The Siege of Pinchgut

THE SIEGE OF PINCHGUT (1959) was produced by the world famous Ealing Studios although the entire action takes place in Sydney, Australia. When a criminal on his way to prison manages to break loose, soon he and his gang will be the reason for a dramatic standoff on a tiny island off Sydney Harbour.

When an ambulance rushes through the streets of Sydney it is not because it is a matter of life or death but because it has been ‘hijacked’ by four gangsters. They are wrongly accused convict Matt Kirk (Aldo Ray), Bert (Victor Madden), Italian Luke (Carlo Justini) and Matt’s younger brother Johnny (Neil McCallum). Although Johnny is the least violent of the lot he remains loyal towards his brother. Next part of the plan involves sailing north through Sydney Harbor by means of a purchased boat. Unfortunately the boat’s propeller breaks down, with the vessel now drifting in the water before it can get through Sydney Hayes. Needs must when the devil drives and therefore the men decide to seek temprorary refuge at Fort Denison (also known as Pinchgut), an old fortress on a tiny island about one kilometer from the mainland.

What Matt and his accomplices don’t know is that caretaker Pat Fulton (Gerry Duggan) lives on the fortress with his wife (Barbara Mullen) and their daughter Ann (Heather Sears). The gangsters now hold the Fultons hostage and plan to flee the following morning with a chartered boat. Although the atmosphere is understandably tense, Matt assures the family that no harm will come to them if they ‘behave’ and play along – in particular when a boatload of tourists arrive to gawk at the old cannon gun proudly displayed at the fortress wall. Just as it looks as if the nightmare for the Fultons might soon come to an end, unassuming Sergeant Macey (a friend of the Fultons) unexpectedly turns up to bring some milk. Sensing that old Pat is not his usual chirpy self, Macey wishes the old man a nice day and proceeds to return to the harbour. At precisely that moment Ann manages to run out of the house and yell for help though thanks to her thoughtless action the family are now further in jeopardy. Sergeant Macey manages to flee and alert the authorities. Within a few hours the situation escalates dramatically when marksman Macey fires some shots and actually succeeds in wounding Johnny. Matt is beside himself and threatens to fire shells from the cannon gun towards the mainland unless the authorities agree to a re-trial for his conviction. No prices for guessing they don’t and soon a full-blown siege is in swing, with snipers descending onto Sydney Harbour Bridge from which they have a perfect view at Pinchgut. Additional precautions are taken and the locals from the harbour-side surburbs are evacuated, just in case Matt sticks to his promise to use cannon gun though there is one major obstacle: the shells for the gun are locked behind three heavy iron doors situated at the bottom of the fortress, with the gangsters unable to access the artillery. As the situation spins further out of control it becomes clear that the point of negotiations has long passed… Matt and his accomplices need to continue with their threat to fire upon the city, even though the threat is a bluff.

This is a tense thriller, with Aldo Ray in the role of a criminal who initially tries to avoid a bloodbath and only grows more dangerous upon realizing that he falls on deaf ears with the authorities. The fact that Heather Sears’ character ‘Ann Fulton’ changes her initially hostile attitude towards Johnny Kirk to a caring one once he is wounded by Constable Macey is perhaps a little far-fetched but hey, it’s a movie after all. What surprises the most is that apart from Gerry Dugan (caretaker ‘Pat Fulton’) and Kenneth Warren (‘Police Commissioner’) none of the other actors were Australian… We have English, American, Canadian and even Italian but where are the Aussie accents? Cinematographer Gordon Dines was no stranger when it came to action films, having already lent his talents to films such as ‘Pool of London’ (1951), ‘The Cruel Sea’ (1953) and ‘The Colditz Story’ (1955). The score was composed by none other than Kenneth V. Jones who already left his musical mark on films as diverse as ‘Fire Down Below’, ‘The Tomb of Ligeia’ and ‘Whoever slew Auntie Roo?’

THE SIEGE AT PINCHGUT (the film was nominated with a ‘Golden Bear’ at the 1959 Berlin International Film Festival) is presented in Blu-ray as a HD-remaster. Bonus material consists of interviews, trailers and a image gallery.