User reviews

Ealing studios are famous for making very dry and witty comedies; they're probably most famous for the excellent 'Kind Hearts and Coronets' and darkly comic 'The Ladykillers', but The Lavender Hill Mob, although not as good as the other two, is definitely worth a mention.

The Lavender Hill Mob is about a bank clerk (Alec Guinness) that, with the aid of his friend Alfred Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway), a man that makes paperweights in the shape of the Eiffel tower, has an ingenious idea of how to rob his own bank. The two realise that the bank cannot be robbed by just them, so they set a trap to catch a couple of criminals, and once they've recruited them; The Lavender Hill Mob is born.

Alec Guinness, a regular of Ealing comedies and a man that I think is worthy of the title "the greatest actor of all time" shines, as usual, in this movie. Alec Guinness manages to hit the tone of his character just right; he is suitably creepy, as he is, a criminal, and yet at the same time he's also eccentric enough to be considered an upstanding citizen and bank clerk. Guinness is, however, not the only actor who's performance in this movie is worthy of acclaim, the entire cast shine in their respective roles; Stanley Holloway is more subdued in his role, but that's also suited to his character. There are also excellent support performances from Sid James, who is mostly remembered for his work on the 'Carry on' films; Alfie Bass, whom fans of British comedy TV will remember from the series "Are You Being Served" and there's also a very small role for Audrey Hepburn, who's movie legacy is legendary.

The Lavender Hill Mob also features many memorable moments that will stick in the viewers' mind long after the film has ended. Parts of the film such as the chase on the Eiffel tower and the way that the two central characters manage to loose the entire police force are legendary. The Lavender Hill Mob is a small movie, but it's a movie that aims big and it works a treat. This movie also features a brilliant twist ending that rivals the one in the superb 'Kind Hearts and Coronets'.

Overall, The Lavender Hill Mob is, despite its low budget and short running time, a spectacular comedy film that should not be missed by anyone.

A banker decides to rob his own bank.

A classic small British film that punches above it weight. Good cast get their teeth in to an Oscar winning script. The kind of film they should show at films schools to show how good films are constructed and delivered. One of the top 100 comedy films ever made - although delivers small chuckles rather than out-and-out laughs.

This is a comedy the talented Alec Guinnes did for the Ealing studio in the early part of his career. Of his Ealing days, he left us a legacy that is hard to surpass: "Kind Hearts and Coronets", "The Ladykillers" and this one, that comes to mind.

Directed by Charles Crichton and written by T.E. Clarke, this is a fun movie that in spite of the years since it was filmed, it still charms its audiences, young and old.

The background is a London, right after the war. The film is original in that it takes us all over the city to places that one can identify so clearly, even after more than 50 years! It speaks of how careful are the English not to destroy their monuments.

As the would be robbers, Henry "Dutch" Holland is a man with a plan. He recognizes in his neighbor of the Lavender Hill rooming house, Alfred Pendlebury, a kindred soul that will see his proposal of how to steal the precious gold bullion from the Bank of England. It's a big operation, yet, only four people are needed to carry on the job.

This is a comedy of errors, where the best laid plans go awry in the small details the gang hadn't planned. The sure thing becomes a dead giveaway to the authorities once Holland and Pendlebury decide to go after the souvenir one young student bought in Paris that is part of the loot. Prior to that, the scenes in Paris at the Eiffel Tower was an original sequence for a movie that relies on intelligence rather than in overblown special effects.

Alec Guinness is charming as the master mind behind the heist. Stanley Holloway, a great English actor is magnificent as the man with an artistic eye, who almost derails the operation. Sid James and Alfie Bass contribute to make the film the joy it is with their comic presence. In a small cameo that comes and goes so quickly, we watch a young and elegant Audrey Hepburn makes an graceful appearance.

This is a film for all Ealing fans of all ages.

