This docu-drama about the Oct. 25, 1975 robbery of the Bank of America in London sets the record straight about what was then the largest bank heist in the history of the U.K. It also reverses some intimations in the first film about the robbery. "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" of 1979 tended to romanticize the robbery, and especially the lead character, Pinky. He was based on Stuart Buckley. Unfortunately, this film doesn't list many of the cast, including players of any of the robbers.
The original film also intimated that Scotland Yard got lucky in breaking the case and catching the criminals. The idea that Buckley would leave a paper with the combinations to a bank vault in his jacket pocket was pretty far-fetched. While it's true that criminals often slip up in some small way that leads to their eventual discovery, this would have been a major faux pas. So, as this film shows, Scotland Yard was much more on the ball than the first movie showed. And Buckley didn't do something so dumb as to leave incriminating evidence to be found.
"A Nightingale Sang" portrays the crooks as a motley crew that mostly hung out together. As this film shows, they were experienced criminals, each with some expertise, who were pulled together just for this job.
The beginning of the capture of the crooks was after Scotland Yard intelligence had been observing the notorious safecracker of the group for some time. Leonard Wilde began meeting with the others, including Buckley, at the same regular café, and the police were able to identify most of the gang - those with past records. So, as this film shows, Scotland Yard knew that a big job was in the works. It was only by one missed communication within the Yard after the first bungled attempt to drill into the vault at Mayfair, that the Yard didn't arrest the gang before the big job.
But after the big heist, the top Scotland Yard man, Chief Detective Inspector Jack Slipper checked with the Yard's intelligence section. When he learned of the group that had been under surveillance, he knew he had the robbers of the Bank of America. It was now just a matter of rounding them up and trying to catch them with the loot. And that's what happened. A couple of other humorous situations happened, such as one of the crooks slipping away while under court custody. That was Jimmie O'Loughlin, not Buckley as portrayed by his character, Pinky, in the first movie.
Chief Slipper got Buckley to admit to his part as the inside man or face a very long prison term. The police recovered Buckley's stash and Scotland Yard also had recovered the stashes of two others - Billy Gay and Peter Colson. Slipper showed Buckley how much more the others had received than he, Buckley, had received. The thought that he had been shafted softened Buckley to spill the whole story for clemency. And that led to the solution of the crime and the arrest of all the crooks except the man who had organized the whole affair - Frank Maple. Although the crime was solved, only a small portion of the loot was recovered -- £500,000 of the estimated £8 million. But, even that amount is just conjecture, as one of the former detectives says in this film. That's because most of the haul was from 70 safe deposit boxes.
Frank Maple was never caught. Buckley was protected while serving his prison term and then was given a new identity and location for turning Queens's evidence. The other robbers served sentences ranging from 10 to 23 years. This docu-drama is an interesting look at the then biggest bank robbery in England's history. And, it's a testimony to a very competent Scotland Yard.
The original film also intimated that Scotland Yard got lucky in breaking the case and catching the criminals. The idea that Buckley would leave a paper with the combinations to a bank vault in his jacket pocket was pretty far-fetched. While it's true that criminals often slip up in some small way that leads to their eventual discovery, this would have been a major faux pas. So, as this film shows, Scotland Yard was much more on the ball than the first movie showed. And Buckley didn't do something so dumb as to leave incriminating evidence to be found.
"A Nightingale Sang" portrays the crooks as a motley crew that mostly hung out together. As this film shows, they were experienced criminals, each with some expertise, who were pulled together just for this job.
The beginning of the capture of the crooks was after Scotland Yard intelligence had been observing the notorious safecracker of the group for some time. Leonard Wilde began meeting with the others, including Buckley, at the same regular café, and the police were able to identify most of the gang - those with past records. So, as this film shows, Scotland Yard knew that a big job was in the works. It was only by one missed communication within the Yard after the first bungled attempt to drill into the vault at Mayfair, that the Yard didn't arrest the gang before the big job.
But after the big heist, the top Scotland Yard man, Chief Detective Inspector Jack Slipper checked with the Yard's intelligence section. When he learned of the group that had been under surveillance, he knew he had the robbers of the Bank of America. It was now just a matter of rounding them up and trying to catch them with the loot. And that's what happened. A couple of other humorous situations happened, such as one of the crooks slipping away while under court custody. That was Jimmie O'Loughlin, not Buckley as portrayed by his character, Pinky, in the first movie.
Chief Slipper got Buckley to admit to his part as the inside man or face a very long prison term. The police recovered Buckley's stash and Scotland Yard also had recovered the stashes of two others - Billy Gay and Peter Colson. Slipper showed Buckley how much more the others had received than he, Buckley, had received. The thought that he had been shafted softened Buckley to spill the whole story for clemency. And that led to the solution of the crime and the arrest of all the crooks except the man who had organized the whole affair - Frank Maple. Although the crime was solved, only a small portion of the loot was recovered -- £500,000 of the estimated £8 million. But, even that amount is just conjecture, as one of the former detectives says in this film. That's because most of the haul was from 70 safe deposit boxes.
Frank Maple was never caught. Buckley was protected while serving his prison term and then was given a new identity and location for turning Queens's evidence. The other robbers served sentences ranging from 10 to 23 years. This docu-drama is an interesting look at the then biggest bank robbery in England's history. And, it's a testimony to a very competent Scotland Yard.
