ORIGINAL TITLECash on Demand
GENRECrime thriller · Neo-noir · Holiday
ABOUT THIS FILM
RUNTIME
81 min extended US version; shorter UK cut exists
FAMOUS QUOTE
“I detest brutality. I want bank robberies to be smoother and more sociable.”
Vibe
HammerBritishbank-heisttenseScrooge-likecontainednoirChristmaspsychologicalprecise
A cold, controlling bank manager is forced to cooperate with an urbane robber who says his wife and child are hostages; the Christmas-season crime strips away the manager's authority and exposes his dependence on employees he mistreats. Hammer's near-real-time a christmas carol without ghosts; scrooge-like banker learns empathy through fear, hostage pressure and institutional collapse.
MOVIE NIGHT RANK
#75 of 100
Watch for
- Watch the two-hander dynamics between Cushing and Morell: courtesy becomes a weapon as Hepburn controls Fordyce without needing constant physical violence.
- Notice how the bank’s limited rooms increase pressure. Doors, desks and staff areas turn routine workplace geography into a map of what Fordyce can and cannot control.
- The Christmas setting is structural rather than decorative: Fordyce’s cold treatment of his staff gives the robbery an A Christmas Carol-like moral pressure that BFI explicitly notes.
- Track Cushing’s movement from rigid managerial control toward panic as the robbery turns his own routines and authority against him.
Production notes
BFI identifies Lawrence and the Jacques Gillies source; Peter Cushing/André Morell reunite. Powerhouse documents shorter UK and extended US presentations, the latter about 81 minutes.
Trivia
- Quentin Lawrence directed
- Cushing and Morell star
- Hammer produced
- multiple cuts survive
- BFI identifies Scrooge-like Christmas structure
Legacy
reputation grew via noir programming and boutique restoration; Hammer itself frames Fordyce as Scrooge; compact high-value discovery.