The Safecracker is a 1958 British crime film noir directed by Ray Milland and starring Milland, Barry Jones and Victor Maddern.
Contents
Plot
Colley Dawson lives a quiet life at home with his mother, but he is an expert safecracker at weekends, breaking into wealthy homes and stealing valuable art. When he is eventually arrested and convicted, Colley is approached in prison by Major Adbury, who offers him a deal in exchange for helping with the war effort. Colley will be given his freedom if he uses his safecracking expertise to perform a mission behind enemy lines. The dangerous mission is to breach a difficult safe in a Nazi chateau and steal a list of German spies operating in England. Colley agrees and is trained as a commando and parachuted into Belgium for the mission.
Cast
Ray Milland as Colley Dawson
Barry Jones as Bennett Carfield
Jeanette Sterke as Irene
Victor Maddern as Morris
Ernest Clark as Major Adbury
Cyril Raymond as Inspector Frankham
Melissa Stribling as Angela
Percy Herbert as Sergeant Harper
Barbara Everest as Mrs. Dawson
Anthony Nicholls as General Prior
David Horne as Herbert Fenwright
Colin Gordon as Dakers
Clive Morton as Sir George Turvey
John Welsh as Inspector Owing
Colin Tapley as Colonel Charles Mercer
Ian MacNaughton as Thomson
Charles Lloyd-Pack as Lambert
Ferdy Mayne as Greek Ship Owner
Arnold Bell as Detective
Bernard Fox as Shafter
Jackie Collins as Fenwright's Secretary
Basil Dignam as Air Vice Marshal
Sam Kydd as McCullers
Hilda Fenemore as Mrs. McCullers
David Lodge as Parachute Instructor
Richard Marner as German N.C.O
Production
The film was originally known as The Tale of Willie Gordon. Ray Milland left for England in June 1957.
In December 1957, producer David E. Rose announced that he and Milland would produce a second film together, but the project did not materialise.
As a curiosity: German soldiers wear helmets with Afrikakorps insignia, probably remnants from a film about Rommel.
Reception
Critical
In The New York Times, Bosley Crowther called the film "a good, not great, suspense thriller," adding, "The film is full of those tense situations in which the hero slips into a room and opens a safe in terrifying silence. Mr. Milland is good in it. So is Barry Jones."
Box office
According to MGM records, the film earned $280,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $675,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $59,000.