The Mailbag Robbery

An interesting plot even if it is full of holes but if they can be ignored then this is an enjoyable watch.

Several times I had expected the annoying boy to have been thrown off the train. Just in case it was not clear that the student character was a student he wore a uni/college scarf all the way through the film which must have been uncomfortable for the character on such a long train journey.

This film may hold the record for the number of plot holes in what is a very simple plot filmed in a very small area, how did they manage to have so many?

An enjoyable 1950s B movie very well worth watching.

THE FLYING SCOT is an engagingly low budget little heist movie set on board a train, where a gang of criminals are planning to steal money from the Royal Mail carriage by accessing it from an adjoining compartment. The film has a clever little set-up which sees the plan played out as the thieves would wish before it moves to the real world, where unsurprisingly things are far more unexpected and complex.

I was surprised and delighted to find out that this is a fast-paced and snappy little thriller that wrings maximum tension out of the premise. B-movie director Compton Bennett's direction is assured and CARRY ON scriptwriter Norman Hudis delivers a story that's full of engaging characters and unpredictable sub-plots.

Most of the story is set inside the single compartment of a train and yet it remains lively and interesting. Lee Patterson (JACK THE RIPPER) is the imported American star and a really volatile hot head when it comes down to it, although other characters are more relaxed. THE FLYING SCOT is one of those films that keeps you guessing as to the eventual outcome, and when it does eventually arrive you haven't been disappointed for a moment.

And what an impressive opening heist sequence, in the pure RIFIFI style with a heist pulled very smoothly, without any useless move nor talk with a perfect gesture and obviously performed by professionals. It is a pure delight. But the story doesn't proceed like Jules Dassin's masterpiece made in France. This UK film - FLYING SCOT - remains very light hearted in also a pure British style, closer to the CARRY ON series than to for instance another British crime movie: PAYROLL, which was tough, gritty, and closer this time to RIFIFI than to FLYING SCOT. Follow me? But don't worry, FLYING SCOT is not a comedy, not at all, only a smooth crime film, very pleasant to watch.

An entertaining British thriller, which illustrates how the most brilliantly conceived, meticulously planned crime can begin to go pear-shaped once a few imponderables find their way into the mix. The over zealous guard, interfering passengers,( the inevitable drunk, the kid from Hell and the winner of a Richard Wattis look-alike contest) and an unfamiliar interior coach design rendering the loot almost impenetrable all conspire to make the task far more challenging than originally imagined. That's before even considering the self-inflicted wound. Why you would include a gang member who's half dead with an ulcer is any ones guess!

Lastly, for those of us who spent our formative years in the days of steam; it appears that the same train, making the same journey on the same track is hauled by at least three different locomotives. That's library footage for you.

Watched this a few times now on TPTV and believe you me it gets no better ! Even in 1957 ( six years prior to The Great Train Robbery ) British Rail would not have been daft enough to leave millions of pounds unattended in a carriage ajoining a domestic carriage with just a plywood panel in between! That aside everything else is ludicrous- from the different engines on a non stop route - rubbish continuity - one scene is dark , the next light . Why would a man with a dodgy ulcer be involved and why is half the cast American? The bratty kid that annoys the hell out of the passengers and receives no parental reprimands is real enough I suppose - there are plenty of those about nowadays .