Go To Blazes

Starring: Dave King, Dennis Price, Maggie Smith, Robert Morley, Daniel Massey

Synopsis:

Following an unsuccessful heist, three smash-and-grab jewel thieves find their getaway thwarted by a roadblock set up to make way for a speeding fire engine, and are arrested and sent to prison. They have the brainwave of using a fire engine, and posing as firemen, for their future scores.

When they reunite, they do as they planned – obtaining a fire engine and hire another crook and ex-fireman to look and sound the part. However a last minute setback leads them to consider a more audacious robbery.

Go to Blazes is from and set in a period of British Cinema that I and most people will be unfamiliar with, the early 1960s (in this case, 1962). By then, Ealing studios had already passed their prime, and Hammer were concerned mainly with costume genre films, and it would be a few years before the likes of The Ipcress File, Alfie and The Italian Job.

Our three “heroes”, Bernard, Harry and Alfie, are “smash and grab” thieves – throw a brick through a jeweler’s window, grab as much loot as you can and leg it. Driver Alfie reckons his car is souped up sufficiently to outrun any police car, but the gang run afoul of a traffic congestion caused by the police making way for speeding fire engines. As they mull over their bad luck in the back of the prison van, they realise how useful it would be for the police to unwittingly assist their getaway in a stolen fire engine, and so head off to prison with optimistic plans for the future.

Once they manage to steal a fire engine and set up their next job (another smash-and-grab), they accidentally hit on a much bigger plan when Harry (Daniel Massey) has to take refuge in a nearby fashion boutique run by Collette and Chantal (Coral Browne and Maggie Smith). It turns out that their boutique is right next to a bank, and on the other side of the cellar wall is the vault. They hatch a plan to set fire to the boutique and break into the vault while putting out the fire.

The gang at least realise that they wouldn’t pass for fireman, regardless of their stolen uniforms and vehicle, so they involve another crook called Withers to train them in the rudiments of being a fireman. They also involve Arson Eddie (Robert Morley) to help produce a fire scenario that they would be able to safely control.

Most of the humour comes out of the banter between the characters, rather than slapstick. There is a rather dubious moment involving a blacked out character but it is a throwaway line and grown out of the situation, it feels organic. The film is more lighthearted than funny – neither the crooks nor the police are particularly threatening, and the terribly chirpy theme tune (it’ll stick with you for days) only drives home the idea that there are no real consequences at stake.

The film has a class ending. After performing their heist, then comes the getaway, and the chance for their stolen fire engine to come into it’s own. But naturally, things don’t go quite as planned – if anything, their disguise is so good it even fools themselves!

One of the things I enjoy about reviewing old British films such as this is the opportunity it gives to observe life in the past, in this case 1960s London. It’s not just the clothes, cars and general outlook of the characters, but there are certain unique anachronisms. Just take a look at the set-up at Collette’s boutique – she doesn’t have clothes hanging on mannequins, she has a whole cadre of girls on hand to model the clothes for her clients!

Verdict

If you can live with the cheeky chirpy theme music, then this is a breezy delight to watch, and a chance to see Harry Potter’s Professor McGonagal in her prime.

7 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)

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