Very disappointing...

Pretty Good

Absolutely Fantastic

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This is an entertaining thriller despite its dated-ness. The efforts to rescue a trapped boy make for edge-of-your-seat drama. The story covers every angle from frazzled nerves as time expires to anguished self-recriminations when there is nothing for some of the characters to do but wait. All of this is predictable yet compelling. Mr. Dawson, the vault expert, reminds me of Mr. Wolf in "Pulp Fiction" in that he's the guy who finally comes in and lays out what they have to do to solve the problem and rescue the boy. He has a straight forward but labor intensive plan and directs everybody to get it done.As a bonus, we get to see Sean Connery in a pre-fame bit part. He is cast as Welder #1 (although his boss calls him "Bill" at one point) and is the only character who has a British Isles accent, even though he is not the only cast member who seems to be British. Indeed, the production is interesting in that while this movie seems to have been made in the UK, it is based on a television play that was originally done on Canadian TV. The cast is international in that it includes British, Irish, Canadian and American actors. (It is a sad note that Irish actor Victor Wood, who plays Mr. Zeeder, died less than a year after this movie's release.)The dated portrayal of technical details is telling. For example, Welder #2 gets hit in the face with hot metal because he is not wearing a welder's mask. I can understand that maybe they are careless because they are hurrying to rescue a trapped child, and it looks as if, even then, they know better because once this accident happens the boss tells Connery's character to go get a mask before taking over the job.I think I might be able to solve the mystery of the cloth over the registration numbers of the helicopter. (See Goofs.) The movie is set in Canada but was filmed in the UK. Aircraft registration numbers include a letter that designates the country. The filmmakers did not want to show a British helicopter flying over Canada.The medical anomalies got to me particularly when the two doctors finally have access to the unconscious victim. They wait until he is taken out to the ambulance before they do anything to check his vitals let alone try to resuscitate him. Today, EMTs and doctors would immediately start working on the patient as soon as they got their hands on him. Way too slow. (I once asked a retired nurse when she first heard of "ABC", the emergency medicine acronym for prompting immediate attention to "airways, breathing, and circulation", and she said it wasn't until the late '60s, so maybe doctors really were slower to do things in 1957, which would have made them lose a lot more patients than they would a decade later. Worse, back in the 1950s and maybe even into the 1960s, ambulance drivers were often not certified EMTs! I don't recall encountering EMTs until the '70s.)On some personal notes: This movie was released in late summer 1957 and the boy in the story says that he has just turned six that day (though the actor is actually closer to ten). I myself turned six in September 1957, so I might have identified more with the boy if I had thought about that while watching, but it didn't occur to me until after the film ended.Victor Winter, who plays the boy, was Scottish and a successful child actor as well as an assistant director and production manager in adulthood. He worked on a film where I was an extra in the early 1980s, "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom", although he worked in Macau, China whereas I worked in California, USA.

This is a simple story of a boy who finds himself trapped in the vault at the bank where his father works and the race to get him out alive. It's Friday and the Bank is getting ready to close for the weekend. Stephen Walker (Winter) has just turned six and as a treat, his mom, Lucille (McDowall), takes him to meet his father, Colin (Patterson), out of work. His dad just has to close up the vault and then they can go and celebrate. However, while Colin and his boss, George Foster (Gifford), lock up the vault there's an automobile accident just outside the window, which takes their attention away for a couple of seconds. When they finally close the door and the time lock kicks in it's the teller, Evelyn (Francis), who alerts them to the child's predicament... now the race is on...What I really liked about this was the simplicity of both the story and the location. You get a few outside shots, which only take up a couple of minutes, at most, and then the rest of the movie is set in two rooms. Though you never really notice as the Director, Thomas, keeps you involved in the unfolding story. As time passes, the question, "Will they be quick enough?" becomes more and more imperative... while the outlook grows bleaker and bleaker. Thomas uses the limited space well, moving the camera around to its best advantage.Then there's the acting, which is above par. Every person involved in rescuing the boy has an urgency in their voice and in their movements. Robert Beatty really sells the self-assured and strong-minded Pete Dawson, the mind who is responsible for the banks' security. He is quick with a plan and quicker to rally the troops. Whereas, Gifford as the Bank Manager Foster hits all the right notes in portraying a man who feels accountable for the accident and the possible death of a child. One thing which got under my skin was how little the parents appeared in the film. It would have been better if these two characters had been stronger, then you would have had a near-perfect cast.I'd recommend this film to all. It's a nice way to spend an afternoon on these cold winter days, while the central heating keeps you nice and cosy.

Although the plot feels rather forced and awfully predictable, this is a surprisingly quite intense film that is able to keep one always interested all the time, due to the presentation of all the scientific evidence in an interesting manner, as well as an appropriately short running time. It feels well researched, the music used is applied well, and for Sean Connery fans it has the bonus of his presence in a brief supporting role as a welder. Still, the film does have quite a tendency for unnecessary melodrama; in particular McDowall overacts whenever she is on screen. But in spite of the film's flaws, the overall picture stands strong, and while it might not be everyone's cup of tea, I would highly recommend it if the film has even the slightest appeal to one's taste.

Happened to (accidently) see this travesty on UK TV a few days ago. It might have been better if the audiences had been locked in the bank vault and the actors (I use the word actor in its loosest context) left outside to get on with it. This film can be bracketed with 'Plan B from outer space ' as the joint worst films of all time. Their is no aspect of this film (even allowing for its age) for which (search as I may) I can find any redeeming feature. Ghastly dialogue,, wooden acting and risible photography all vie with each other to win the prize of supreme awfulness. A story line which defies belief and a child 'star' of somewhat limited intelligence and mind-numbing mediocrity, not to mention a character which qualifies as an irritant of the first magnitude - see it at your peril, there is no known antidote !