Calculated Risk

John Rutland is released from prison. The brother of his dead wife, William Lucas, meets him and takes him to the dead woman's grave, and then home. He doesn't want to hear about the plan to rob a bank through the bombed-out home next door; Rutland's plans always fail. But the prospect of 200,000 pounds changes his mind, so he perfects the plan, makes all the preparations, and prepares to send Rutland and his crew off, while he sits at home for his share. Things start to go wrong when Rutland has a heart attack and has to sit it out. Lucas takes his place. Then the bad news starts to pile up.

It's a very nice little thriller, and Norman Harrison directs it very nicely, with underground sequences that are reminiscent of the same year's THE GREAT ESCAPE. The characters are barely sketches, but well presented by their performers, and William McLeod's camerawork captures the claustrophobia of their work space very well.