The Siege of Pinchgut – 1959 | 100 mins | Thriler | B&W

Plot Synopsis

The Siege of Pinchgut, was made on location in Australia, and at the ABPC Elstree Studios less than a mile from MGM at Borehamwood. It gave Harry Watt an opportunity to return to his favourite Commonwealth country, and instead of looking for a plot he was able to use a true contemporary story as the basis for a thriller set in modem Sydney. Aldo Ray played a prisoner on his way to serve a long sentence who escapes with his younger brother (Neil McCallum) and two henchmen in a stolen ambulance. They take refuge on the small island of Pinchgut in Sydney Harbour and make hostages of the inhabitants – the caretaker, his wife and daughter. Aldo Ray demands from the police an assurance that he will he granted a retrial, so that he can establish his innocence, and when it is not forthcoming he threatens to detonate an ammunition ship in the harbour by firing at it with an ancient naval gun situated on the island. The police evacuate the city, send in sharpshooters who eliminate the accomplices, then follow up with a wave of frogmen. Eventually, after a furious battle, the ringleader is shot down and his brother is led off to jail, having formed a romantic liaison with the girl hostage.

There is an ambivalence in the film which detracts from its straightforward qualities of entertainment. The audience is not quite sure who to root for, and Aldo Ray’s heavy playing undermines his protestations of innocence. But the authorities appear quite willing to double-cross him, and their attitude forces him into a violent stand which conciliation would have made unnecessary. In spite of these problems, Watt maintained the pace and excitement of the action and the work has his characteristic stamp of documentary-like realism. The restitution of law and order with which The Siege of Pinchgut ends echoes the philosophy of earlier Ealing productions such as Passport to Pimlico, so that at least the last film made with the famous logo fitted within the tradition.

Premiered in August 1959, twenty-one years after Michael Balcon first came to Ealing Green, it was to he the only film released under the Associated British arrangement. For the first time Balcon had no other production in the pipeline, and so an era of British film-making came to a close, fading away almost unnoticed, as many had felt that Ealing had really ended when the old Studios were handed over to the BBC. Now everyone left was to go their separate ways, some vanishing from the industry altogether.

Extract© George Perry: Forever Ealing.