The Lavender Hill Mob
Tags: comedy

Plot synopsis:
Henry Holland (Alec Guinness) is dining with a fellow Briton in a posh restaurant in Rio de Janeiro where he is well known. He relates a story explaining his presence in Rio. It seems he was a seemingly unambitious London bank clerk in charge of gold bullion deliveries for over 20 years. He had a reputation for fussing over details and suspecting all cars he observed following the bullion van, but all in all appeared to be a man dedicated to his job and the gold's security. In fact, he had hatched the "perfect" plot to steal a load of bullion and retire. The one thing stopping him had been that selling the gold on the black market in Britain was too risky, and he was at a loss as to how to smuggle it abroad.
One evening a new lodger – artist Alfred Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway) – arrives at Holland's boarding house in Lavender Hill. Pendlebury owns a foundry that makes presents and souvenirs that are sold in many resorts, including foreign ones. Noticing how similar the foundry is to the place where the gold is made into ingots, Holland decides that the ideal way of smuggling the gold out of the country would be as Eiffel Tower paperweights sold in Paris, and puts this hypothetically to his new friend: "By Jove, Holland, it's a good job we're both honest men." "It is indeed, Pendlebury."
When Holland suddenly finds that he is about to be transferred to another department at the bank, he and Pendlebury quickly move into action. They recruit two petty crooks, Lackery Wood (Sidney James) and Shorty Fisher (Alfie Bass), to help them carry out the robbery. The plan is simple but clever, and it succeeds: Wood and Fisher carry out the hijack of the bullion van and switch the gold to Pendlebury's works van. Holland, who is supposedly assaulted and almost drowned in the robbery, becomes the hero of the hour. The police find themselves running around in circles, unable to track down the "master criminal" who is in fact right under their noses giving them false statements and misleading clues. Meanwhile, Holland and his associates melt the gold in Pendlebury's foundry and export it to France disguised as miniature Eiffel Towers.
The plan goes wrong when the woman running the souvenir kiosk in Paris misunderstands her instructions due to a language mixup; instead of holding back the specially-marked box of Eiffel Towers, she opens it and puts them out for sale. Pendlebury and Holland, who have adopted the names of "Al" and "Dutch", arrive to retrieve their disguised bullion only to find that six of the towers have been sold to a party of British schoolgirls. A wild chase back to the Channel ferry follows but all sorts of hold-ups, including problems with the customs men, prevent them from getting to the ship and the girls in time.
If just one of those towers is found to be gold then the game is up. Pendlebury and Holland therefore track down the schoolgirls and, in exchange for a similar tower and ten shillings, recover most of the loot. One girl however refuses to return hers since she intends to give it to a friend who is a policeman. The girl delivers the souvenir to the officer, who is at an exhibition of police history and methods at Hendon Police College. Also attending is a police inspector who is investigating the robbery. As part of the case he checked up on Pendlebury's foundry and was told that many souvenirs bought in foreign places are actually made in Britain. A sudden thought occurs to him and he orders the souvenir to be tested. At that moment Pendlebury snatches it and he and Holland make their escape in a police car.
A confused pursuit then takes place through London, with Holland using the radio in the police car to give false descriptions of the vehicle in which the crooks are riding. Eventually, though, an officer succeeds in stopping their car and arresting Pendlebury. Holland escapes to Rio de Janeiro with the six gold towers, worth "£25,000, enough to keep me for one year in the style to which I was, ah, unaccustomed." But now, he finishes telling his visitor, the money is mostly gone. As they leave the restaurant, Holland is seen to be handcuffed to his countryman.

Review: 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.
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.
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.
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..
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.
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.
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.
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..
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..
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.
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.
In a classic British comedy, which exposed a whole new side of Alec Guinness, The Lavender Hill Mob is a film to see.
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.
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.
Yet another quirky, fun Ealing Comedy with main man Alec Guinness again taking the lead as the dull, downtrodden gold bullion inspector who waits twenty years to come up with a foolproof inside-job heist to foster his dream of living it up in some exotic South American country.
His unlikely accomplices are old lags Sid James and Alfie Bass, while his right hand man is antique reproducer Stanley Holloway who unwittingly inspires Guinness's gold-plated idea for concealing the goods.As ever, it's all very stylish and yet knockabout stuff, from the bizarre way Guinness and Holloway "advertise" their need for their henchmen, the crazy mixed-up car chase through London, their dizzying race down the Eiffel Tower, the visit to the young girls school to attempt to get back the six golden Eiffels, another crazy mixed-up chase at the Police Training School not to mention the delightfully concise and unexpected resolution at the end.Within these disparate elements there are many memorable details which just stick in the brain like Guinness reading pulp fiction to his avid OAP landlady, a fully tied up and gagged Guinness throwing himself on the ground and into the Thames to make the robbery look real, Holloway's absent-minded pilfering of a street trader's painting ("It was a Landseer last week!"), which jeopardises the operation, Guinness's escape in and out of a London Tube Station to escape the pursuing policemen, Guinness and Holloway's hilarious attempts to board a boat in the face of French red-tape inscrutability and even a blink and you'll miss it cameo by a very young Audrey Hepburn as a grateful chanteuse down Mexico way, all this and more might give you an idea of the structured yet skittish way it's all knitted together, although what a crazy patchwork quilt it is in the end.Best not to examine the plot strands too much and how they go together, just go with the flow as they say and savour in particular Guinness's admirable submersion in his role as well as director Crichton's breakneck direction style - especially the descent from the Eiffel Tower which will have you reeling.
