The Lavender Hill Mob

Rating:
Summary: Alec Guinness decides to steal some Bank of England gold
Review: "The Lavender Hill Mob" is the brainchild of Henry Holland (Alec Guinness), a long suffering bank employee who is responsible for sitting in the back of the armored car and keep a watchful eye over the transportation of England's gold bullion. Over twenty years of faithful surface he suddenly comes up with a plan to steal a million pounds worth of gold (actually, the plan used in the movie was put together by employees of the Bank of England, who responded with amazing enthusiasm to a request for suggestions by Ealing Studio). Holland enlists Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway), a manufacturer of cheap souvenirs, for his plan and the gang is fleshed out with a couple of "professional" criminals, Lackery (Sidney James) and Shorty (Alfie Bass). All four of the mob members are distinctive characters and despite their shortcomings and their intention fo commit robbery, they are clearly not bad blokes.

The caper is ingeniously simple and is pulled off with a couple of significant hitches. Then there are several major complications in trying to get away with the crime that has all of England talking, but that is the fun. Holland has our good will, mainly because of Guinness' winning performance; he received his first Oscar nomination for the role, winning five years later for "The Bridge on the Rive Kwai." Holland's impish smile as he finally seizes his opportunity for the life of which he has long dreamt is captivating. But the chief charm here is the script by T.E.B. Clarke, which did win the Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay. Originally, Clarke was working on the script as a straight drama but became intrigued by the comic possibilities of the story. There is one major extended chase scene in the film but what is more memorable is the sight of Holland and Pendlebury racing down the circular steps of the Eiffel Tower.

This is not so much a great comedy as it is a solid one in the English tradition that flourished after the Second World War. The story is so well constructed that the film only runs 78-minutes and the humor comes out of the characters and the situations. Final Note: I am glad to know that when I thought the young woman in the opening scene of this film looked like Audrey Heburn that it was indeed the future film superstar. I just never thought of her as being a bit player.

Rating:
Summary: What we want is not always what we dream of...
Review: A retired bank clerk retells his life story of how he reached his goal of riches for a stranger in a bar in Rio de Janeiro. When he was bank clerk he meticulously oversaw the banks gold bar production and transportation. Eventually, he intended to steal this gold whenever an opportunity arose. One day a man moved into the same building in which he lived and the man's profession seemed to fit into the bank clerks dubious plan. In addition, he traps two accomplices for the plan and they put the plan into action. However, something seems fishy as the story unfolds. The Lavender Hill Mob is a well performed dark comedy about the theft of a hefty sum in gold that brings the audience to ponder the film in retrospect.

Rating:
Summary: What we want is not always what we dream of...
Review: A retired bank clerk retells his life story of how he reached his goal of riches for a stranger in a bar in Rio de Janeiro. When he was bank clerk he meticulously oversaw the banks gold bar production and transportation. Eventually, he intended to steal this gold whenever an opportunity arose. One day a man moved into the same building in which he lived and the man's profession seemed to fit into the bank clerks dubious plan. In addition, he traps two accomplices for the plan and they put the plan into action. However, something seems fishy as the story unfolds. The Lavender Hill Mob is a well performed dark comedy about the theft of a hefty sum in gold that brings the audience to ponder the film in retrospect.

Rating:
Summary: Minor classic of Ealing comedy
Review: I do not rate this as among the great Ealing studios comedies and it trails behind such movies as Kind Hearts and Coronets ,The Ladykillers and The Man in the White Suit as examples of that genre.It is however ,an enjoyable and diverting piece of work ,solidly in the traditions of comedy established by the studio.
Th framing scenes depict Alec Guinness as Holland ,clearly a luminary of the expatriate English set of Rio De Janeiro ,relating the tale of how he came to acquire his wealth and postition .His audience is a soberly dresssed man clearly also English.
We then are taken back to the execution of a gold bullion robbbery ,masterminded by Holland ,a long serving ,meek and decorous Bank of England employee who has dreamed of robbing the vehicle containing the gold .He enlists the aid of Pemberton (Stanley Hoilloway)who owns a small souvenir making business ,and that of two small time professional criminals -played by two British comedy stalwarts in Sid James and Aldie Bass.The robbery is executed without violence and the ingots melted down into replicas of the Eiffel Tower which Pemberton and Holland go to Paris to rescue .Alas, some find their way onto the market and the duo are forced to try buying back the models from the schoolgirls who have purchased them .