What hits you first about LHM is its smallness. It is a small film (78 min) made with a small budget about some small people. But their smallness doesn't stop them from dreaming the impossibly big - rob the Bank of England! In fact it is this very smallness & unobtrusiveness that gives Alec Guinness & Stanley Holloway - bank clerk & artist respectively - their chance.

The film, told in an intelligent flashback, is divided into 3 segments. First is the plotting. A mild mannered bank clerk meets a minor artist. Both want to get out of their seedy Lavender Hill boarding house & nondescript existance. Both look past their glory days. Yet together they have the opportunity to pull off a brilliant crime.

Then comes the heist. A surprisingly simple operation perfectly (almost!) executed. Finally the escape - getting the gold outside the country into the 'continental blackmarket'. Alas, the movie being made in the good old days when crime didn't pay, our heroes must suffer. But by then they have given us enough joy & adventure for us to forgive their one tragic slip.

This is definitely one of the best comedies Ealing studios made in the '50s (my other favourite is the vastly underrated 'Hue & Cry' where Alistair Sim gives a typical quirky performance & the tipsy 'Whiskey Galore'). Holloway & Guinness acted in many of them. They usually played very stiff upper British lip polite, eccentric, but excitable characters. In this movie they decide they are familiar enough to ask each other their first names only after they have robbed a bank together! When Holloway realises they can pull it off, his face is hidden in the shadows as he slowly tells Guinness, 'Thank God Holland, we are both honest men' - a line which I think summarises the entire movie.

The reason this movie is so amusing even today is that it is very tightly scripted (Tibby Clark won an Oscar for his effort) & brilliantly realised by the ensemble cast. As far as caper films go this has half the gadgetry of 'Entrapment' but twice the fun.

This is the 3rd time I am seeing this movie & I enjoyed it as much as I did the first time. Please see this one!

This is a gentle understated English comedy, a classic example of Ealing Studios' output of the 1950s. But paradoxically what makes it most remarkable is its sheer exuberance, the unconcealed glee of Holland and Pendlebury as they revel in the success of their audacious plan. Their first meeting after seeing each other at the police station, the drunken return to their rooms after their celebratory meal and of course the famous descent of the Eiffel Tower, their laughter echoing the giggles of the schoolgirls spiralling round and round before falling dizzily out at the bottom.

Painting and sculpture were Pendlebury's wings, his escape from his "unspeakably hideous" business occupation. But when Holland delicately introduces him to his own dream of twenty years' to escape - and not just metaphorically - from life as a nonentity, Pendlebury is drawn in. The scenes in the Balmoral Private Hotel in Lavender Hill are outstanding, and the sparse dialogue allows Alec Guinness and Stanley Holloway to shine as Holland suggests to Pendlebury how gold might be smuggled out of the country. "Hohohoho; By Jove, Holland, it is a good job we are both honest men." "It is indeed, Pendlebury."

Later in the film, the plot stands less well up to scrutiny but Guinness and Holloway are easily able to carry the viewers' attention. Chases that turn into farces often don't work in this style of British film, but here again Holland and Pendlebury carry such energy and excitement that they fit in well, and I am sure that even in nineteen fifties Britain, large numbers of the audience will have grasped the ironic humour of the policeman singing "Old MacDonald," in addition to those laughing at the straightforward ludicrousness of the scene.

Aficionados of British postwar comedy will enjoy this film, and because it lacks the dryness of say, "Kind Hearts and Coronets" or "The Ladykillers" it provides a more accessible introduction for those who are new to this most wonderful of genres.

The DVD used Audrey Hepburn's first movie appearance as a promotion. Together with the fact that Alec Guinness is the leading man, I immediately jumped at the chance of watching the film.

The film began with Alec Guinness recalling his life last year, as a 20-year bank clerk and how he plotted to steal a vast amount of gold. Stanley Holloway (who also starred as Eliza's father in My Fair Lady) and Alec Guinness made a wonderful couple. And watch out for the elegant Audrey Hepburn in the first 10 minutes of the movie.

