Ambush in Leopard Street *** (1962, James Kenney, Michael Brennan, Bruce Seton, Norman Rodway, Pauline Delaney, Jean Harvey) – Classic Movie Review 13,767

The classic 1962 Brit noir B-film Ambush in Leopard Street is set in London but filmed in Ireland, and stars James Kenney, Michael Brennan and Bruce Seton. 

Director J Henry Piperno’s low-budget 1962 British black and white crime B-film Ambush in Leopard Street is set in London but filmed in Ireland, and stars James Kenney, Michael Brennan, Bruce Seton, Norman Rodway, Pauline Delaney and Jean Harvey. It is written by Ahmed Faroughy and Bernard Spicer.

Michael Brennan stars as small-time crook Harry, who plans one last job with his amiable ageing sidekick Nimmo (Bruce Seton) to ambush a truck containing £500,000 of diamonds in London’s Leopard Street. But Harry recruits his nice young brother-in-law Johnny (James Kenney) into the scheme. It’s Johnny’s job to seduce lonely, older, posh jeweller’s assistant Jean (Jean Harvey) into revealing crucial knowledge of the timing for the robbery. And, when things start to go wrong, Harry insists that Johnny is the getaway driver.

Johnny falls for Jean and she falls for him, but he betrays her. Harry betrays his wife Cath (Pauline Delaney) and little daughter, his crime associates (including Norman Rodway as shifty Kegs), and Johnny.

A cast of very good actors make quite a lot out of some basic, though well-concocted circumstances. James Kenney and Jean Harvey are excellent in their scenes together, Kenney and Michael Brennan are excellent in their scenes together, Brennan and Bruce Seton are excellent in their scenes together.

There’s a slight issue about Irish actors speaking London criminal slang and making Dublin look like London, but, so what, just go with it. It’s all fine. They’ve made the film look interesting, unusual and actually rather good with all the exterior filming (cinematography by Stephen Dade). The script isn’t at all bad, either in terms of the plot, or the dialogue, or the characters. Again it is all interesting.

Yes, the ambush is a bit basic and perfunctory, but the film isn’t really about that, it’s about the characters and the personal drama, and that’s good. Oh, yes, obviously with more money and more running time (it’s 72 minutes when in needs 90 minutes ) it could pack a lot more power, but even so it involves and entertains. The slightly offbeat score by Wilfred Burns is helpful too.

Back to the actors. Everybody is good. James Kenney, Michael Brennan, Bruce Seton and Jean Harvey are all especially good, with plenty to do to shine. The sign of a good actor is seeing a little chance and grabbing hold of it firmly and running with it. These four little known actors do exactly that. Talking characters, there is a lesbian club owner, sympathetically written and played.

This classic Brit noir may be filmed in Ireland but it guest stars What’s On in London magazine, as seen in the picnic scene.

Ambush in Leopard Street, was filmed in Dublin. The specific location used for the fictional ‘Leopard Street’ is Cumberland Road at the junction with Lad Lane (now Lad Lane Upper) in Dublin. The picnic scene is filmed in St Kevin’s Square, Bray, County Wicklow.

Anglo-Irish actor Norman Rodway’s first wife was actress Pauline Delaney (married 1954).

Jean Harvey played the magazine editor Joanne Minster for the first six months in the British TV soap opera Compact shown on BBC TV from January 1962 to July 1965, but was replaced by Ronald Allen as Ian Harmon, the son of the magazine’s owner. Only four out of the 373 episodes exist in the BBC archive, having been extensively wiped.

Boyish actor James Kenney was busy in the 1950s, but work started drying up in the 1960s as he grew older and the B-movies he was usually in stopped being made. He died at the age of 56 on January 13, 1987, in Surbiton, Surrey, England, apparently by suicide.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,767

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