| The Gelignite Gang | |
| Director: | Terence Fisher Francis Searle |
| Producer: | Brandon Fleming Geoffrey Goodhart |
| Story: | Brandon Fleming |
| Music: | Jerry Levy |
| Cinematography: | Cedric Williams |
| Editing: | Douglas Myers |
| Studio: | Cybex Film Productions |
| Runtime: | 74 minutes |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
The Gelignite Gang is a black and white 1956 British second feature[1] crime film directed by Terence Fisher and Francis Searle, starring Wayne Morris and Sandra Dorne.[2] The film was released in the U.S. as The Dynamiters.[3]
American insurance investigator Jimmy Baxter works for the Anglo American Investigation Company in England. He searches for a gang of jewel robbers who use gelignite as part of their modus operandi. He goes to The Green Dragon Club to interview its owner Mr Popoulos. After he leaves, the head waiter, Bergman, calls him from a phone box, but before he can say much he is shot dead by an unseen assailant.
Baxter is more successful than his boss at chatting up the office secretary, Sally, and asks her to dinner at the Green Dragon Club.
Sally does some sleuthing on her own and finds valuable clues. Baxter tracks the gang to its lair, but then Sally is kidnapped by Mr. G, the gang's secret mastermind, and tied up in a warehouse.
Initially the old pawnbroker appears to be the mastermind. The gang are tracked to his pawn shop and when they fail to shoot their way out they set fire to the building. Ultimately Mr G. appears to be Rutherford, the boss of Anglo American.
Monthly Film Bulletin said "Straightforward crime thriller on a modest scale, with fast and furious action in familiar London surroundings."[4]
Chibnall and McFarlane in The British 'B' Film wrote: "It is hard to imagine anyone finding much pleasure in Francis Searle's The Gelignite Gang except for the frequent unintentional laughs provided by its clichéd script and wooden direction. ... The film's only redeeming feature is a reasonable well-filmed rooftop shootout."