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Gaolbreak
Gaolbreak
Directed by	Francis Searle
Written by	A.R. Rawlinson
Produced by	Ronald Liles; John I. Phillips; Francis Searle;
Starring	Peter Reynolds; Avice Landone; Carol White;
Cinematography	Ken Hodges
Edited by	Jim Connock
Music by	Johnny Gregory
Production; company	Butcher's Film Service
Distributed by	Butcher's Film Distributors
Release date	April 1962;
Running time	61 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Gaolbreak is a 1962 British second feature^[1] crime film directed by Francis Searle and starring Peter Reynolds, Avice Landone and Carol White.^[2] The film was released as a supporting feature to Tiara Tahiti (1962).^[3]

Plot

A family of thieves plan a jewellery store robbery. One of them is the safecracking expert, and when he is arrested and jailed, they spring him from prison so he can take part in the job.

Cast

Peter Reynolds as Eddie Wallis
Avice Landone as Mrs. Wallis
David Kernan as Len Rogerson
Carol White as Carol Marshall
John Blythe as Slim
David Gregory as Ron Wallis
Robert Desmond as Page
Stewart Guidotti as John
Geoffrey Hibbert as Dr. Cambus
Robert Fyfe as Wally
Carl Bernard as Inspector Brand
Katharine Page as Mrs. Harris
Sidney Vivian as Mr. Marshall
Marianne Stone as Mrs. Marshall
Ivor Dean as Barrington
André Mikhelson as Martinetti
Middleton Woods as Jonah
Reginald Hearne as auctioneer
Edward Ogden as Det. Sgt. Johnson
Frank Hawkins as prison officer
Neil Wilson as beat PC
Jack Taylor as uniformed policeman
John H. Watson as 2nd uniformed policeman
Michael Beint as 2nd prison officer
Laurie Leigh as Shirley
Angela Ramsden as Hazel

Production

The film was made by Butcher's Film Service, and shot at Twickenham Studios in West London, and on location. The film's sets were designed by the art director Duncan Sutherland.

Critical reception

Monthly Film Bulletin said "Running true to the traditional formula of British crime-story second features, this is nevertheless well cast and crisply put over. Most of the characters are effectively drawn but the prison escape looks far too easy."^[4]

Steve Chibnall wrote in British Crime Cinema: "The presence of a young Carol White ... cannot compensate for the film's flat and sluggish direction, a script that would be embarrassingly simplistic in a children's matinee and two of the least-threatening villains in screen history (a newsagent and his mum)."^[5]

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 1/5 stars, writing: "This typically down-at-heel crime story from low-budget specialists Butcher's is spiced up by a subplot about an unwanted pregnancy. It features an early performance by Carol White, who found fame in Ken Loach's television play Cathy Come Home [1966] and his feature Poor Cow [1967]. Sadly, this tale has barely enough plot to make a TV episode, let alone keep a cinema audience happy, and seems stretched even at its one-hour running."^[6]

References

^ Chibnall, Steve; McFarlane, Brian (2009). The British 'B' Film. London: BFI/Bloomsbury. p. 68. ISBN 978-1-8445-7319-6.
^ "Gaolbreak". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
^ Vagg, Stephen (11 November 2024). "Peter Reynolds: Forgotten Cad". Filmink. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
^ "Gaolbreak". Monthly Film Bulletin. 29 (336): 112. 1962 – via ProQuest.
^ Chibnall, Steve (1999). British Crime Cinema. Routledge. p. 98. ISBN 978-0415168700.
^ Radio Times Guide to Films (18th ed.). London: Immediate Media Company. 2017. p. 355. ISBN 9780992936440.