In 1975, eight men pulled off what was then the largest bank robbery in the history of the United Kingdom. The Bank of America heist in Mayfair, London, netted an estimated £8 million in cash, jewelry and valuables. "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" was made just four years later. It is a fictional story based on the heist, with all fictitious characters and names.
The film has a large cast with several prominent actors of the day in cameo roles. David Niven was ill at the time, and the producers hurried to get some of the filming completed. As a result, the film appears choppy in places.
The main details of how the heist was pulled off are accurate, according to police reports and later documentaries. But the background of the main character, Pinky in this film, is doctored considerably. As are the details of how Scotland Yard caught the real inside man, Stuart Buckley, and his naming the other crooks. In reality, only £500,000 of an estimated £8 million was recovered. The heist included cash, jewelry and other valuables.
All of the cast do a fine job. Richard Jordan is the main character as Pinky. He is based on Buckley. The real Buckley had a minor criminal record and had been in prison a couple of times. And, he was an electrician. In the movie he is referred to a general service job that eventually leads to the bank. In reality, Buckley answered an ad by the Bank of America for an electrician and was hired directly by the bank - with no background check at all. Perhaps some of the real details were glossed over or changed in this earliest film of the heist for one or more reasons. The truth may have alerted other criminals to the poor to almost non-existent security at many banks at the time and led to a rash of attempted bank robberies then. Or, it may just have been too embarrassing for the Bank of America at the time, which it should have been.
The way that Buckley made the keys to the vault gates and discovered the double combinations is accurate. He waited all one night, crouched above the ceiling until the bank manager and other person with the combinations came to open the vault in the morning. And, he recorded the combinations as he watched them turn the dials below. But that's where the accuracy in this film ends.
In this film, Scotland Yard nabs Buckley almost by chance. With his record, he was among suspects whose homes the police checked. And they found the papers with the safe combinations written on them in one of Pinky's jackets. I couldn't believe that anyone as clever as Pinky would be quite that dumb as to not having destroyed those papers, or concealed them in some inconspicuous way. Well, the reality proved he wasn't as dumb as made out to be in this film. The police got to Buckley through his connections with the other crooks.
The police recovered cash and jewelry from Pinky's stash, as shown in this film. The movie doesn't show them getting any others, but they did get the shares of two others. When the Scotland Yard detectives confronted the real Buckley with those, he saw that his share was much smaller than the others. And, that's what Scotland Yard used to convince him to spill the beans. He was one of the first criminals in the UK to be granted Supergrass status. He would receive reduced sentence and be given protection while in confinement, then helped to relocate and change his name to avoid likely revengeful killing by any of the rest of the gang.
The character that Niven plays, Ivan, is based on a younger, established criminal, Frank Maple. Buckley had known him before and when they met up again and Buckley told him about his job in a bank and all that he was able to do and seek, Maple took it from there and planned the whole heist. But, unlike the motley bunch shown in this film, he recruited three top people for their special abilities. In time, they added three more men for lookouts and other help.
They pulled off the real robbery by eight men entering the bank right after its closing - with the front door key. They were dressed as businessmen and didn't arouse suspicion. And, one other big variation from the film was the capture of Ivan. The real Frank Maple escaped the U.K. for Spain and Morocco, and has never been found since.
As to the capture of the real Buckley (Pinky in the film), Scotland Yard intelligence had been watching a couple of the real big-time crooks, especially the safecracker. When the heist group began to assemble, they met often in a café. That's where Scotland Yard knew that something was in the works, and who they characters of this group were - including Buckley (Pinky).
So, it turns out that the crooks themselves had been careless and set themselves up for eventual capture. All except Maple were arrested within a couple days. One escaped custody. In the film, it's Pinky, but in reality, it was another crook. Scotland Yard eventually caught him in hiding several days later.
In the movie, Richard Johnson plays Inspect Watford. His character is based on the real Jack Slipper, the chief detective inspector. Scotland Yard tabbed him to head the investigation. He was the best and was known for having pursued Ronnie Biggs after the Great Train Robbery of 1963.