The story unfolded nicely as Alec narrated how he formulated his plan, how he recruited partners to execute his well-thought plan and how, when their plan did go wrong, they improvised. The scene of them chasing after Englsih school girls at the Eiffel Tower in Paris is particularly impressive. It is as if they were flying in the air and laughing their hearts out on a merry-go-round. I kept wondering how modern movies did not make such shots any more. It was funny to see how they persisted in order to succeed. They were like serious school kids who was intent on completing their project by any means. Never did they think of betraying their team members.

With an excellent script, funny characters and a marvellous twist in the end, this movie is not a bit out of date. Love to watch it again soon.

Did you know that Robert Shaw (1927 - 1978), aka Quint in the 1975 movie Jaws played a minor non-speaking role, uncredited role that is, here? As well as a walk on part by the then up and coming Audrey Hepburn (1929 - 1993). Apart from all that, The Lavender Hill Mob brings together an array of British talents, or other wise, be they in front of the camera or not. The slender bespectacled Sir Alec Guinness (1914 - 2000), sets himself against the stocky and charming Stanley Holloway (1890 - 1982), (who once faired against Rex Harrison and, again, Ms Hepburn in the 1964 movie My Fair Lady, as Alfred P. Doolittle in which he was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role at the 1965 Academy Awards). An interesting trade-off in both personality and ability by these two giants of the classical period of British cinema.

With an interesting premise from both screenwriter, an ex-policeman turned writer, T.E.B. Clarke (1907 - 1989), and The Bank of England, who set up a committee to devise the plot for Lavender….when being asked for advice from said screenwriter on how would it be at all possible to commit such a robbery. With a clever and witty, and at best dark and provocative script that draws the two hapless and benign men together, that are facing their winter years with no prospects of security and prosperity. A sinister plot is finely unfolded before our eyes, as these two sheepish misfits are, with a twist of fate slowly transformed into old dogs rather than wolves in sheep's clothing.

With elaborate cinematography by Douglas Slocombe, born 1913, whose work is a masterpiece of movie history as to boast the likes of Hue and Cry (1947), Mandy (known as Crash of Silence in the USA,1952). The Smallest Show on Earth (1957), Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), to the iconic Indiana Jones movies, plus the Never Say Never Again James Bond movie of 1983, and the examples are many. His portrayal of the criminal atmosphere is moody and bleak, in places, considering this is very early 1950's London, and an Ealing Studio production too, which had succumbed to the perils of World War Two, we see the City's streets and buildings still suffering in its wake, the dirty and grime ridden St. Paul's Cathedral is a fine example. This London is limping along to the tunes of rationing, and poverty, which did not end, for the ration book at least, until 1954.

The irony here is that amidst all these backward and enduring times, the new era of a post war Europe that we see in Lavender….are the traits to the beginnings of the new technological age, the dawn of the 21st Century. In so far as the police and their new scientific and counter criminal methods, note the "The Camera Cracks Crime" poster for the first stages of CCTV at a London Police Convention, that today owe its success to the then newly born Age of Aquarius.

This is the image that Charles Crichton (1910 - 1999), the director of A Fish Called Wanda (1988) is depicting here also; this crime caper gone wrong is a stark reminder of the harsh times that England was suffering. With its crossover of pre World War prides and the birth of this new age society, for the wrong reasons, that is now poorer and just as dangerous and the will to take the risk is more prominent as it ever was. This crossover is carried by the old dogs and their employment of two modern day criminals; one Sidney James (1913 - 1976) of the Carry On establishment and the pint sized Alfie Bass (1921 - 1987). With this team of hardened and experienced criminals, plus the, ironically, naive and inexperienced intellectual brain power taking control, this is disillusioned middle class England meets working class desperation, where toward the end, trust is a friendless word, and morels are few and far between. In hindsight, this makes up for a jolly good crime caper, particularly at the movies casting of an inept and complacent Police Force, through their bumbling and short sightedness, an Ealing ploy for comic relief or a stab at authority in general perhaps.

