THE FLYING SCOT [1957] [Vintage Classics] [1957 / 2022] [Blu-ray] [UK Release] Fantastic Robbery on the Mile-A-Minute Express, and Every Second of a Lifetime of Suspense!
A brand new 4K restoration of the compact, claustrophobic British B-movie gem directed by Compton Bennett, as three thieves from various walks of life combine forces for a daring attempt to make themselves rich. Ronnie [Lee Patterson] is the man with the audacious plan and Kay Callard his glamorous accomplice in this taut train heist thriller also starring Alan Gifford and Margaret Withers.
Dissatisfied with the small profits gained by his petty crimes, Ronnie attempts to pull off the most sensational train robbery of all time. After learning that the Bank of Scotland periodically sends half a million pounds in notes from Glasgow to London for destruction aboard the famous passenger steam train “The Flying Scot” he assembles a trusted transatlantic team and a seemingly fool proof scheme is put into action. Based on an original story by Jan Read and Ralph Smart.
Please Note: This film reflects historical attitudes which audiences may find outdated or offensive.
FILM FACT: In real life, the steam passenger train used in the film is actually called the Flying Scotsman and is an express passenger steam train service that operates between Edinburgh and London, the capitals respectively of Scotland and England, via the East Coast Main Line. The service began in 1862 as the Special Scotch Express until it was officially adopted in 1924. It is currently operated by the London North Eastern Railway.
The East Coast Main Line over which the Flying Scotsman service runs was built in the 19th century by many small railway companies, but mergers and acquisitions led to only three companies controlling the route; the North British Railway (NBR), the North Eastern Railway (NER) and the Great Northern Railway (GNR). In 1860 the three companies established the East Coast Joint Stock for through services using common vehicles, and it is from this agreement that the Flying Scotsman came about.
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote about ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ in saying, “The criminal trio hold one's sympathies almost throughout this ingenious and entertainingly developed thriller. The shadow of ‘Rififi’ [1955] is in the background, perhaps, but the combination of suspense and humour raises this low-budget comedy thriller above the average standard of British second feature production.”
Kine Weekly wrote, “Taut crime melodrama, unfolded on the famous Flying Scot ... There are not many characters and movement but resourceful acting and astute direction give it a terrific kick ... The picture punctuates the interior scenes with striking “shots” of the train careering through the night and these and appropriate noises off create flawless atmosphere. ... Gripping and ingenious story, first rate performances and treatment, neat embellishments.”
TV Guide wrote, “The suspense is well built in this finely constructed feature.”
British Sound Films wrote, The Studio Years 1928 – 1959 David Quinlan rated the film as “good” writing: “Famous little second feature concentrates tightly on the matter in hand, builds suspense nicely.”
The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 5 stars, and writing: “The most noteworthy thing about this crime programme filler is that it was scripted by Norman Hudis, who wrote six Carry On films. As with most British B-movies of the period, a clutch of transatlantic stars were imported to raise the profile, but they couldn't do much to distract from the mediocrity of this train robbery thriller.”
It was one of 15 films selected by Steve Chibnall and Brian McFarlane in The British “B” Film as among the most meritorious of the “B” films made in Britain between World War II and 1970. They note that it was shot in just three weeks on a budget of £18,000 and describe it as “a film not just of suspense, but of real fascination.”
Cast: Lee Patterson, Kay Callard, Alan Gifford, Margaret Withers, Mark Baker, Jeremy Bodkin, Gerald Case, Margaret Gordon, John Lee, Kerry Jordan, John Dearth, Geoffrey Bodkin (uncredited), Fred Davis (uncredited), Victor Harrington (uncredited) and Patsy Smart (uncredited)
Director: Compton Bennett
Producers: Compton Bennett and Peter Rogers
Screenplay: Norman Hudis (screenplay), Jan Read (story) and Ralph Smart (story)
Composer: Stanley Black
Make-up and Hair Department: Eleanor Jones (Make-up Artist) and Eileen Warwick (Hairdresser)
Cinematography: Peter Hennessy (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Black and White)
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Audio: English: 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 69 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors / Insignia Films / StudioCanal
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ [1957] Directed by Compton Bennett and written by Norman Hudis, Ronnie, earning very little from his own exploits, gathers together a band of villains to carry out a robbery on The Flying Scot passenger steam train. The train is carrying withdrawn bank notes from Scotland to London to eventually be destroyed. Starring: Lee Patterson, Kay Callard, Alan Gifford, Margaret Withers, Mark Baker, Jeremy Bodkin, Gerald Case, Margaret Gordon, John Lee, Kerry Jordan and John Dearth.
