''The Professionals'' is a 1960 British crime thriller, directed by

Don Sharp Donald Herman Sharp (19 April 192114 December 2011) was an Australian film director. His best known films were made for Hammer Film Productions, Hammer in the 1960s, and included ''The Kiss of the Vampire'' (1963) and ''Rasputin, the Mad Monk' ...

. It screened on US television the following year as part of the ''

Kraft Mystery Theatre ''Kraft Television Theatre'' is an American anthology drama television series running from 1947 to 1958. It began May 7, 1947 on NBC, airing at 7:30pm on Wednesday evenings until December of that year. It first promoted MacLaren's Imperial Chees ...

'' series.Opens 'Kraft Mystery Theatre' Series By JACK GOULD. New York Times 15 June 1961: 87. It was one of a series of films

Anglo-Amalgamated Anglo-Amalgamated Productions was a British film production company, run by Nat Cohen and Stuart Levy, which operated from 1945 until roughly 1971 (after which it was absorbed into EMI Films). Low-budget and second features, often produced at M ...

sold to US television for one million dollars.

Premise

A gang of criminals, Joe Lawson, Vince Clayton and Eddie Holden, rob a suburban bank. Lawson then wants to rob a city bank and enlists the services of safe cracker Philip Bowman, who is just out of prison and is about to marry his girlfriend, Ruth. The thieves manage to rob the bank but Inspector Rankin interrogates Holden about the earlier robbery. Holden confesses and the police arrest the gang just as Bowman marries Ruth.

Cast

* William Lucas as Philip Bowman *

Andrew Faulds Andrew Matthew William Faulds (1 March 1923 – 31 May 2000) was a British actor and Labour Party politician. After a successful acting career on stage, on radio and in films, he was a Member of Parliament from 1966 to 1997. Early life Fauld ...

as Inspector Rankin * Colette Wilde as Ruth *

Stratford Johns Alan Edgar Stratford Johns (22 September 1925 – 29 January 2002), known as Stratford Johns, was a British stage, film and television actor who is best remembered for his starring role as Detective Inspector Charlie Barlow in the long-running ...

as Lawson * Vilma Ann Leslie as Mabel *

Edward Cast Edward Raymond Cast (1925–1994) was a British stage, film and television actor. Selected filmography * '' The Dam Busters'' (1955) - Crew Member (uncredited) * ''Private's Progress'' (1956) - Intelligence Officer (uncredited) * '' The One That ...

as Clayton * Charles Vance as Eddie Holden *

Jack May Jack Wynne May (23 April 1922 – 19 September 1997) was an English actor. Early life and education May was born in 1922 in Henley-on-Thames, and was educated at Forest School in Walthamstow. After war service with the Royal Indian Navy in Bri ...

as Edwards * Eric Corrie as Detective * Arthur Skinner as Plainclothes Man * Douglas Muir as Beaumont * David Williams as Constable *

Arthur Hewlett Arthur Hewlett (12 March 1907 in Southampton, Hampshire – 25 February 1997 in London) was a British actor. Hewlett made his stage debut in 1930 at Plymouth Rep, and his theatre work included the original British production of Bernard Shaw ...

as Hoskins * Patrick Boxill as Renagan * Stuart Hillier as Condor * Raymond Ray as Night Watchman *

Noel Coleman Noel Coleman (26 November 1919 – 12 October 2007) was a RADA-trained English actor who appeared in many television roles. He appeared in the 1969 '' Doctor Who'' serial ''The War Games'' as General Smythe and he appeared in '' Red Dwarf'' as ...

as Chief Inspector

Production

The film was based on an original script by Peter Barnes. In September 1959 it was announced that the director would be

Sidney Hayers Sidney Hayers (24 August 1921 – 8 February 2000) was a British film and television director, writer and producer. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Hayers began his career as a film editor. Among the films he directed are ''Circus of Horrors'' (196 ...

. The job of directing eventually went to Don Sharp, who had been going to make another film written by Barnes, ''Echo of Barbara'', that does not seem to have been made. It was the first fictional film Sharp made for Independent Artists, although he had made the documentary ''Keeping the Peace'' for the same producers. Independent Artists were based at Beaconsfield but the studio was so busy at the time that ''The Professionals'' had to be filmed at Pinewood.

Release

In the UK it was released on the bottom of a double bill with ''Goliath and the Barbarians''. In the US it was the first episode of NBC's ''Kraft Mystery Theatre'' a series of 16 original mystery and suspense films from England, which replaced Perry Como over the summer in the US and Canada. Frank Gallop hosted. It debuted on 14 June 1961.

Reception

The ''Kinematograph Weekly'' called it an "engrossing and thrilling tale." The ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' TV critic called the show "an item of first rate suspense". ''Variety'' said "Don Sharp's direction was impressive in the heist sequences." The ''Boston Globe'' called it "professional enough but just too commonplace to be absorbing." The film was so well received that Independent Artists then offered Sharp the job of directing another movie, ''

Linda Linda may refer to: As a name * Linda (given name), a female given name (including a list of people and fictional characters so named) * Linda (singer) (born 1977), stage name of Svetlana Geiman, a Russian singer * Anita Linda (born Alice Lake i ...

''. It also led to Sharp being offered '' Kiss of the Vampire''.

References

External links

* * * 1960 films British crime thriller films Films directed by Don Sharp Films scored by William Alwyn 1960s English-language films 1960s British films {{crime-thriller-film-stub