Then again, this is an Ealing Studio production after all, and it wouldn't be doing its job other wise, would it?

Ealing Studios turned out a series of comic gems in the late 40s and early 50s and this is a good example. Only a curmudgeon would not laugh aloud during some of the scenes.

The plot, briefly, involves a clever bank clerk (Guiness) developing a plan with a die caster (Holloway) to steal several million pounds of gold bullion, recast it into tourist knicknacks in the shape of Eiffel Tower paperweights, and ship it to Paris to sell on the black market. They recruit two professional thieves to help them.

It may not be Ealing's best comedy (my vote would be for "The Lady Killers") but it's more than funny enough. I'll just give three scenes as examples.

(1) Holloway and Guiness, two honest men, need to recruit what they call a "mob" but have no idea how to go about it. What I mean is -- how would YOU go about recruiting criminal assistants? What they do is go to crowded places of low repute -- saloons, prize fights, the underground -- and shout at each other through the noise about the safe being broken at such-and-such an address and all that money having to be left in it. Then they hole up at the address and wait for the burglars to arrive.

(2) A scene at the Eiffel Tower in which they discover that half a dozen of the gold paperweights instead of the usual leaden ones have been sold to some English schoolgirls. They watch horrified as the door closes and the elevator carrying the girls begins its descent, and they decide to rush down the tightly spiraling staircase to ground level, trying to beat the elevator. By the time they reach the street they've been spun around so many times that they can't stop laughing and are unable to stop twirling around until they fall down.

(3) After the robbery, in an empty warehouse soon to be searched by the police, Guiness must be tied up, gagged, and blindfolded with tape. Then his clothes must be torn and dirtied so that it appears he put up a fight before the gold was taken. But the police arrive too soon, and the others beat it, leaving Guiness standing alone, tied up, and blindfolded, but not dirty. He stumbles about blindly, trying to blow the tape from his mouth, getting his feet caught in discarded bicycle wheels, until he falls into the Thames.

Probably the weakest part of the movie is near the end, when police cars wind up chasing one another because of confusing messages. The scene could have been lifted from Laurel and Hardy. It's a little silly. (Why didn't Guiness and Holloway park the stolen car, get out, and walk away?) But that's a minor consideration.

What surprises me about some of these comedies is that they're able to make us laugh despite the dreary atmosphere. The streets of London look awfully dismal in this grainy black and white film. Some of them were still charred wrecks left over from the Blitz. But it doesn't dampen the comedy at all. Following the successful robbery a drunken Guiness and Holloway return to their boarding house to be chided by their landlady for being "naughty". One pulls the other aside, chuckling conspiratorially, and the two agree to call each other "Al" and "Dutch" -- two REAL BIG gangsters for you.

If you need to use up some neuropeptides this is your movie.

This is a small but enjoyable comedy mostly remembered today for an early Audrey Hepburn appearance at the beginning of the film. Blink and you miss her, but she is beautifully chic. The story concerns the reminisences of a criminal, marvelously played by Alec Guinness, who, after 20 long years escorting gold bullion shipments, finally figures out how to disguise the gold and move it out of England. The man who supplies the means is Stanley Holloway.

This is a fun film where the main theme is that the joy is in the ascent and not necessarily making it to the top of the ladder. The word ascent brings the word descent to mind, and there is a dizzying one from the top to the bottom of the Eiffel Tower, as the two chase some schoolgirls who inadvertently got their hands on gold souvenirs. There is also an excellent car chase.

You're really pulling for the "bad guys" - although you can't call them that - all the way. It's a charming comedy, not up there with "The Ladykillers" or "Kind Hearts and Coronets," but still wonderful.

This is a fun post-war British film. As someone of the age where Alec Guinness means Obi-Wan Kenobi, it is so strange to see the actor so young and comical! Recommended to anyone looking for a light film and a smile.

