writing and directing are what make this a success, though. In an urban situated film, it is extremely hard to find settings that aren't dull. Ocean's 11 failed horribly there.

Here, we get some better scenery. Even the city shots are quick moving, with not too much emphasis on the ordinary or traffic. And much of it is during the dramatic smoke screen.

The characters are way more interesting than Ocean's characters. And the plot is written better. We never knew what was going on in Ocean, but here, there is a logical, even if far fetched, course.

In Ocean, we were expected to exalt some characters for no reason. It was as though they were in their own little world. The audience had to exalt them because they were Sinatra, Davis, Martin, Silva.

But here, the characters don't put on airs, unless it is demanded. They come across as much more alive and identifiable, and a million times more interesting. Men of mystery are men of mystery because they don't act mysterious. Those who do look like goofballs.

So while Ocean's goofballs fail, this group conjures up a bit of interest. You can actually watch the film start to finish. You can't do that with Ocean.

A well-done, exciting film, especially when they steal the weapons from the barracks where they are going to inspect how good it is to eat there, and then the robbery itself, at the bank, through smoke, with machine guns and gas masks. But the end is devastating and disappointing, I do not agree at all with the solution I suppose that Bryan Forbes, the author of the script, had to find. They're all caught up, because a child who collects numbers and letters written on the car plates is writing down those from the truck and Hyde's personal car. Is it contradictory, Hyde was brilliant in everything, the rest of the operation, he thought absolutely everything in the smallest detail, and he did not think of using another car, a stolen one, to not be found? It's awkward!

This film apparently inspired the British comic troupe "The League Of Gentlemen".

I'm not surprised.

The film was directed by the popularly underrated Basil Dearden and starred the equally underrated Jack Hawkins.

What a shame they're so underrated!

The cast were brilliantly chosen and the plot is inspired. It would probably be impossible to remake this film acceptably well - it is very much of it's time.

Nigel Patrick will tell you, old darling, that you should watch this film with warmth and humour - the way it was made.

Do like heist/crime caper films, have done for a while, and there are good ones out there. 'The League of Gentlemen's' main interest point was the cast full of talented actors and that it was the first feature from the Allied Film Makers company, also with major members playing big roles in the film. Had seen a lot of favourable reviews as well as seeing some from those that didn't like it as much, so that raised my interest further and it was hard to not expect a lot.

'The League of Gentlemen' mostly did live up to expectations. To me, it isn't quite as good as or the near-masterpiece that some have made it out to be. There are things that could have been done better and anybody that doesn't connect with it shouldn't be grudged against. There are so many great things that outweigh those flaws and make 'The League of Gentlemen' well worth watching. Do agree with those that have taken issue with the film being labelled misleadingly as a comedy, it's a long way from that.

From personal opinion, 'The League of Gentlemen' got off to a rather stodgy start that takes too long to set up. Oliver Reed's cameo felt very out of place and was neither funny or tasteful.

Also really did not buy how the crime was solved in so little time, not realistic, and Hyde at this point goes from meticulously intelligent to ridiculously sloppy just like that.

However, 'The League of Gentlemen' is filmed with much stylish grit, perfectly suited to the uncompromising tone, while also looking oddly beautiful at the same time and making the most of the locations. It is meticulously directed by Basil Dearden and unobtrusively scored. The script is intelligent, especially when the planning is happening, and there didn't seem to be any unnecessary fat.

Once the story got going it is rousing stuff, with intricate without being too complex and thoughtfully written planning and the heisting has tension and excitement. The characters are admittedly hard to like, some understandably finding the of the time bigotry of them hard to take and a turn off. These characters though are still interesting and quite layered, especially Hyde, and Reed is the one sore of spot of the otherwise solid as rocks cast. Jack Hawkins and Nigel Patrick being the standouts.

All in all, mostly good but not great. 7/10

An enjoyable effort in the Ealing vein, more specifically in the black comic vein of "Kind Hearts and Coronets" or "The Naked Truth", with fairly upper-class individuals gleefully straying from the straight and narrow. It is a mark of the film's whimsical success that one is made to sympathise with what is basically a gang of upper-class soldiers resorting to criminality. The wit, camaraderie and very subtle pathos of the ex-soldiers is very well worked - adrift as they are in peacetime, the planned heist provides some scope for their talents.

Most of the actors make their mark in some way - Roger Livesey, Nigel Patrick and particularly Jack Hawkins, are wonderful. Robert Coote is wonderfully spot-on in his late appearance as Brigadier Bunny Warren.

The script is finely crafted and while not up to the standard of "Kind Hearts...", this is quite a fine little film, always mildly winning in some way throughout its duration. Rating:- ****/*****

I am a real devotee of heist flicks in general and British heist flicks in particular. I had seen this a few years back and decided to watch it again.

The cast is just superb, a veritable roster of British stars, led by the estimable Jack Hawkins. The story is fine too, but alas the film winds up as less than the sum of its parts.

My main memory of the movie from my previous viewing was the armory heist at the beginning. That's part of the problem. Because so much time and detail is spent on this ancillary venture, the film becomes unbalanced and the crime itself becomes almost an afterthought.

The movie could use some snappier dialogue, and more interaction among the characters. The ending also seems just a bit abrupt and the giveaway of the crime seems a bit weak.

I really wanted to like this movie more than I did, but it never really takes off.

