Cash on Demand was based on the teleplay "The Gold Inside" by Jacques Gillies, which aired as an episode of the ITV anthology series Theatre 70 on September 24 1960. "The Gold Inside" was directed by Quentin Lawrence, who would also direct Cash on Demand. While Quentin Lawrence had an extensive career in television, he only directed a few feature films. Prior to Cash on Demand, The Trollenberg Terror (1958--known as The Crawling Eye in the United States) was the only feature film he had directed. After Cash on Demand he would go onto direct three more films.
Cash on Demand centres around Harry Fordyce, a bank manager in a small town in England. Mr. Fordyce is overbearing with his staff and is disliked by all of them Even his long-time chief clerk, Mr. Pearson, has no real affection for him. Unfortunately for Mr. Fordyce, it is shortly before Christmas Day that Colonel Gore Hepburn shows up at the bank claiming to be an insurance investigator. Colonel Hepburn (most likely not his real name) soon reveals himself as a thief who has a heist planned for the bank, a heist in which Mr. Fordyce, against his will, plays a pivotal role.
Cash On Demand featured some familiar faces from various Hammer Films. Of course, the most notable of these is Peter Cushing, to this day best known as Professor Van Helsing from Hammer's "Dracula" series and Dr. Frankenstein from Hammer's "Frankenstein" series. For Mr. Cushing, Harry Fordyce would be a very different role from Van Helsing or Frankenstein. André Morell played Colonel Hepburn. Like Peter Cushing, André Morell was also a bit of a mainstay for Hammer Film Productions. He had played Dr. Watson to Peter Cushing's Sherlock Holmes in Hammer's 1959 adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles. Immediately prior to appearing in Cash on Demand he had appeared in Hammer's The Shadow of the Cat (1961). He would later appear in Hammer's movies She (1965), The Plague of the Zombies (1966), The Mummy's Shroud (1967), and The Vengeance of She (1968). Richard Vernon reprised his role of Mr. Pearson from "The Gold Inside," the only actor to be retained from the original teleplay. Today many may be best known as the man on the train who castigates The Beatles for playing the radio in A Hard Day's Night. While Cash on Demand would be his first Hammer film, he would go onto appear in The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973). Today Norman Bird, who plays the bank's employee Sanderson, is probably best known Mr Braithwaite in Worzel Gummidge. Cash on Demand would also be his first Hammer film. He would go onto appear in the studio's movies Maniac (1963) and Hands of the Ripper (1971).
Cash on Demand was part of a co-production agreement with Columbia Pictures. What made Cash on Demand unusual is that, unlike many Hammer movies at the time, it was not cut when it was released in the United States. What is even more unusual is that it was released in the United States well before it was the United Kingdom, on December 20 1961. For whatever reason it was not released in the United Kingdom until December 15 1963. What is more, its original running time of 88 minutes was cut to only 67 minutes and it was shown on a double bill with Bye Bye Birdie (1963).
While Cash on Demand would not receive the British release it should have, it was well received in the United States. The New York Times gave the movie a modestly positive review. It also received a good review in Motion Picture Exhibitor, which stated, "Credit should go to the fine performances." Harrison Reports noted, "There are clever touches of suavity, simplicity, and subtlety as the fake insurance investigator goes about his work." Cash on Demand also made a modest amount at the box office in the United States.
Of course, there may be those who might question how a heist film can be a Christmas movie as well. Well, for one thing, the movie includes touches of the holiday season. At the start of the movie two of the employees open Christmas crackers. There are also consistent references to the bank's Christmas party. At the start of the movie Mr. Fordyce castigates one of the employees for displaying her Christmas on her desk. For another thing, as Eddie Muller said in introducing the film on Noir Alley, it owes a good deal to Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. Mr. Fordyce is clearly a Scrooge figure. Not only is he overly strict with his employees, but he is so cheap that he keeps the bank's central heating set so that the bank consistently feels cold. What is more, Colonel Hepburn's role isn't simply that of a thief robbing a bank, but that of the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. As Eddie Muller notes, there are times that he appears to take more pleasure in mocking Mr. Fordyce than he does robbing the bank.
Given the plot of Cash and Demand, Peter Cushing and André Morell's performances were pivotal in the success of the film, and neither one of them disappoint. Peter Cushing is sterling as the stern bank manager whose experience with the bank robber makes him warmer to his fellow human beings. André Morell is also excellent as the bank robber who apparently wants to improve Harry Fordyce as a person as much as he wants to rob the bank. It is the interactions between these two characters that makes Cash on Demand one of the best movies ever released by Hammer Film Productions.
Today Cash on Demand is not particularly well-known, but with an inventive plot and incredible performances from its leads, it deserves to be better known.
No comments:
Post a Comment