Ealing studios in Great Britain had a reputation for producing some very droll comedies in the post World War II years and this one was done when Ealing was at its height.

Alec Guinness is once again playing a mild mannered schnook of a man who no one notices at all. In fact his own superiors at his job, tell him to his face that his only virtue is a dull, honest dependability with a lack of imagination.

Boy how they were wrong. Guinness's job is to supervise the transfer of gold bullion from where it is smelted into bars to the Bank of England. Every working day he accompanies the gold in an armored truck to the bank. And Sir Alec's imagination has been working overtime as to how a robbery could be accomplished.

As he's discovered a long time ago, the problem isn't the robbery, it's the fencing of the loot. Well, bigger and more professional criminals have failed to lick that one on occasion.

Into Guinness's life walks Stanley Holloway who's the owner of a small foundry that makes lead souvenirs for sale. Another man with a dull life, looking for adventure. Guinness recognizes both a kindred spirit and a solution to his problem.

What makes The Lavendar Hill Mob work is the chemistry between Guinness and Holloway. It's so understated, but at the same time, so droll, funny, and touching. These two middle-aged men are living out a fantasy we'd all like to live, even if it means a touch of robbery. Guinness's character name is Henry Holland and Holloway is Alfred Pendlebury. As the friendship grows, they stop referring to each other as Mr. Holland and Mr. Pendlebury. Holloway even gives Holland the gangster nickname of Dutch.

They pick up two other amiable allies in petty crooks Sidney James and Alfie Bass. The robbery comes off pretty much as planned, but afterward things don't quite work out.

They use Holloway's foundry to make solid gold statues of the Eiffel Tower and send them to Paris to get them out of the country. What follows after that is some pretty funny situations, a mad run down the real Eiffel Tower and also one of the wildest police chase scenes ever filmed.

The run down the Eiffel Tower has always been a favorite of mine. When I was a lad, my parents took the family to Washington, DC for a sight seeing tour and I got the brilliant idea of walking down the Washington Monument to see the various commemorative stones in the wall of the Monument. Even after walking down, my whole family felt just like Guinness and Holloway.

Sir Alec Guinness got his first Oscar nomination for The Lavendar Hill Mob, but lost the big sweepstakes to Gary Cooper for High Noon. the Lavendar Hill Mob won an Oscar for the screenplay.

I understand there will be a remake of it coming out next year. I can't conceive of any remake possibly duplicating the chemistry between Guinness and Holloway.

Holland (Alec Guinness)is employed as a bank clerk and is responsible for the shipment of gold bullion oversees, but has dreamed of living the high life for a long time. Pendlebury, an aspiring artist and maker of souvenirs also has the same dream in life as Holland. When the two men meet and discover they share this common ground, they hatch a plan to get rich quicker with the help of two ex-cons by smuggling the gold into France by smelting it down and marketing it is Eiffel Tower souvenirs. But have they bitten off more than they can chew?

Comedy films which focus their main plot as being about greed and dishonesty can be risky projects (after all, who is going to care for mean-spirited characters in a film with a mean-spirited plot line). The Lavender Hill Mob turns the mean-spiritedness slightly on its head by at least affording our protagonists some depth - they don't want to hurt anyone or cause any suffering to anyone, they just want to be rich. Of course I'm not condoning their actions (stealing is wrong), but with the characters set-up in this manner it does allow us to understand our characters motivations even though we all agree that what they're doing is wrong.

Holland and Pendlebury are responsible for the 'technical' aspects of the smuggling, but they are assisted by two ex-cons Lackery (Sid James) and Shorty (Alfie Bass). Straight away these guys do not seem to be your average ex-cons and don't possess a ruthless streak that we would expect to see from such people. I remember one part where Lackery says that he can't go to Paris with the others and when one of the mob asked him why he replied 'The missus won't let me'. I thought that was a stroke of genius and it just shows that some jokes never get old.