‘THE FLYING SCOT’ is an engagingly low budget little heist movie set on board a passenger steam train The Flying Scot. The film has a clever little set-up which sees the plan played out as the thieves would wish before it moves onto the real world, where unsurprisingly things are far more unexpected and complex.
‘THE FLYING SCOT’ actually tells the tale of the attempted execution of a robbery on a never-officially-named-train from Scotland to London. The locomotive is carrying a consignment of withdrawn banknotes that are being taken back to the capital city to be destroyed.
On the train are Ronnie [Lee Patterson] and Jackie [Kay Callard] posing as a married couple in order to be able to section off a carriage for themselves, ensuring privacy. They are working with Phil [Alan Gifford], an older man who will help them drill into the next carriage to access the envelopes of money. Phil’s efficiency is being challenged by suffering from a severe ulcer that a fellow passenger postulates that it may have burst.
A fourth member of the crew is waiting at a predetermined part of the route, under a bridge, ready to collect the money, which will be thrown out of the window of the train for him to gather, allowing the three criminals on the train to disembark in London without carrying anything incriminating.
After seeing the passengers join the train, followed by a short flashback to our team planning the job from sunnier climes, we see events unfold, with the various passengers on the train inadvertently putting the job at risk. For example, there is the nosy young boy Charlie [Jeremy Bodkin] who is continually trying to get into the marital carriage, and reporting back to his parents on what he thinks may be going on and to my mind was a very annoying character in the film.
There is Kerry Jordan’s the drunk male character, who starts the journey drunk and not in control of his actions, and, after sobering up, promises his partner that he will stop (the implication being that he is heading to London for treatment on his alcoholism) but spends the rest of the running time fighting his urges, when it is clear that if he drinks he will likely roam the train in an uncontrolled manner. There is the train’s security guard, who will have to interact with the carriage at points without his suspicions being aroused, and there is Phil’s whose ulcer is slowing him down. On top of this, Ronnie’s planning leaves something to be desired at times.
As we get near to the end of the film, unfortunately gang Ronnie, Jackie and Phil are far too slow due to unforeseen circumstances to get the money ready so they cannot throw it out of the window at the prearranged location. At the same time, a guard comes to check the cabin with Ronnie, Jackie and Phil but they do not let him in, who earlier on the train guard brings a bottle of champagne as it is his wedding anniversary today to celebrate the so called marriage between Ronnie and Jackie, but unfortunately the guard sees something very suspicious, so the guard puts an urgent message on a device that the Flying Scotsman train will arrive at the London destination station while the train powers on. Eventually the train arrives in London and an unforeseen event happens for Ronnie, Jackie and Phil happens that thwarts the gangs supposedly well thought out robbery plan that goes horribly wrong and of course you will have to view the film to find out what happens to Ronnie, Jackie and Phil.
‘THE FLYING SCOT’ is very much from this era. It was made for £18,000 and shot in a mere three weeks. The four leads are all given American accents (despite only one of them hailing from the United States) in order to give British audiences a feeling of some glamour. Paddington station stands in for both Scotland and London’s King’s Cross.
The restoration work for ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ brings a great visual quality to the film; it’s crisp with a lovely texture to it. It does a great job of using the space, capturing the very tight environment but never feeling trapped until things start to go off the rails. The only issue is when it tries to then add a more comedic angle into the mix, it’s typical for its time but it doesn’t work well consistently. It’s actually a refreshing change of pace to see a classic film with this balance of tone, with the exception of a few comedy mishaps; it’s focused on building that tension and suspense rather than becoming over dramatic or solving things too easily.
