A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square

1980
1h 42m

IMDb RATING

5.7/10

503

YOUR RATING

David Niven, Richard Johnson, Richard Jordan, Elke Sommer, and Oliver Tobias in A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (1980)

Caper Comedy Crime

Released from a British prison, an American is hired as an electrician for a London bank - but his criminal acquaintances show up, and force the reluctant Yank to join them as the inside man... Read allReleased from a British prison, an American is hired as an electrician for a London bank - but his criminal acquaintances show up, and force the reluctant Yank to join them as the inside man in a well-planned bank heist.Released from a British prison, an American is hired as an electrician for a London bank - but his criminal acquaintances show up, and force the reluctant Yank to join them as the inside man in a well-planned bank heist.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.7/10

503

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
Jean Seberg was offered the female lead in this film. She was excited by the prospect of staring alongside David Niven, since they had enjoyed working with each other on Bonjour Tristesse (1958). She committed suicide before filming began.

Goofs
In an early panning shot, we see an Arab passenger get out of a 1976 Cadillac Seville sedan outside the A&P Bank. These cars were never available as RHD, so a front-seat passenger, dressed as chauffeur, gets out and opens the O/S door. This is a farcical set-up, as he should have exited the front N/S (LH) door, and opened the rear N/S door for his passenger, avoiding the risk of following traffic-absurd!..

Crazy credits
Closing credits epilogue: TO DATE ONLY HALF A MILLION POUNDS HAS BEEN RECOVERED BY SCOTLAND YARD.

Connections
Referenced in Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004)

Soundtracks
A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square
(uncredited)
Music by Manning Sherwin
Lyrics by Eric Maschwitz

User reviews21

Review

Featured review

8/10

Love this film

A gem of a British caper-comedy. Poor American schlub Pinky Green (Richard Jordan, playing another bad guy but this time an adorable one) gets out of a British jail and tries to go straight, but his maintenance man job in a bank is too attractive for his never-reformed criminal friends, headed up by a really nasty Ivan (David Niven in one of his last roles). Pinky resists, but the lure of all that money is just too much for him. Things unravel and reravel and it's all joyous to watch. Jordan must have played 20 bad guys in his career, but he never played the same one twice - this one is just too lovable to hate. Niven never played a slicker bad guy, oil all over. Two fine actors we've lost that I wish we had back.