The plot is a relatively good one and when watching it I can see that The Lavender Hill Mob may have influenced other films (the likes of Oceans 11 and The Italian Job probably owe a bit to this film). It is a funny film, but it's one that I found amusing for the most part rather than hilarious. There are some parts that didn't work so well for me (the bit where Holland and Pendlebury are running down the stairs at the Eiffel Tower was more silly than funny) and the scenes in the Passport office were also a little repetitive and overdone.

Still for what it is it is funny and Crichton's tight-direction means that the film never really hits any lulls and thanks to its short running time it doesn't outstay its welcome. It's inoffensive and mostly amusing and is the sort of film that should prove to be generally pleasant viewing for all the family.

Alec Guinness (1914-2000) plays a bank clerk who gets an idea to rob his own bank.He does that with the help of his friend Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway) and two professional criminals Lackery (Sid James) and Shorty (Alfie Bass).Lavender Hill Mob is brilliant crime comedy from 1951.The late Alec Guinness does amazing role work and the other actors do also superb job.You can also see the young and beautiful Audrey Hepburn playing Chiquita there.The movie has lots of marvelous scenes.One hilarious scene is the scene where the gang is trying to get to ship but are having all kind of problems with passports and stuff.And the car chase is absolutely brilliant.Watch this British classic movie.It won't let you down I guarantee it.

Alec Guinness is the reason for that emoji with eyes replaced with hearts, right? I mean, seriously, I first met Alec Guinness while watching The Bridge on the River Kwai, and his turn as the seriously extreme Colonel Nicholson is one that will stay with the viewer long after the film ends. Guinness reintroduced himself to me in Lawrence of Arabia, another extreme role proving the man behind the roles that had blown me away was someone to see more of. I'm currently on a quest to see as many Guinness films as I can which led me to his turn in the 1951 film directed by Charles Crichton, The Lavender Hill Mob. In the Lavender Hill Mob, Guinness plays an unassuming bank clerk who decides to put a plan in motion to bring his life something more. In a classic British comedy, which exposed a whole new side of Alec Guinness, The Lavender Hill Mob is a film to see.

Holland (Alec Guinness) is a feeble, regimented, shy bank clerk, who is constantly reminded that he is not getting any younger. After 20 years, he has worked for the same bank as their agent who oversees the deliveries of gold bullion. After a chance meeting with a Mr. Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway), a maker of souvenirs, Holland realizes (in a very Leo Bloom a la The Producers way) that with Mr. Pendlebury's tools and expertise, the pair could steal gold from the bank and melt it into miniature Eiffel Tower souvenirs, smuggling massive amounts of money for themselves. After becoming committed to their ideas, the unlikely pair put a plan in motion with the help of a couple of career criminals, Lackery (Sidney James) and Shorty (Alfie Bass). Of course, the plan doesn't go as smoothly as it was first conceived, and it becomes a comedy of errors for the plan to succeed, a true treat for audiences.

British films are so fun, the comedic dialogue so unique to films that come from across the pond, is second to none. The writing in The Lavender Hill Mob is sensational, filled with jokes or subtle lines, it is a film that has something new to give upon each viewing. The comedic timing is also a standout in The Lavender Hill Mob. Each actor plays a great role and proves their talents for comedic acting with fantastic performances in The Lavender Hill Mob. Another surprising standout in this film was the score. People don't expect much in the way of a musical score in a comedy, The Lavender Hill Mob blows that stigma out of the water. The score, the comedic acting, the performances make The Lavender Hill Mob a film to be sure to watch, especially if you're tired of the mindless comedies that are so plentiful in American cinemas. The show stopper is Alec Guinness, I am not sure this wonderful film would be as wonderful without him. The Lavender Hill Mob certainly won't be the last Alec Guinness film that I see.

