Ambush in Leopard Street
{{Short description|1962 British film by J. Henry Piperno}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Ambush in Leopard Street
| image = "Ambush in Leopard Street" (1962).jpg
| caption = UK quad
| director = J. Henry Piperno
| producer = Bill Luckwell
Jock MacGregor
| writer = Ahmed Faroughy
Bernard Spicer
| starring = James Kenney
Michael Brennan
Bruce Seton
| music = Wilfred Burns
| cinematography = Stephen Dade
| editing = Norman Cohen
| studio = Bill and Michael Luckwell Ltd.
| distributor = British Lion-Columbia Distributors (UK) (as BLC Films Ltd.)
| released = {{Film date|1962}}
| runtime = 72 mins
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget =
}}
Ambush in Leopard Street is a low budget 1962 British 'B'{{Cite book |last=Chibnall |first=Steve |title=The British 'B' Film |last2=McFarlane |first2=Brian |publisher=BFI/Bloomsbury |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-8445-7319-6 |location=London |pages=130}} black and white crime film directed by J. Henry Piperno and starring James Kenney, Michael Brennan and Bruce Seton.{{Cite web |title=Ambush in Leopard Street |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150030968 |access-date=17 February 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}{{cite web |title=Ambush in Leopard Street |url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/43306 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090118075118/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/43306 |archive-date=2009-01-18 |work=BFI}}{{cite web |title=Ambush in Leopard Street |url=http://www.radiotimes.com/film/dfgwv5/ambush-in-leopard-street |work=RadioTimes}} It was written by Ahmed Faroughy and Bernard Spicer.
Premise
Harry is a small time crook who plans one last job before he retires, but things do not go quite according to plan. With his sidekick Nimmo, the plan is to ambush a truck containing £500,000 of diamonds in Leopard Street, but heavy security means recruiting a larger criminal gang than usual, and the inexperienced newcomers may derail Harry's scheme.
Cast
- James Kenney as Johnny
- Michael Brennan as Harry
- Bruce Seton as Nimmo
- Norman Rodway as Kegs
- Jean Harvey as Jean
- Pauline Delaney as Cath
- Marie Conmee as Myra
- Charles Mitchell as Big George
- Lawrence Crain as Danny
- Muriel O'Hanlon as Lily
- Sheila Donald as Val
- Jack O'Reilly as Hibbs
Critical reception
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Even the climax, the actual ambush, lacks punch in this routine and unconvincing crime thriller. The acting is adequate, but suffers from confined production and a more than usually weak story."{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1962 |title=Ambush in Leopard Street |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305830395/37A6B8F267664D90PQ/1 |journal=The Monthly Film Bulletin |volume=29 |issue=336 |pages=79 |url-access=subscription |via=ProQuest}}
Kine Weekly described the film as: "a dicy British 'second'."{{Cite journal |date=16 August 1962 |title=Ambush in Leopard Street |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2610433271/11EC548873F34AC8PQ/1 |journal=Kine Weekly |volume=543 |issue=2863 |pages=26 |url-access=subscription |via=ProQuest}}
Chibnall and McFarlane in The British 'B' Film called the film an "impoverished crook drama."
In Forgotten British Film: Value and the Ephemeral in Postwar Cinema Philip Gillet wrote: "[J. Henry Piperno's] direction can be pedestrian, the fight between the two gangs being cursory and clumsy, though constraints on time and budget doubtless contributed to this. The language of the cockney villains sounds contrived, but what the film has in its favour is a story with the stark simplicity of Greek tragedy: man uses woman, man becomes emotionally involved with her, man lets her down."{{Cite book |last=Gillett |first=Philip |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2135984350 |title=Forgotten British Film: Value and the Ephemeral in Postwar Cinema |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |year=2017 |isbn=978-1443898904 |pages=83 |url-access=subscription |via=ProQuest}}
Home media
References
{{Reflist}}