Despite his hectic schedule, his wife reminds him his daughter has a violin recital that evening; she also tells him her aunt and uncle are coming for tea before the concert.

Gideon wants to congratulate personally the policeman who made the arrest, only to discover it is the same young officer who gave him a summons for his early morning traffic offence.

When the police finally draw them out, Gideon catches one of the gang himself, but he loses his temper when he finds out that the elderly night watchman was killed in cold blood by the man he arrested, telling him "you'll hang for this, you rich nobody!"

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Although it packs in a large quantity of varied incident, Gideon's Day is limited in scope by an extremely predictable script and a surfeit of pseudo-comic dialogue.

The whole thing, in fact, is fairly anonymous in tone, and apart from a certain routine efficiency (and, perhaps, two or three characteristic camera setups), there is no evidence of John Ford's presence.

Judged as a routine entertainment thriller, complete with cosy domestic scenes, comic figures of authority and nasty crooks, the film remains on the tamely competent level of its many predecessors.

A never-ending parade of character players includes a number of seldom seen faces (Anna Lee, John Loder) as well as more familiar ones masquerading under a variety of Cockney, Irish and upper-class accents.

Jack Hawkins, stoical and indomitable as ever, is in complete command of every situation, even in a day which appears to include more than the customary 24 hours.