A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (film)

A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square
A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square
Directed by	Ralph Thomas
Written by	Guy Elmes (story and screenplay)
Produced by	Benjamin Fisz
Starring	Richard Jordan; Oliver Tobias; David Niven; Elke Sommer; Gloria Grahame; Hugh Griffith; Richard Johnson
Cinematography	John Coquillon
Edited by	Peter Boita
Music by	Stanley Myers
Production; company	Benjamin Fisz Productions
Release date	1979;
Running time	102 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square is a 1979 British heist film directed by Ralph Thomas, written by Guy Elmes and starring Richard Jordan, Oliver Tobias and David Niven. It is subtitled "based on one of the biggest robberies in London". The film takes its name from the 1940 published song "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square".

Plot summary

Pinky (Jordan) is released from prison and has decided to go straight from now on, but takes a job as a maintenance man at a large bank, which gives him a lot of undue attention from "Ivan the Terrible" (Niven), the local hoodlum. By using Pinky, Ivan hopes to rob the bank, and Pinky starts to like the idea of going back to his old ways.

Production

Ralph Thomas later said the film "had quite a superb cast" and "he was really quite fond" of the movie "but I didn't do it as well as I should have done because by the time we started it David was already sick, and so we had to do the best we could as quickly as we could and it didn't come off as I'd hoped. But it was still a fun film and we enjoyed making it."^[1]

It was shot at Twickenham Studios and on location around London. The film's sets were designed by the art director Lionel Couch.

Cast

Richard Jordan as Pinky
Oliver Tobias as Foxy
David Niven as Ivan
Elke Sommer as Miss Pelham
Gloria Grahame as Ma
Richard Johnson as Inspector Watford
Michael Angelis as Pealer Bell
Brian Croucher as Gregory Peck
Edward Peel as Jack Diamond
Peter Cartwright as Major Treadwell
Hugh Griffith as Sid Larkin
Davy Kaye as Sid the Yid
John Rhys-Davies as Solicitor
Robert Raglan as Judge
Sally Harris as Jill
Ewen Solon as Commander Ford
Bruce Boa as Morgan Stanfield
Elizabeth Adare as Barrister

Also known as

The Big Scam
The Biggest Bank Robbery^[2]
The Mayfair Bank Caper (video title)

References

^ Collected Interviews: Voices from Twentieth-century Cinema by Wheeler W. Dixon, Southern Illinois University Press, 2001, p.113
^ "The Biggest Bank Robbery (1980)". BFI. Archived from the original on 3 November 2017.

External links

A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square at IMDb
A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square at Rotten Tomatoes
Film page at Britmovie
A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square at AllMovie

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[1] Collected Interviews: Voices from Twentieth-century Cinema by Wheeler W. Dixon, Southern Illinois University Press, 2001, p.113

[2] "The Biggest Bank Robbery (1980)". BFI. Archived from the original on 3 November 2017.

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