Review of The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) by Stuart K — 23 Apr 2012
Written by T.E.B. Clarke and directed by Charles Crichton, (The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953), The Battle of the Sexes (1959) and A Fish Called Wanda (1988)), this is a hilarious crime comedy with a good double act at heart, with some brilliant set pieces and a good plot.
Henry Holland (Alec Guinness) is a bank clerk who has been in charge of the deliveries of gold bullion, and he always panics when it looks like someone is following the van that the gold bullion travels in.
Bored in his job, he wishes to retire, and it's when he meets fellow lodger Alfred Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway), who runs a foundry that makes novelty souvenirs, such as models of the Eiffel Tower.
Holland comes up with a plan to stage a robbery, melt the gold bullion down and make them into models of the Eiffel Tower, and ship them to Paris where they'll sell them on the black market. They recruit two crooks, Lackery Wood (Sid James) and Shorty Fisher (Alfie Bass) to help them with the robbery, which goes well at first, but as soon as it ends up in Paris, their best laid plans seem to go awry, especially when the model towers are accidentally sold to schoolgirls from England.
It's a great idea for a film, with a seemingly perfect crime, Guinness and Holloway make a good pairing as the banker and foundry forger who see the plan through, there's some good moments in this, from the chase down the stairs of the Eiffel Tower to the final chase.
They certainly don't make them like they used to.
This review of The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) was written by Stuart K on 23 Apr 2012.
The Lavender Hill Mob has generally received very positive reviews.
Was this review helpful?