"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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
Then the second half kicks in, and things change entirely.The film becomes a journey following the exploits of unlikely duo Stanley Holloway and Alec Guinness as they go on a hunt for part of the missing shipment, which has by now been melted down and turned into miniature Eiffel towers!
The dizzying scene on the Eiffel tower is a highlight but it's the chase-themed climax which is the real stuff of greatness.THE LAVENDER HILL MOB is a noteworthy movie for featuring performances from future greats.
It's just silliness, without any big themes or points to ponder, and it's airy and breezy and goofy, like watching an utterly insubstantial but extremely well made sitcom.Alec Guinness and Stanley Holloway make a crackerjack comic pair, and their bumblings and pratfalls will make you continuously chuckle if not laugh out loud."The Lavender Hill Mob" is like cotton candy: it dissolves immediately upon contact, but it sure is enjoyable while it lasts.Grade: A.
Getting a couple of other men to help with the plan is only the start and soon things are well on the way to the "perfect" crime.As an Ealing comedy it gains the reputation of the name but also has the occasional problem of being rather light and smug at times; this film particularly seems to suffer from a rather slight core to the plot.
A million pounds in bullion is stolen from a British bank; the crooks successfully hide out in a foundry, melting the gold down and pouring it into molds for Eiffel Tower paperweights...but what happens when one little schoolgirl gets away with a souvenir and turns it over to the police?
This film seems to get high praise all over the place, but in my opinion it isn't as good as 'Kind Hearts and Coronets' or 'The Man in the White Suit', although Alec Guinness is always worth watching.
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 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.
Is it the wittily executed plot carried out by meek bank official Mr. Holland (Alec Guinness) and his accomplices Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway) and the two crooks (Alfie Bass, Sidney James).
But, unlike Eliot's titular dreamer, here's one man who's not going to lie down and take it anymore.In Tibby Clarke's Oscar-winning screenplay Holland, a gold bullion deliverer ("his one virtue, honesty" sneer his cynical employers) discovers a way of making his dreams of the high life a reality, when he meets souvenir manufacturer Pendlebury - a wonderfully seedy Stanley Holloway, given to spouting Shakespeare at the drop of a bowler hat.With the help of a couple of crooks, 'Lackery' and 'Shorty' (the great Sid James and Alfie Bass), and Pendlebury's smelting gear, they contrive to smuggle one million pound's worth of stolen gold bullion across the Channel in the form of seemingly innocuous 'gold-painted' Eiffel Tower models.
Of the three better known Alec Guiness films to come out of Ealing Studios, the other two being `Kind Hearts and Coronets' and `The Ladykillers,' this is by far the foremost.
The way they give out a fake to catch burglars in the act and then try to recruit them; the great shots running down the Eiffel Tower staircase laughing hysterically, then being too dizzy at the bottom to chase the car they're after; the growing dread on the faces of Guiness and Holloway as their target goes further and further into police territory; and how about a heist that goes perfectly while everyone involved thinks it's been blown and comes within hair's breadths of giving it all away.
It is just a light story with enjoyable characters.Watch this film if you like bank heists or old comedies, because this is great for both of those.
The premise of some struggling working people madly deciding to form a 'mob' and the crazy problem of the Eiffle Tower models and the vertigo scene definitely make it a fun comedy and it's a movie I watch a lot when I need some light humorous distraction.
"The Lavender Hill Mob" isn't a too known well movie but it's one of those early British comedies, done in the same style as for instance the much better known "The Ladykillers", also starring Alec Guinness in the lead.It's a nice little heist movie, involving gentleman like characters instead of the usual crooks.
As with all films of this type, though Holland's perfect scheme initially appears to have been a complete success, it soon begins to unwind in the most tragic manner possible.There's a wonderful sequence set in Paris, after Holland and Pendlebury discover that six of their solid-gold Eiffel Towers have accidentally been sold to a group of English schoolgirls.
Recruiting help of Lackery (Sid James) and Shorty Fisher (Alfie Bass), the two men concoct a plot to steal large amounts of gold bullion.With a comedy cast including Guinness, Holloway and James, the cast of this film is superb in acting capability and is never short of ability.Script included, "The Lavender Hill Mob" is a clever film.
Whilst not of the same standard as "The Ladykillers" (1955), this film is a good laugh and well worth of the title of Ealing.All in all, like most good Ealing comedies "The Lavender Hill Mob" is a fun film with a decent script.
Lavender Hill Mob (1951): Dir: Charles Crichton / Cast: Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway, Sidney James, Alfie Bass, Marjorie Fielding: Hilarious account of amateur crime as a bank clerk sees an opportunity to steal gold bars and smuggle them out of the country as miniature Eifel Towers.
Sid James plays one of the accomplices, which is interesting because he's one of the only British character actors I can think of who plays both aristocrats and poor guys.My favorite scene in the movie is when Guinness and Holloway are chasing the students down the stairs of the Tower.
Ealing regular Alec Guinness does a great job as the meek Henry Holland and Stanley Holloway is good as Pendlebury.
The Lavender Hill Mob. After seeing Kind Hearts and Coronets, I was definitely looking forward to seeing another Ealing Studios comedy, especially with the great Star Wars star again.
He becomes friends with souvenir maker Alfred Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway) and Holland remarks that they could forge gold to look like the Eiffel Tower souvenirs, and smuggle it from England to Paris.