‘THE FLYING SCOT’ is short and sweet, a highly entertaining and well written heist film which makes you pine for the days when they weren’t stuffed full of action sequences and drone shots. It’s paced perfectly; it’s not predictable and has a number of great characters. It constantly ups the ante but never goes over the top, as many of its time did, and the cast do a great job of feeding into the atmosphere of danger as time runs out. It’s a shame we don’t have more films like this today, a brief runtime, an easy watch and a genuinely good time.
I was very surprised and delighted to find out that this is a fast-paced and snappy little thriller that wrings maximum tension out of the premise. “B” movie director Compton Bennett's direction is assured and scriptwriter Norman Hudis delivers a story that's full of engaging characters and unpredictable sub-plots. Lastly, for those enthusiasts who spent their formative years enjoying the days of steam; it appears that the same train, making the same journey on the same track is hauled by at least three different locomotives. All in all, I thought this a very neat thriller, very well-constructed and satisfyingly tense and it gets a good recommendation from me.
As a serious foot note to the film ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ [1957] is that this StudioCanal release must always be applauded, as they keep older, less enduring films alive, restored visuals and audio, and provide just enough in the way of trivia and context to pique the interest of film fans to find out more about the genre. The only issue here is one of knowing for whom this film presented for. As such, ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ is definitely for the film student or even better and especially for the steam train enthusiast only. One thing I know for a fact is that I bet Michael Portillo would whole heartedly love this film as he is such a massive steam train enthusiast and other types of locomotive train transport, especially as it relates to the wonderful passenger steam train The Flying Scot.
* * * * *
Blu-ray Image Quality – Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors, Insignia Films and StudioCanal presents us the film ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ with a stunning black-and-white 1080p new 4K restoration and is really wonderful and is shown in the 1.37:1 aspect ratio. The image is outstandingly crisp, with even wonderful fine detail that is very clearly defined, and the contrast range has been handsomely upgraded, delivering very nice bright whites, solid blacks with very decent shadow detail, and a very attractive greyscale and the blacks are totally solid and the rest of the film looks totally excellent. The high quality of the 35mm material shot specifically for the film does tend to make the lower quality stock footage shots really stand out, but this is never a major issue. The picture is also 100% spotless and sits rock solidly in frame. So well done Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors, Insignia Films and StudioCanal in upgrading this 1957 film.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors, Insignia Films and StudioCanal brings us the film ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ with very nice 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio soundtrack experience and is on par with other films of this vintage era and better than some, and although there is little in the way of bass response, dialogue is always very clear, sharp, precise, and always easy to follow and there is no distracting background hiss or other evidence to spoil your enjoyment. The music does not produce any memorable contrasts either, but is otherwise a very fine audio experience, especially by the brilliant composed film score by British composer Stanley Black.
* * * * *
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Film presented in a Brand New 4K Master
Special Feature: Steve Chibnall on ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ and the History of the British “B” movie [2022] [1080p] [1.78:1] [16:41] With this featurette, we get to meet Steve Chibnall, who is the Professor of British Cinema at Leicester De Montfort University] and provides a useful overview on how and why “B” movies first came into being and how they developed these types of films in the United Kingdom and of course is very keen to talk in-depth about the 1957 film ‘THE FLYING SCOT.’ Steve Chibnall also informs us that British “B” movies happened when sound was introduced to films in the 1940’s onwards and also informs us that the “B” film genre was presented as a second feature film and became an essential part of the British cinema programme from the 1930’s and right through to the 1940’s and especially during the Second World War film programmes and were shorter in length of time and then into to 1940’s it was then that we tend to get to know what a “B” feature film is all about. Steve Chibnall then says that there is also a theory about “B” films put forward by American filmmaker Martin Scorsese that these “B” films were a safe area of experimentation to do innovative genre films, especially budgets were much smaller and productions values were much lower, and there was very little time for rehearsals, retakes, which were a bit of a luxury with these “B” films and they tended to be very restrictive genre films and more so in