I have been waiting for a region 1 DVD of this film for several years. It used to be on television once in awhile, but that has not happened for a few years. I finally bought a used VHS tape of the film. The film has lost nothing since I first saw it. Jack Hawkins as Col. Hyde is a first rate army officer who has been passed over for promotion and kicked out of the service. Nigel Patrick as Major Race is an urbane small time gambler and crook who hasn't had a decent job since WWII ended. The rest of the people are also former army officers that have fallen on hard times for one reason or another. Richard Attenborough playing Lexy is a con artist with a genius for electronics. Roger Livesey is a part time deviate who was kicked out of the service for gross indecency. Hawkins as Hyde throws a luncheon for this group and some others that will make up his gang. In a great sequence he demolishes the facade each of his "gang" have built to shield themselves from their past. The rest of the film concentrates on a daring bank robbery the group planned.

I should have anticipated it from the title but this did seem rather gentile. I'm not quite sure what I think about it. I found it rather laborious, going through the households of all those participating and then conducting a complicated raid just to get the weapons before we even get to the big one. But then, it had a certain charm, I guess I was expecting humour, it was good to see Bryan Forbes and Richard Attenborough working away in bit parts, completely overshadowing Oliver Reed in a dreadful cameo as a camp gay guy looking for the amateur dramatics while the big boys discussed their forthcoming bank raid. It was also good to see whole stretches of London around St Paul's and the Old Bailey but there were stretches that seemed to go on rather too long and if the build up to the bank job was done at a snails pace the raid itself was rather disappointing after all the build up. Bit of nostalgia, however and incredible that this was made more than 10 years after the end of the War and yet to still be so steeped in its aftermath.

I first saw this movie fifty years ago. I loved it then and, after seeing it on TCM, love it now. The plot: a disaffected English Army officer recruits other vets to pull off a heist. The Gimmick: They are all ex-officers of His/Her Majesty's armed forces so the caper is pulled off with military planning. Bonus Humor: The lampooning of military life. I suspect that this film greatly amused many a British vet in 1960, just as Ocean's Eleven amused US audiences that same year. Fifteen years after WWII ended, many men were having second thoughts about the value of service and the nature of honor and duty. The men carrying out this caper (and this is a Caper Film, like Topkapi or the Italian Job) are all disaffected, some turned to criminal ways. Jack Hawkins' character is not a criminal, but has just been declared redundant by the British Army and forcibly retired after twenty-five tears of service. Add a failed marriage to that (nicely drawn in a few lines of dialog) and you have a man seeking some kind of satisfaction in his battle with Society, just some kind of recognition that he is more than a non-entity. During the heist, as Hawkins' car rolls down the street, the camera shoots up to show us the buildings belonging to the great English newspapers of the day. Without any direct comment, the camera has revealed some of Hawkins' motivation. This is a tight script (written by Bryan Forbes, the motorcyclist in the League), even at two hours, but all the stuff that wasn't developed is lightly traced in. I think that movie makers could study this work with profit. As slow as some of the action might seem to American audiences now (lots of dialog, few explosions), there is hardly a line or a shot that doesn't serve a purpose. If you enjoy caper movies, this is one of the greats. If you want post-WWII history or a treatise on class system decline, that's here as well. Add in great acting, great script, crisp direction and camera-work, you have a marvelous movie!

This is a stylish, cynical, hard yet bittersweet film. Its obviously influenced by the skills brought to Britain from the USA by those writers and directors blacklisted in the 1950s and gained work in the UK bringing a harder edged style of filmmaking that in turn influenced homegrown talent.

Jack Hawkins is a retired army colonel, embittered in retirement and assembles a shady bunch of former officers with a crooked past. They need money and they have army training. The mission is to rob a bank in London and to prepare for it they need to carry out several other jobs.One of them being a raid at an army barracks to steal weapons which they blame on Irish dissidents.

As the film begins we see these rogues in action, some of them living dissatisfied lives or being involved in petty criminal work. The chance of a big score looks like a godsend and they blend well together.

Whereas in the early 1960s we still had films looking back to the war with stiff upper lips and a class structure, round the corner we were going to embark on the kitchen sink dramas heralding social change. The League of Gentleman is almost a bridge between these two styles of filmmaking.

We have the plummy tones of Jack Hawkins as the Colonel, Nigel Patrick as Race calling everyone Darling. To more seedy characters such as Roger Livesey playing a padre with a suitcase full of glamour magazines and once caught arrested for indecency in a public toilet which at that time meant homosexual activities. He is not the only member of the gang who is implied to be gay. Director Basil Dearden made the film the Victim the following year which was upfront about the subject of homosexuality.

Bryan Forbes who wrote and acted in this film is a gigolo, Terence Alexander is a cuckolded husband. Right from the off you see what looks like real people, who served in the war, made mistakes, some several times and struggling in Civvy Street. The hard edge continues during the bank robbery scene where the gang don gas masks and come in heavily armed.

The film has elements of comedy as well, its not just an action thriller. Its very well acted, sharply written and due to the censorship laws of the time where the bad guys could not be seen to be getting away with their crimes. It really is a sucker punch that the Colonel's meticulous planning could not had anticipated that is their undoing.

It takes special talent to take as many solid actors as this and churn out what might be the dullest caper movie I've ever seen. Sure, it starts on a promising note, where we meet all the ex-military men, their wives, their lovers, and their impoverished states. But then we sit through 20 minutes of yabbering from Jack Hawkins. Followed by the goofy raid on the military base, which was neither funny nor suspenseful. Overbearing soundtrack drove me nuts. Instead, listen to Hawkins deliver his lines. Could anyone be surprised he would be diagnosed with throat cancer in a few short years?