Crooks In Cloisters
Crooks In Cloisters DVD (Studiocanal)
I remember the first time I stumbled across ‘Crooks In Cloisters’. It was tucked away in one of those mid-afternoon slots on Channel 4, and quite by accident (one of those fantastic, serendipitous accidents), I changed channels just as it was beginning, caught a glimpse of the incredible cast (Ronald Fraser, Melvyn Hayes, Barbara Windsor and Bernard Cribbins and Wilfrid Brambell ) as the opening credits started rolling and thought I’d give it go. It was, and still is, one of the best lazy afternoon decisions I’ve ever made, as that afternoon, with the rain pounding down and with the rich aroma of the coffee brewing in the in kitchen, I fell in love with ‘Crooks In Cloisters’ and it became, and remains, one of my top twenty (c’mon, we’ve all got a list) films. Don’t ask me why it’s on my list, I couldn’t give you a definitive answer. It isn’t a complicated thriller, it doesn’t feature one incredible stunt filled set piece after another, there are no space ships, monsters, car chases, and there’s no death or destruction, it’s just a gentle, comedic romp in which a bunch of cheeky ne’er do well criminal types discover that life is about the little moments, the small things that happen on a daily basis, and no matter how much you try to resist it, eventually you succumb to what you need, rather than what you want. Fleeing London after pulling one job too many and with John Q. Law hot on their heels, Little Walter and his gang, in fear of being pinched, buy a monastery on small island off the Cornish Coast in order to hide out, count their riches, “tickle” up their loot and print off a fortune in counterfeit cash. But as they’re living in a monastery, they have to pretend to be monks to prevent the outside world becoming suspicious, and the more they pretend, the more they begin to fall in love with a life they never dreamed possible. As I’ve already said, ‘Crooks In Cloisters’ is a gentle comedy that drifts through it’s story, travelling between all the expected, and welcome, points with a confident ease that all to often seems to be lacking in modern film. It isn’t earth shattering, nor it is it world changing and it won’t make you radically rethink your life style, political ideology or view of the Universe, but it will make you forget all about the outside world for one hundred minutes as it sucks you in and fills you with a warmth and charm of it’s own, and that, given the state of the world at the moment, is worth its weight in gold. I don’t know why I love it, but I do, and if you give it a chance, maybe you will too… Tim Mass Movement
