A Prize of Arms

Infobox Film
name = A Prize of Arms
image_size = 150px
caption =
director = Cliff Owen
writer = Kevin Kavanagh
Nicolas Roeg
narrator =
starring = Stanley Baker
Helmut Schmid
Tom Bell
distributor = Bryanston Films
released = 12 October 1962
runtime = flagicon|UK 105 minutes
country = UK
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0056377

A Prize of Arms is a 1962 British thriller film directed by Cliff Owen and starring Stanley Baker, Helmut Schmid, Patrick Magee and Tom Bell with early appearances by several actors including Fulton Mackay and Rodney Bewes. [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056377/] Set in 1956 the film follows a criminal gang as they try and rob an army pay convoy during the Suez Crisis. [http://www.britmovie.co.uk/genres/thriller/filmography01/033.html]

Plot

Three criminals have hatched a plan to rob an army barracks. The troops are about to be dispatched to take part in a war in the Middle East and there is believed to be a large amount of pay on the premises, to be shipped out with them,

The gang enter an army barracks, disguised as soldiers and proceed to the pay corps headquarters where, under the guise of maintenance work, they make sure that the alarms are disabled - which will give them time to make their escape once the robbery takes place.

For the rest of the day they try to integrate themselves into the workings of the base, including being vacinated for Overseas service, to avoid attracting attention. As night falls, they change into military police uniforms and head for the pay headquarters again, announcing on arrival that they have had reports of a fire. They begin searching the rooms.

Starting a small blaze, they then order the premises to be evacuated. With the building empty, they break into the safe and steal over £100,000. Starting several fires to cover their activities, they then withdraw, carrying a fake casualty in a stretcher. As troops rush in from across the base to put out the fire, the men drive off to a secluded spot on the base where they had left an army truck.

When an officer rings up the medics to check on the progress of the casualty, he is told nobody has arrived. Suspicious, he raises the alarm, and the whole camp is put on standby while the police are sent for. They are initially fooled into thinking the criminals have already left the camp. Meanwhile the crooks successfully manage to escape the camp by tailing onto the end of a convoy.

As the authorities slowly awake to what is happened, military police are dispatched after the convoy. After the truck leaves the convoy, it is tracked down by the army, with the criminals seemingly cornered in a disused country barn. They dry to make a break for it, using a flamethrower to clear their path. Initially successful, they manage to outrun the troops, before their truck explodes, the petrol triggered by the flames.

Reception

Despitea positive reception by critics, the film failed at the box office. [http://www.britmovie.co.uk/genres/thriller/filmography01/033.html]

The film was released on Region One DVD in May 2007. [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Prize-Arms-Stanley-Baker/dp/B0009FHL2Q]

Cast

* Stanley Baker - Turpin
* Helmut Schmid - Swavek
* Tom Bell - Fenner
* John Phillips Colonel Fowler
* Patrick Magee - RSM
* John Westbrook - Captain Stafford
* Fulton Mackay - Corporal Henderson
* Garfield Morgan - Military Policeman
* Geoffrey Palmer - Military Policeman
* Rodney Bewes - Private Maynard

References