Great Britain than in America by the 1950’s through to the 1960’s and they were getting to be almost exclusively crime and detective thrillers. But one bonus is they had International actors and culturally more important with “A” film status and also International locations, but what they didn’t have much information about British society and culture at that period in time. But what Steve Chibnall says, is that ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ has a very sharp script, very unexpected story and it has a very sharp direction, convincing acting and is very solidly made and especially the 1957 film was filmed in three weeks for only £18,000 sterling, which is kind of like British television money at the time, but it also has some quite endearing characters in the film he thinks, and also feels the film has a lot going for it and it does not look cheaply made, but it also has quite a few library shots and exteriors of steam railway trains, but uses its budget very effectively. Steve Chibnall also says, he thinks the actors in ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ film were largely non British and two of them were Canadian who were Lee Patterson and Kay Callard and the other leading actor was American and feels this was not unusual and that ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ film had a high proportion of non-British actors, but they tended to use people who might have some familiarity or a draw for transatlantic audiences, so that it helped to sell the film in America or even Canada. Now Steve Chibnall wants to talk about the actor Lee Patterson [1929 – 2007] who was the lead villain in ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ film and who had quite a long career in British cinema “B” films and started his career in 1953 and he tended to play the odd supporting roles in “A” films like ‘Malta Story’ [1953], ‘Meet Mr. Lucifer’ [1953], ‘Reach for the Sky’ [1956], ‘The Story of Esther Costello’ [1957], ‘The Spaniard's Curse’ [1958], ‘Jack the Ripper’ [1959], ‘The 3 Worlds of Gulliver’ [1960], ‘Airplane II: The Sequel’ [1982] and ‘Death Wish 3’ [1985] to give you a flavours of films Lee Patterson appeared in, but again largely defined his acting career to British “B” films and mainly lived in Great Britain, but later went to America and had a long 50 year acting career altogether in America TV series, but Steve Chibnall feels Lee Patterson projected a quality of acting that was very difficult foe British actors to replicate with a type of get up and go type of acting and Atlantic virility and that is why he was employed to appear in films, and at that time in the 1950’s period he was a big heart throb for women audiences. Now Steve Chibnall wants to talk about the Canadian film actress Kay Callard [1923 – 2008] who spent most of her career in Britain, who he felt had a much shorter acting career of about 10 years and mainly exclusively in “B” feature films and also appeared a lot on television and was married to the actor Jack McNaughton and Steve Chibnall also says about Kay Callard, that the actress was very popular in the mid and late 1950s; in 1958 she appeared in eleven film and TV productions within that single year, however, Kay Callard’s career declined sharply from 1962 onwards. Now Steve Chibnall wants to talk about the American-born actor Alan Gifford [1911 – 1989] from Taunton, Massachusetts, USA and feels the actor had a standout performance in ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ film and played the character called Phil who he felt played a very experienced and capable criminal, but of course with trying to complete the crime, could not fully function, because he was plagued by a very serious perforated ulcer which of course handicapped his character in trying to fulfil the ultimate crime heist and does that very serious illness suffering very effectively, but Steve Chibnall also points out Alan Gifford extensive film career and mentions some of the films he has appeared in like ‘The Kangaroo Kid’ [1950], ‘The Magic Box’ [1951], ‘Lilacs in the Spring’ [1954], ‘A Yank in Ermine’ [1955], ‘A King in New York’ [1957], ‘Paris Holiday’ [1958], ‘Brainwashed’ [1960], ‘The Road to Hong Kong’ [1962], ‘Carry On Cowboy’ [1965] and of course Steve Chibnal mentions that Alan Gifford was especially well known for his performance in the film for his role in ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ [1968] and also appeared on British television in 1960 where he featured regularly alongside Noele Gordon in the soap opera “Crossroads” as Dr Lloyd Monroe and he also appeared on British television in in “Danger Man” in the episode entitled “An Affair of State” as Mr. Hartley. Steve Chibnall now feels that ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ film was mainly down to the script and also points out that it was the outstanding element to the film and Steve Chibnall feels this is very true, because again feels it was a great script and a much better than an average “B” film script and also feels it was all down to the screenplay written by Norman Hudis who went onto a great career in the film industry and especially being involved in some of the famous British comedy Carry On film franchise and also feels the story for ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ film is totally outstanding by the combined effort from Jan Read (story) and