Daylight Robbery (1964) User Reviews

"If I'm not home before Monday I don't what Dad's going to say!"

[richardchatten · 8/10 · 9 December 2023]

This time around the Childrens Film Foundation come closer to home by setting their latest adventure in London's West End were a gang of crooks are breaking into a bank from the basement of a branch of British Home Stores.

These particular baddies are rather more serious than usual, employing high-tech devices like power drills and walkie-talkies; although (SLIGHT SPOILER COMING:) that doesn't spare their boss the humiliation of getting doused with a hose-pipe.

Many of the team that made it were Ealing veterans like director Michael Truman, composer Tristan Carey (who combines a jazz piano & clarinet score with occasional avant garde electronic elements) and cameraman Geoffrey Faithful (who makes good use of the visual possibilities of a half-built building of the kind that London was then currently awash with).

Among the usual familiar faces the biggest surprise is a fleeting glimpse of the tragic Janet Munro.

Serviceable

[Leofwine_draca · 7/10 · 8 January 2024]

A serviceable Children's Film Foundation adventure that feels like a children's version of '80s classic DIE HARD. This one has a trio of kids locked in a department store at the weekend with a gang of bank robbers, but the action soon shifts to a half-built tower block where a battle of wits between adults and kids develops. And it's a fun little movie in which the bad guys are more threatening and less silly than usual. I was expecting much of the action to be studio set, but there are some alarming high rise stunts involving the kids and plenty of heroics, alongside cameoing adults Norman Rossington, James Villiers and Gordon Jackson.

One of the best CFF films.

[plan99 · 9/10 · 12 December 2023]

Only the second review which probably indicates that it's not been on TV for some time until shown recently on TPTV.

A very different location for a CFF film as they are usually country affairs with cottages with roses around the front door and often with a dog involved.

The city setting was a nice change and I thought that the CFF tradition of at least one baddie getting wet was going to be missing but..........it was not missing, hurrah!

Not to be missed by CFF film fans and a good watch even for non CFF fans as all of the child actors were very good, sometimes one of a cast may not be as good as the others but not this time.

Tension maintained

[malcolmgsw · 7/10 · 4 March 2024]

A very reasonable Children's Film Foundation film. They manage to keep up the suspense,despite the fact that this is a OFF film and therefore the children have to emerge victorious at the end.

The children get accidentally locked in British Home Stores,which is next to a Trustee Bank,which the villains are hoping to Rob overnight. There's two names that no longer appear in the High Street.

There are lots of high jinks on an adjacent high rise building site. Though it is stretching belief a bit when one of the children starts operating a crane on the site.

One big plus is the number of cameos by very familiar actors of the period.