Other big names in this film are Elke Sommer and Gloria Grahame. Among the rest of the huge cast, some prominent actors of the day have cameos. They are Hugh Griffith, John Rhys-Davies, Joss Ackland and Alfred Molina.
The film has a large cast with several prominent actors of the day in cameo roles. David Niven was ill at the time, and the producers hurried to get some of the filming completed. As a result, the film appears choppy in places.
The main details of how the heist was pulled off are accurate, according to police reports and later documentaries. But the background of the main character, Pinky in this film, is doctored considerably. As are the details of how Scotland Yard caught the real inside man, Stuart Buckley, and his naming the other crooks. In reality, only £500,000 of an estimated £8 million was recovered. The heist included cash, jewelry and other valuables.
All of the cast do a fine job. Richard Jordan is the main character as Pinky. He is based on Buckley. The real Buckley had a minor criminal record and had been in prison a couple of times. And, he was an electrician. In the movie he is referred to a general service job that eventually leads to the bank. In reality, Buckley answered an ad by the Bank of America for an electrician and was hired directly by the bank - with no background check at all. Perhaps some of the real details were glossed over or changed in this earliest film of the heist for one or more reasons. The truth may have alerted other criminals to the poor to almost non-existent security at many banks at the time and led to a rash of attempted bank robberies then. Or, it may just have been too embarrassing for the Bank of America at the time, which it should have been.
The way that Buckley made the keys to the vault gates and discovered the double combinations is accurate. He waited all one night, crouched above the ceiling until the bank manager and other person with the combinations came to open the vault in the morning. And, he recorded the combinations as he watched them turn the dials below. But that's where the accuracy in this film ends.
In this film, Scotland Yard nabs Buckley almost by chance. With his record, he was among suspects whose homes the police checked. And they found the papers with the safe combinations written on them in one of Pinky's jackets. I couldn't believe that anyone as clever as Pinky would be quite that dumb as to not having destroyed those papers, or concealed them in some inconspicuous way. Well, the reality proved he wasn't as dumb as made out to be in this film. The police got to Buckley through his connections with the other crooks.
The police recovered cash and jewelry from Pinky's stash, as shown in this film. The movie doesn't show them getting any others, but they did get the shares of two others. When the Scotland Yard detectives confronted the real Buckley with those, he saw that his share was much smaller than the others. And, that's what Scotland Yard used to convince him to spill the beans. He was one of the first criminals in the UK to be granted Supergrass status. He would receive reduced sentence and be given protection while in confinement, then helped to relocate and change his name to avoid likely revengeful killing by any of the rest of the gang.
The character that Niven plays, Ivan, is based on a younger, established criminal, Frank Maple. Buckley had known him before and when they met up again and Buckley told him about his job in a bank and all that he was able to do and seek, Maple took it from there and planned the whole heist. But, unlike the motley bunch shown in this film, he recruited three top people for their special abilities. In time, they added three more men for lookouts and other help.
They pulled off the real robbery by eight men entering the bank right after its closing - with the front door key. They were dressed as businessmen and didn't arouse suspicion. And, one other big variation from the film was the capture of Ivan. The real Frank Maple escaped the U.K. for Spain and Morocco, and has never been found since.
As to the capture of the real Buckley (Pinky in the film), Scotland Yard intelligence had been watching a couple of the real big-time crooks, especially the safecracker. When the heist group began to assemble, they met often in a café. That's where Scotland Yard knew that something was in the works, and who they characters of this group were - including Buckley (Pinky).
So, it turns out that the crooks themselves had been careless and set themselves up for eventual capture. All except Maple were arrested within a couple days. One escaped custody. In the film, it's Pinky, but in reality, it was another crook. Scotland Yard eventually caught him in hiding several days later.
In the movie, Richard Johnson plays Inspect Watford. His character is based on the real Jack Slipper, the chief detective inspector. Scotland Yard tabbed him to head the investigation. He was the best and was known for having pursued Ronnie Biggs after the Great Train Robbery of 1963.
Other big names in this film are Elke Sommer and Gloria Grahame. Among the rest of the huge cast, some prominent actors of the day have cameos. They are Hugh Griffith, John Rhys-Davies, Joss Ackland and Alfred Molina.