The Great Van Robbery *** (1959, Denis Shaw, Kay Callard, Tony Quinn, Philip Saville, Vera Fusek, Tony Doonan) – Classic Movie Review 13,750

The suspenseful 1959 black-and-white British B-movie crime thriller film The Great Van Robbery stars hefty but nimble Denis Shaw as a globetrotting, judo-throwing Scotland Yard detective on the case of stolen bank notes.

Director Max Varnel’s suspenseful 1959 black-and-white British B-movie crime thriller film The Great Van Robbery stars Denis Shaw and Kay Callard. It is written by Brian Clemens and Eldon Howard, and is produced by The Danzigers (Edward J Danziger and Harry Lee Danziger).

Scotland Yard receives news from Interpol that large sums in English bank notes stolen in a London Royal Mint van heist have turned up in a private bank account in Rio de Janeiro. They are new notes and the police have the serial numbers. The robbers have had to go to a fence, who offers a tenth of their face value to rinse them.

The Yard chief Mercer (Tony Quinn) assigns their canniest detective on the case, Inspector Caesar Smith (Denis Shaw), who flies from London to Brazil, where he learns that the noted stolen notes were used to buy coffee beans, so he tries to track down the buyer. He follows the trail to Rome, then Paris, ending up back in London at the door of the coffee importer. His investigations lead to a coffee storehouse, where a worker is found murdered.

This is an extremely fast paced, efficient and thoroughly enjoyable film, running just 71 minutes, in which smooth, straight talking Denis Shaw has a grand time with his globetrotting, judo-throwing, stolen bank notes and coffee beans. The initial robbery is excitingly well, if briefly staged, though the title is deceptive as the story is not about the robbery but the aftermath and the dogged police inquiry. There are a lot of characters, and several tense interrogation scenes, and there is a fair amount of action throughout, including fighting and gunplay (though Brit cops didn’t normally have weapons back then).

The Great Van Robbery is a commendable, remarkably successful Brit B-movie minor crime classic, recommended to all fans of old thrillers.

Denis Shaw is outstanding as burly but super active and nimble London Interpol Inspector Caesar Smith, nearly having the whole film to himself, though Philip Saville, Tony Doonan, Bob Simmons and Geoffrey Hibbert as Venner as assorted villains and Irish-born character actor Tony Quinn as the chief cop Mercer give striking support. Denis Shaw, a British character actor who normally played villains, is a knockout in the leading role of hero, quirky and appealing. He deserved a series as Caesar Smith, either film sequel or a TV show, but it was not to be. Co-star Kay Callard has an oddly unrewarding, purely decorative role as crook’s moll Ella, but Vera Fusek has a better time as Mara.

The camera operator is Nicolas Roeg [Nick Roeg], the legendary film director, and the atmospheric film does look extraordinarily good for a Brit B-movie. It looks very unusual and eye-catching sometimes, though the credit for that really has to go to cinematographer James Wilson [Jimmy Wilson]. And it moves at a great pace, globetrotting seamlessly with the help of neatly edited stock footage of planes, airports, monuments, street views etc.

The surprisingly complex, ambitious, convincing screenplay is co-written by Brian Clemens with Eldon Howard.

Cast: Denis Shaw as Caesar Smith, Kay Callard as Ella, Tony Quinn as Mercer, Philip Saville as Cartier, Vera Fusek as Mara, Tony Doonan as Wally, Bob Simmons as Peters, Geoffrey Hibbert as Venner, Gordon Sterne as Robledo, Carl Duering as Delgano, Guido Lorraine as Leprave, June Rodney as Julie, Hal Osmond as Freddie, Brian Weske as Francey, Carl Conway as Bart, Michael Bell as Garfield, Jacques Cey as Workman, Julian Orchard as Brady, Robert Raglan as Surgeon, Peter Allenby as Bank Manager, Paul Stassino as Toni.

Geoffrey Hibbert is the father of Edward Hibbert from Frasier.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,750

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