The Lavender Hill Mob

The Lavender Hill Mob
Directed by Charles Crichton
Written by T.E.B. Clarke
1951/UK
Ealing Studios
Repeat viewing/Amazon Instant
#250 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Turner: The trouble with you, Holland, is that you haven’t enough ambition.[/box]

Was there ever a more versatile actor than Alec Guinness?

The movie begins with “Dutch” Holland (Guinness) recounting his life of crime from a cafe in Rio de Janeiro, where he is evidently the toast of the town and dispenser of goodies to the lovely Audrey Hepburn in her first major film.  It then segues into flashback.

Holland is a seemingly humble and boring bank clerk who oversees the transport of gold bullion from the refinery to the Bank of England.  In reality, he has spent most of his time for years concocting a foolproof plan to steal a gold shipment.  He has everything solved but a way to get the gold out of the country.  His last problem is solved when he meets Mr.  Pendlebury who owns a company which makes “gold” Eiffel Tower paperweights out of molten lead.  Holland as little trouble convincing Pendlebury to make the paperweights out of real gold and send them off to France.

Holland’s scheme is launched a bit prematurely when he is given a promotion at the bank. The two quickly hire a couple of Cockney thieves to assist in the heist.  Despite their careful planning, everything that can go wrong does go wrong.  By some miracle they end up with the gold, however, and the paperweights are shipped off to Paris.  Then six are sold by mistake as souvenirs to some schoolgirls and Holland’s determination to retrieve them causes a whole new comedy of errors.   This was Robert Shaw’s film debut, in a tiny part.

This is a genuinely funny film.  I find the most endearing parts to be the steadfast friendship between Holland and Pendlebury.  Some of the expressions Guinness gets on his face are just priceless!  Recommended.

The Lavender Hill Mob won an Oscar for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story and Screenplay.  Alec Guinness was nominated for Best Actor.

Trailer