Payroll *Digitally Restored [Blu-ray] [2015]

PLOT: Armored Car robbery goes so very wrong.England 1961~ new armored truck company has the latest truck for secure money transport. The Robbery Gang finds a "inside man" who gives them the plans and schedule of the armored van for a share of the take. As the gang "bashes" open the van with a lorry and gets the loot, the result is one shot robber and one dead armored van driver. As the crooks split the loot and escape they leave a dead gang member behind. As the robbers lay low and soon bicker and turn against each other. The "inside" connection robber is now under 24 hour police surveillance. Added fun is the greedy adulteress wife of one of the robbers who will do anything for cash. Billie Whitelaw is the wife of the DEAD Armored Van driver, is soon scheming her own "revenge" against the gang. This is an excellent script. The photography is black and white and very well done. Acting is first rate and it holds your interest from beginning to end. Billie Whitelaw is the scene stealer here as the clever vengeance seeking widow. 5 STARS~

No

tout est parfait sur ce dvd qui ravira les amateurs de films policiers à l'ancienne; ce fût un vrai plaisir de regarder ce film

Typischer britischer Überfall/Bankraubfilm aus dem Jahre 1961, schwarz/weiß, knallhart, ohne SchnickSchnack, über ein Quartett, angeführt von Michael Craig (diesmal sehr finster und böse !), das einen Geldtransporter ohne Rücksicht auf Verluste brutal überfällt, und sich selbst aus Gier, Angst und anderen Beweggründen langsam aus dem Weg räumt.Als Parallelhandlung: die Frau des getöteten Geldtransporterfahrers auf Rachefeldzug.Umrahmt wird dies alles durch eine jazzige, treibende Filmmusik.Die britische Import DVD (StudioCanal) hat keine Extras, keinerlei Untertitel, nicht einmal englische (die bei dem englischen Englisch manchmal sehr hilfreich wären)!Natürlich gibt es keine dt. Tonspur, obwohl seinerzeit der Film synchronisiert wurde und unter dem Titel "Blutiges Geld" in den Kinos lief.Aber das Bild ist außergewöhnlich gut, scharf und ausgewogenDer Film ist wirklich gelungen und spannend, obwohl kein aufgedonnertes ActionKino und wäre es Wert auch im deutschsprachigen Sprachraum wiederentdeckt zu werden. In der Tradition der britischen Gangsterfilme der 1960iger Jahre, wie "Robbery"/Überfall mit Stanley Baker.Mit Michael Craig ("Doctor in Love", "Star", "Sea of Sands","Sandra", "Modesty Blaise"..), Francoise Prevost, Billie Whitelaw.Regie Sidney Hayers102 Minuten

trés bien

"Brilliant! Brutal!...TORN FROM TONIGHT'S HEADLINES!", exclaimed the poster for this highly suspenseful and thrilling British crime drama from 1961. It's about the meticulously planned robbery of a £100,000 payroll from a seemingly impregnable armoured security van in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where it was filmed on location, by crooks Michael Craig (the leader); Tom Bell; Kenneth Griffith and Barry Keegan. The robbery goes wrong. Although the gang gets away with the money, the security van driver and one of the gang are killed. The rest of the film is concerned with the hunt for the gang by the police and the security van driver's widow (a wonderfully understated performance of a woman bent on revenge by Billie Whitelaw) and the action and tension never lets up.French star Francoise Prevost is excellent as Katie Pearson, the embittered; selfish and self-centred wife of inside man Dennis Pearson (William Lucas), a nervous wreck if ever there was one whom you just know from the beginning is going to crack and give the game away before the film is over. In fact, Prevost is so good in the role, that she BECOMES Katie Pearson...a woman who has everything a man could want...at a price.I went to see this film at the cinema when I was 14 in 1961 and thought it was one of the best British films of the year. The robbery is so well planned and executed that I wouldn't be surprised if some real gang of crooks had copied it sometime during the past 55 years. The film is hard-hitting and suspensefully directed in black and white by Sidney Hayers and very well acted. Reg Owen's theme music (which I still have on an old 45 rpm single on the Palette label) compliments the film superbly. I'm also lucky enough to have the film's original quad poster and Front-of-House set of eight glossy, black and white stills.Payroll was also Michael Craig's first film role as an out and out villain and he certainly makes the most of it. As for this DVD, it is an excellent transfer of the complete film. It even has the original British Board of Film Censors "A" certificate on the beginning, which is unusual for a DVD transfer of a vintage cinema film, as well as the original Anglo Amalgamated opening title. Highly Recommended. I give it five stars.