To celebrate this British comedy's fiftieth anniversary, it's getting released onto DVD for the first time. Now that alone is enough to get the alarm bells ringing. After all, if a film was that good, would it really have to wait that long until it sees the light of day on DVD?

It follows the misfortunes of three criminals, Bernard (Dave King), Harry (Daniel Massey) and Alfie (Norman Rossington). After a smash and grab at a jewellers they get snarled up in traffic and caught by the fuzz. The reason the traffic had stopped was to let a fire engine through.

This gives them an idea for when they finish their two year stretch: a fire engine would make the ultimate getaway vehicle.

So after they get released, they go about getting their hands on one, which sees them travel all the way to Wales from London for some unexplained reason.

After taking their new engine for a spin, they inadvertently get stopped to help someone in need. This leads them to the conclusion that if they going to be driving around town in a fire engine, then they'll have to train to be firemen to help with their cover story.

After getting trained by a dodgy fireman by the name of Withers (Dennis Price), they now feel they're ready for their next job –a bank. But despite their readiness, their plans don't quite go to plan.

So if I guess correctly where this end goes, I get to ring your bell?

There's a simple reason why this 1962 comedy isn't that well known and it's this: it's not very good. As an example of British comedies of the time it's a poor one. Not only is the story baffling – would a bunch of crooks really train to be fireman just because they have a fire engine? No, of course not – but the script is crudely cobbled together, with no life about it. Here's a prime example of some dialogue: Harry:"Alfred you pinched my spanner!", Alfie replies: "Do you mind!". Really poor stuff.

Everything about it is second grade. Its three stars are hardly big names and it shows. They struggle dearly with their characters, and although they definitely deliver a sense of them being cheeky chappies, they do so in a completely charmless fashion.

Then there's the director Michael Truman; this film was only his second stab and directing and it's no surprise that he only went on to make two others after this; so not exactly a long-lasting career. There's a limpness about the direction throughout. He also doesn't help his cause with the overuse of a musical theme that he uses every time a fire engine is in shot. And considering the title of the film, that's quite a lot.

And to top it off you have Maggie Smith with a terrible French accent and John Le Mesurier is relegated to a brief non-speaking cameo.

It's no wonder that this film has been in cinematic limbo for all those years, as it has absolutely nothing in common with other superior British comedies of the time. It's quite possibly the definition of what the opposite of a classic film is, and certainly doesn't deserve this DVD resurrection.