Ralph Smart (story) and feels also they were very important filmmakers in their own right, but overall, Steve Chibnall feels ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ film has an amazing distinguished crew that people did not realise at the time that when THE FLYING SCOT’ film was released in 1957. Now Steve Chibnall wants to talk about Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors which was a company a British film production company, run by the American Nat Cohen and Stuart Levy, which operated from 1945 until roughly 1971 which produced low-budget and second feature films, often produced at Merton Park Studios, formed much of its output and it was the UK distributor of many films produced by American International Pictures who distributed “A” films in the United States and was also remembered for producing the first 12 Carry On films that were all produced at Pinewood Studios. Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors again in the UK produced mainly “B” film series such as ‘The Scales of Justice’ and ‘Scotland Yard’ and the Edgar Wallace Mysteries. It also produced the Michael Powell film ‘Peeping Tom’ (1960) and such films as John Schlesinger's ‘A Kind of Loving’ [1962], ‘Billy Liar’ [1963] or Ken Loach's ‘Poor Cow’ [1967]. The Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors’s distribution arrangement with American International Pictures led to the last two films in Roger Corman's series of films based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe, ‘The Masque of the Red Death’ and ‘The Tomb of Ligeia’ both 1964, being joint productions made in the UK. Now Steve Chibnall feels ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ film is very much a time capsule and particularly for railway enthusiasts of films featuring steam passenger trains, but critics felt there were far too many library stock footage of steam passenger trains, and also complained that we see the steam passenger train pulling into the Paddington Station, whereas it should have been King’s Cross Station, but Steve Chibnall also felt the film is a little genre “B” film and that “B” films were very popular in the 1930’s, especially films by Alfred Hitchcock films for example, but also feels why they were very popular, because these films are nostalgic for films featuring steam locomotive trains and also feels they are a powerful emblem of social change, and also feels that ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ film is on par with the 1955 Crime/Noir film ‘Rififi’ that was directed Jules Dassin and starred Jean Servais, Carl Möhner, Robert Manuel and Janine Darcey. But Steve Chibnall really felt the 1957 ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ film was famous for the 13 minutes non-dialogue opening of the distinctive ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ film and also points out that the press loved this film and one newspaper hailed ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ film as a “Gem of a thriller, and packed more suspense than your average horror film” and of course Steve Chibnall points out that ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ film was a great big hit with film goers, and also feels all in all, was a film of genuine fascination and especially thinks it is well for anyone willing to watch this just over 99 minutes must watch suspense drama and I totally agree with Steve Chibnall 100% honest and genuine comments about ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ film and at that point this Steve Chibnall featurette comes to an end and is well worth viewing for his very intelligent and interesting in-depth comments about the 1957 ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ film. As an added bonus with this featurette, we get to view a good few sample of clips from ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ film.
Special Feature: Barry Forshaw on ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ [2022] [1080p] [1,37:1 / 1.78:1] [13:19] With this featurette, we get to meet Writer and Journalist Barry Forshaw, who is the author of British Crime Film: Subverting the Social Order who unknowingly replicates some of the points covered by Steve Chibnall, but instead expands in-depth on other aspects of the film ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ and also details the work and careers of director Barry Forshaw Compton Bennett, screenwriter Norman Hudis, and also the actors Lee Patterson and Alan Gifford. also comments about the title of the film ‘THE FLYING SCOT,’ but points out that the actual steam passenger train in the film is not the famed 1934 The Flying Scotsman steam locomotive. Barry Forshaw also comments that the film ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ is something of a gem, echoing the words of one of the contemporary reviews read out by Steve Chibnall in the special feature. Barry Forshaw also feels the film ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ is a largely a very neglected film these days and also feels it is somewhat of a real gem of a film. Barry Forshaw also says that despite two of the actors are Canadian and that other main character actor in American, that main thing is that the film is mainly British and it is also set in Britain and of course also says the film is set on-board a passenger steam train and that you might think it is the