In London, bank clerk Henry Holland (Alec Guinness) is in charge of gold bullion deliveries. He's a stickler for details and a careful person. He's been doing the job for 20 years and has never failed. Everybody sees him as a bureaucratic drone with no ambitions and no imagination. In reality, he's secretly planning to execute a great bank heist and an unique way to smuggle the gold out of the country.

This is a fun little caper flick. One needs to look no further than running down the stairs in the Eiffel Tower. There's an endearing lightness to this caper film. Alec Guinness has that impish charm. He's this character who could pull an unexpected prank which would shock and delight in equal measures. He's the key to this movie.

An effective little diversion, "The Lavender Hill Mob" is one of Ealing's most beloved comedies, even if - like much of their output - it isn't exactly filled with hilarity and genuine belly-laughs. Yet it has the best Ealing hallmarks, including another "little man" trying to overcome the authorities and a breezy plot that has a touch of fantasy about it despite being firmly entrenched in the real world.

Alec Guinness gives a wonderful performance as the seemingly meek bank clerk willing to mastermind the greatest gold heist in history, Guinness enriching the character with so many subtle touches that it bears repeated viewings just to realise how great he is; it's not grand, emotional acting, just playing a character and playing it bloody well. Stanley Holloway, whilst not in the same league as Guinness, is also very entertaining to watch and the two actors form a lovable double act. Less can be said about the rest of the cast as the story really only concerns Guinness and Holloway - even Sid James and Alfie Bass, receiving prominent billing, get about 20 minutes of screen time. The cinematography is also notable, particularly the famous sequence of our two stars running down the spiral staircase at the Eiffel Tower which manages to make the viewer feel as giddy as the characters are. It shows how even a small slice of whimsy can be enriched further with a bit of effort; nobody concerned with this film is giving less than 110%.

The only drawbacks to the film are a certain datedness - especially the toe-curling bit where a middle aged police constable sings "Old MacDonald" loudly and happily (did grown men really used to like those songs?) - and the fact that much time is spent on action with the result that there isn't a lot that's actually *funny* in what is supposed to be a comedy. Certainly there are few quotable lines as there isn't a lot of dialogue in the script. However, these problems are slight and "The Lavender Hill Mob" remains a highly enjoyable 80 minutes of whimsical charm. Nobody made such films quite as well as Ealing did.

"The Lavender Hill mob" is one of the best comedies of Ealing Studios in it's post-war period, in which it produced numerous classics of British cinema, before it's 1955 sale to BBC.This film is a light, witty and incredibly funny comedy caper,tightly packed in 78 minutes,(you'd wish it was longer, but it's just as it should be) so it doesn't waste a second or becomes boring or predictable. To the contrary, there are twists and turns on every corner. It was directed in style, by late master, Charles Crichton, and you can't avoid laughing out loud to the story of the "ordinary" man pursuing a lifestyle to which he is "unaccustomed".

The roles are superb, and the dialogs great. It deservedly won it's Academy and BAFTA awards, and they just don't make movies like that any more. A must see.

The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) : Brief Review -

A humorous, witty and whimsical robbery-drama from British Cinema that created evergreen clichés for future films. The Lavender Hill Mob gotta be viewed by everyone but with different perspective. It is a crime-comedy alright, but the kind of crime scenes you see in the film aren't that vicious. It's just a robbery with a bit of smuggling attached to it. There's no bloodshot, high-end criminal activity, so that makes it different from other British crime-comedies. A meek bank clerk who oversees the shipment of bullion joins with an eccentric neighbor to steal gold bars and smuggle them out of the country as miniature Eiffel Towers. The plan succeeds only to follow a small yet big mix-up later and I better not reveal anything here. The British audience calls it one of the greatest films ever and I don't wonder why, but I also wonder why Greatest Ever? It is not my intention to bash here, but I think this adjective 'Greatest' deserves to be used for even better films which do exist there in British Cinema. This film is funny but not hysterical. Getting that genuinely funny touch right works here, but somewhere in the middle it does feel boring. It isn't a long film, so that saves it from becoming a headache, but the question is: Why does it feel boring despite having a short runtime? The writer must know it then, so let's just forgive him today. The best thing about the film is its unpredictability and, interestingly, it makes you laugh at those shocking moments where you are supposed to feel surprised. Alec Guinness and Stanley Holloway both deliver suitable performances, and the supporting cast is immensely supportive. Just a few slow moments but the rest, I must say Charles Crichton has made a film that deserves to be watched by smart viewers.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

