Britmovie - The home of UK Movies

Cash on Demand

Film still

Cash on Demand - 1963 | 66 mins | Crime, Drama | B&W

The Production Team

Director: Quentin Lawrence
Producer: Michael Carreras.
Script: David T. Chantler and Lewis Greifer. (based on the tv play by Jacques Gillies)
Cinematography: Arthur Grant.
Editing: Eric Boyd-Perkins.
Production Design: Bernard Robinson.
Art Direction: Don Mingaye.
Makeup Department: Roy Ashton.
Sound Department: Jock May and Alban Streeter.
Original Music: Wilfred Josephs.

The Cast

Peter Cushing - Fordyce
André Morell - Hepburn
Richard Vernon - Pearson
Norman Bird - Sanderson
Barry Lowe - Harvill
Kevin Stoney - Detective Inspector Mason

Plot Synopsis

Cash on Demand was one of Hammer's best non-horror subjects. Scripted by Lewis Greifer and David T. Chantler from the play by Jacques Gillies, the compelling little thriller is tautly directed by Quentin Lawrence, who makes the most of the restricted settings and the inevitably low budget. Cash on Demand was inexplicably held back for a couple of years before quietly doing duty as a second feature, principally no doubt because of its short (66 minute) running time.

It stars Peter Cushing in one of his rare non-horror roles as a stuffy suburban bank manager who gets taken in by a high class robber (Andre Morell) posing as an insurance investigator. Cushing is forced to empty the vaults for the man who holds his family hostage. Driven by excellent performances from Cushing, Morell and supporting player Richard Vernon, the film is told entirely without direct violence yet thick with the claustrophobic atmosphere of menace and tense confrontation.