Review of League Of Gentlemen, The

Introduction

The League of Gentlemen is a `comic-thriller` that sits somewhere between `The Lavender Hill Mob` and `The Dirty Dozen`. Essentially it`s a post-war, post-conscription fantasy about a retired army officer (Jack Hawkins) who recruits a crack team of fellow ex-officers to carry out a daring bank raid. The film kicks off by profiling this `crack team` of army experts who, to a man, seem to have drifted into less than perfect lives. Amongst a strong cast, there`s Richard Attenborough as a crooked mechanic wide-boy; Bryan Forbes (who wrote the screenplay) as a mercenary and uncaring Gigolo, and gambling lounge lizard Roger Livesey. We also get a depraved Padre and, what must have been risqué in mainstream movies of the day, a `gay`. (As a sideline, it was Director Basil Dearden who directed `Victim, also just released on DVD, which helped change homosexuality laws in Britain in the early 60s.) Gathering his freshly recruited team about him, they prepare for the raid with military precision and dare. A particularly satisfying interlude on the lead up to the raid is the stealing of arms from an army camp which involved fooling some pompous and ineffectual officers. That must have felt sweet for the thousands of ex-conscription viewers in the cinema audiences of the day. The rogues enjoy a formal yet witty rapport that is completely engaging, and they refer to each other as `Colonel` and `Major` etc. It`s not long until your sympathies lie, not with the law, but with this dysfunctional troupe of reprobates. And that`s when the film really gets you hooked! Something to watch out for is a cameo appearance, at the Leagues second meeting, of Oliver Reed as a ballet dancer, looking for the rehearsal rooms for `Babes in the wood`, and making John Inman look like Sylvester Stallone. Ahh … A typecasting opportunity missed!

Video

I promise that I`ll get to the bottom of this soon. Carlton continue to produce the most magnificent film print transfers and I`m unable to throw any light on this. I know that frames can be cleaned up in Photoshop, but that`s 25 frames a second for 110 minutes so I`m guessing that`s too much of anyone`s time or budget. Maybe it`s the original prints - or are they going back to the original negs? Whatever the case, the pictures here are pristine and as clear as crystal with very little evidence of surface scratch or noise. Excellent!

Audio

Stop! Don`t adjust your sets! I can assure you that the peaking distortion that you`re having to endure during the title sequence does disappear. (I`m guessing the audio engineer, eating his bacon sandwich as the titles rolled during transfer, suddenly clocked the peaking levels and dropped them just in time for the movie proper to start. Those guys often mix sound with their eyes…). Once the levels settle it`s business fairly much as per usual for a film of this vintage. Adequate.

Features

Well, there`s a trailer (with the worst music to voice-over mix that I`ve ever heard), chapter menus, and English subtitles. That`s it. However, the menu itself is quite pleasing with a great smoke effect which features shadowy close ups of the cast members.

Conclusion

This classic British Caper movie created a template that countless movies have followed since. It`s wittily scripted and tightly directed, building a tension which isn`t relieved until the final credits role. I watched the film in two halves (for practical reasons) but it really pained me to do so and I couldn`t wait to get back to it, which is a recommendation in itself. There`s a strong and varied cast, and the tale is engagingly told, though may be a little slow moving for contemporary tastes. Thoroughly enjoyable!