The Flying Scot (film)

A gang plans to steal a half-a-million pounds' worth of banknotes from an express train.

The film starts with three members of the gang (Ronnie, Jackie and Phil) breaking through from a cabin into the parcel compartment of a train where bags of money are being carried. They work in silence to remove the back of a seat and access the compartment and remove the bags. They then throw them out the window where Gibbs, a gang member, collects the bags.

The gang then flies to a tropical location. So far no words have been spoken. Finally the gangs talk about their six previous heists and a plan to rob the Flying Scotsman train of half a million pounds. The robberies are planned meticulously using stop watches to time everything.

Now back in the UK, Ronnie and Jackie pose as newlyweds and board the Flying Scotsman. Other gang members Phil also boards the train. Phil is ill, clutching his right rib area. He appears to have an ulcer.

Ronnie tries to break through from their cabin into the parcel compartment but finds this carriage is different to the last one, rivets instead of screws, and more solid. Phil comes to help but he is followed by Charlie, the little boy. The train guard brings a bottle of champagne as it is his wedding anniversary today, but does not see Phil in the cabin.

Meanwhile there is a drunk on the train who is trying to recover. He previously broke into Ronnie and Jackie's cabin.

Phil goes back to Ronnie's cabin and starts to break into the parcel compartment. He is now much sicker. He starts drilling holes in the wall to enable a hole to be made. Ronnie is also revealed to have a pistol under his jacket. Ronnie has to finish the drilling. He then uses a series of small saws to join the holes together.

They break through and Jackie goes into the parcel compartment via the hole. Then the drunk comes to the cabin again and Ronnie gives him the champagne. Charlie sees this and knocks asking for lemonade like the man was given.

The drunk drinks the champagne and Charlie runs back to his cabin and says he saw something. His parents don't believe him as he tells tales. Charlie tells the guard there are robbers in the cabin.

The gang is too slow to get the money so cannot throw it out the window to Gibbs at the prearranged location. The guard comes to check the cabin but the don't let him in even when he asks for tickets. The guard puts a message on a device and drops it at a station as the train powers on.

The train arrives in London but police come into the carriage. They are caught, the guard's message alerting them to the robbery.

• Lee Patterson as Ronnie
• Kay Callard as Jackie
• Alan Gifford as Phil
• Margaret Withers as Middle-Aged Lady
• Mark Baker as Gibbs
• Jeremy Bodkin as Charlie, the boy
• Gerald Case as Guard
• Margaret Gordon as Drunk's Wife
• John Lee as Young Man
• Kerry Jordan as Drunk
• John Dearth as Father

TV Guide wrote, "The suspense is well built in this finely constructed feature":[3] while Sky Movies called it "An unheralded low-budget thriller which contains twice as much suspense as many more lavish productions. Taut, crisp, with a conspicuous absence of big name stars, it is a prime example of the British B movie at its best. With a bit of Hitchcock here and a touch of Rififi there (a 15-minute sequence is acted in complete silence), and a good touch of The Window (1949) with a boy who is a liar and nobody believes him, but... the suspense is built up to a climax which leaves one hoping that just this once, crime will be allowed to pay."[4]

It was one of 15 films selected by Steve Chibnall and Brian McFarlane in The British 'B' Film, their survey of British B films, as among the most meritorious of the B films made in Britain between World War II and 1970. They note that it was shot in just three weeks on a budget of £18,000 and describe it as "a film not just of suspense, but of real fascination".[5]

• The Flying Scot at IMDb