This is the kind of small yet concise and entertaining movie that I find mouth wateringly delicious. It's gentle and amusing story of a bungled robbery (that we see all to little of in these times of the ultra violent heist movie) really clicks home the message that you can make a decent crime film without including death or bad language.

A recognized classic in its day, "The Lavender Hill Mob" is a thick, plodding attempt at showing while crime doesn't pay, it can be fun with the right people involved. Alas, the mob here makes for unengaging company in a film rife with forced humor and labored coincidence.

Henry Holland (Alec Guinness) is a junior clerk charged with accompanying bars of gold bullion to his employer's bank. A self- confessed "non-entity," he is taken for granted by all. "His one and only virtue is honesty," a bank executive says. "He's no imagination, no initiative." Unbeknownst to them, however, Holland plans to mastermind the crime of the century, stealing the bullion out of the country in the form of cheap tourist souvenirs with the help of pal Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway), a fed-up gewgaw maker. Can they get away with it?

While clever in concept, the plan suffers from lame execution, less by the perpetrators than by screenwriter T. E. B. Clarke, who gives us a comedy of errors where the main joke is how lightly Holland is regarded by those around him. The plot plays out in perfunctory ways, complicated by annoying bolts from the blue like a little girl who won't give up what is a vital piece of evidence simply because she's set on giving it to a friend who happens to be a policeman. The usually brilliant Guinness makes for an awkward lead, with shifting eyes, an annoying lisp (all his R's come out W's), and no real soul. As an actor, Guinness was known for his intellectual approach, but here there's no sense of anything deeper driving the man. He just wants to make a big score because he's the sort no one expects that from.

Keith Moyes did a fine job laying out the film's many story weaknesses in his May 2009 review here; my main gripe is its failure to establish much of a rooting interest for either the ill-defined mob (a couple of Cockney caricatures fill out the gang) or the police. Little bits of recognizably pleasing Ealing Studios humor occasionally wiggle up in the background, like an old lady named Mrs. Chalk (Marjorie Fielding) who likes to knit while Holland reads her hard-boiled detective fiction. A run down a spiral staircase at the Eiffel Tower late in the film provides a bracing bit of pure cinema accentuated by Douglas Slocombe's clever lens-work, but the movie kills that excitement by following it with a protracted scene of Holland and Pendlebury running around a French customs house. Many such dull moments weigh down the pacing; while director Charles Crichton's overuse of close-ups add nothing to the comedy.

For a studio that released such genially twisted farces as "Kind Hearts And Coronets" and "The Ladykillers" (with Guinness in both films finding ample comedy stores lacking here), one expects more, like some play with the concept of disorganized criminals working out why they are doing what they do. The film provides us with cinema's first chance in seeing two favorite actors of mine, Audrey Hepburn and Robert Shaw, but too many of the secondary players other than Mrs. Chalk are just there to feed lines and push a plot which runs out of the little steam it has after forty minutes or so.

The final resolution is a lame sop to 1950s convention that adds nothing to the story. Educated viewers understand this today, and many accept it, but it just doesn't work. Rick couldn't run off with Ilsa at the end of "Casablanca," either, but credit those guys for making that convention play.

I didn't dislike the movie that much for what it is; it's pleasant, however dull, in its understated way. But I don't get why it stands out so much given the many finely worked-out and engagingly acted British comedies of the period that don't get half the attention. Back then the idea of rooting for the criminal cut against the grain of the time; today it just feels like a museum piece with no real vitality of its own.