famous Flying Scotsman passenger steam train, but it is not and that actual passenger steam train in the film is not identifies, and despite this, steam train enthusiast are still very fond of this 1957 film because it has stock footage of a steam train and they also feel the film is at its best. Now Barry Forshaw says that the film ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ has a very minimalist approach and basically the plot of the film is a heist movie and is very tightly made and shows in the film two heist robberies and the first one goes off with no problem, but the second heist robbery inevitably starts to go wrong. Barry Forshaw also says the film was directed by Compton Bennett and feels he is a very interesting character, as originally Compton Bennett was a band leader, a commercial artist, he also made a few low budget films, and in the middle of the middle of the Second World War Compton Bennett made several instructional films for the British Military, but his first feature film that Barry Forshaw felt was very influential and that film was ‘The Seventh Veil’ [1945] and starred James mason and An Todd, and felt it was a very striking film and the film drew a great deal of attention to M-G-M and Compton Bennett signature film was ‘King Solomon’s Mine’ [1950] and starred Deborah Kerr and Stewart Granger, and another popular film that Compton Bennett was involved with was ‘The Tommy Steele Story’ [1957] and starred Tommy Steele, Chas McDevitt Skiffle Group, Nancy Whiskey; Humphrey Lyttleton & his Band; Tommy Eytle's Calypso Band, Chris O'Brien's Caribbeans, Hilda Fenemore and Charles Lamb. Now Barry Forshaw wants to talk about the three main actors in the film and talks about the principle actor Lee Patterson and although he was Canadian he usually played American characters an worked in British films between the 1950’s through to the 1960’s and also appeared on British television series and feels Lee Patterson was maybe not the best actor, but always played good strong characters, he also appeared in the Lewis Gilbert film ‘The Good Die Young’ [1954] and ‘Reach For The Sky’ [1956]. Now Barry Forshaw wants to talk about the leading Canadian actress Kay Callard in the film THE FLYING SCOT’ who also appeared in TV shows like “The Four Just Men” and Kay Callard also appeared in the film ‘Cat Girl’ [1957]. Now Barry Forshaw wants to talk about the American character actor in ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ and he was Alan Gifford and of course mentions that Alan Gifford appeared in the famous 1968 film ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ and also that Alan Gifford appeared in a lot of TV series. Barry Forshaw says a lot of people are fascinated to watch films with passenger steam trains and of course mentions films that Alfred Hitchcock directed and he mentions ‘The Lady Vanishes’ [1938], ‘The 39 Steps’ [1935], ‘Number Seventeen’ [1932], ‘Strangers on a Train’ [1951], ‘Shadows of a Doubt’ [1943] and of course ‘North By Northwest’ [1959]. Barry Forshaw now says, ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ is very much a train film, it makes some dramatic licence shall we say, it is very important that the central characters are able to cut through the side wall of the carriage compartment to find the loot they are after and of course it is the central plot engine (no plot intended) that moves this film forward. Now Barry Forshaw says, I think that people who have not even heard of the film ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ or who will be confuse it with the real Flying Scotsman passenger steam train, will be in for a very nice surprise in viewing the 1957 film ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ and at that point this Barry Forshaw featurette comes to an end. Once again, as an added bonus, we get to view quite a few clips from the 1957 film ‘THE FLYING SCOT.’
Special Feature: Alternate Opening Sequence [1957] [1080p] [1.37:1] [1:18] With this featurette, we get to view the alternative opening credits of the film ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ with the back-to-basics title ‘The Mail Bag Robbery’ which is the USA film released title.
Special Feature: Stills Gallery [19657] 1080p] [1.37:1] [0:45] With this featurette, we get to view some wonderful 1080p black-and-white collection of vintage promotional images for the 1957 film ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ that has been provided by BFI National Archive.
Finally, ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ [1957] is so very well written, and definitely a very niftily wonderful made British “B” Movie with a superb opening sequence and some very standout scenes throughout the film. I would say the film ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ produces the thrills it is supposed to deliver. But I would also recommend it to folks with a soft spot for older films that feature especially steam passenger trains, but as far as its British period heist film is concerned, ‘THE FLYING SCOT’ is sourced from a very good exclusive new 4K master. Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors, Insignia Films and StudioCanal’s restoration image transfer is totally superb, and while the disc is light on special features, the two interviews are both absolutely worth viewing. Very Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