There is a lively car chase -again comedic in tone rather than an exercise in screeching rubber -before the twist ending in Rio.

This is a gently amoral comedy -the larceny perpetrated is without violence or malice and is shown as the revenge of the timid and passed over in an age of drabness and austerity.It is a tale of the "little man "who rebels .In contrast to more recent caper movies these are not vicious professional criminals but opporunists who shrink from violence .It is thus a period piece and miles removed from the unappealing specimens deopicted in the modern British crime movies like those of the morally null Guy Ritchie.
Beautifully acted by Guinness and Holloway in particular this is a gently satiric ,nicely written comedy of the worm that turns.

Rating:
Summary: Minor classic of Ealing comedy
Review: I do not rate this as among the great Ealing studios comedies and it trails behind such movies as Kind Hearts and Coronets ,The Ladykillers and The Man in the White Suit as examples of that genre.It is however ,an enjoyable and diverting piece of work ,solidly in the traditions of comedy established by the studio.
Th framing scenes depict Alec Guinness as Holland ,clearly a luminary of the expatriate English set of Rio De Janeiro ,relating the tale of how he came to acquire his wealth and postition .His audience is a soberly dresssed man clearly also English.
We then are taken back to the execution of a gold bullion robbbery ,masterminded by Holland ,a long serving ,meek and decorous Bank of England employee who has dreamed of robbing the vehicle containing the gold .He enlists the aid of Pemberton (Stanley Hoilloway)who owns a small souvenir making business ,and that of two small time professional criminals -played by two British comedy stalwarts in Sid James and Aldie Bass.The robbery is executed without violence and the ingots melted down into replicas of the Eiffel Tower which Pemberton and Holland go to Paris to rescue .Alas, some find their way onto the market and the duo are forced to try buying back the models from the schoolgirls who have purchased them .

There is a lively car chase -again comedic in tone rather than an exercise in screeching rubber -before the twist ending in Rio.

This is a gently amoral comedy -the larceny perpetrated is without violence or malice and is shown as the revenge of the timid and passed over in an age of drabness and austerity.It is a tale of the "little man "who rebels .In contrast to more recent caper movies these are not vicious professional criminals but opporunists who shrink from violence .It is thus a period piece and miles removed from the unappealing specimens deopicted in the modern British crime movies like those of the morally null Guy Ritchie.
Beautifully acted by Guinness and Holloway in particular this is a gently satiric ,nicely written comedy of the worm that turns.

Rating:
Summary: Nice little comedy with Alec Guinness
Review: I know this film has rave reviews from a lot of connossieurs of this era and this genre (that is, a British-made comedy from the early '50s), and it's pleasant enough but just isn't for everybody. Which is fine, no movie is.

As a Yank cretin who grew up in the '70s, however, who mainly knows Guinness from his Obi Wan Kenobe turn in "Star Wars," it's mainly a pleasure to see just how talented an actor the old fella really was. Subtle and nuanced, although he can't quite seem to be consistent with just how nasal the character's voice should be from line to line, here Guinness plays "Dutch" Holland, a man whose job involves checking the melting of British gold into bricks and seeing that they are transported properly to their Very Safe Place.

Problem is, for 19 years Dutch has been living a very quiet and unsuspicious life but wishing he could find a way to smuggle some of that gold out of the country...so quiet and unsuspicious that he won't even let on that he wants to be known as "Dutch." Then Mr. Holland meets an exporter of Eiffel Tower replicas who agrees to make them from stolen gold from now on...and the fun ensues. (This is in stark contrast to the official Amazon review, wherein Dutch suddenly decides to do this with an old friend, as opposed to the actual plot where he fulfills an old fantasy with a new friend. Do these people actually WATCH these movies before reviewing them?)

Anyway, Sir Alec is a joy to watch, and there is a very compelling scene wherein he and his exporter friend race down the Eiffel Tower on foot. It really becomes a bit of a madcap farce, and certainly won't lose your attention.

In the end, however, in spite of nice plot twists and a few laughs along the way, it really amounts to no more than a mildly pleasant diversion...unless you really REALLY like those British sitcoms seen so often on PBS. If that describes you, this would definitely be your cup of tea, so to speak. If, however, the only British comedy you've ever really REALLY liked on PBS involved the word Python in the title, you may wish to pass.

Rating:
Summary: I LOVE AUDREY HEPBURN
Review: I LOVE AUDREY HEPBURN SHE WAS GREAT IN THAT MOVIE. SHE IS SO BEAUTIFU

Rating:
Summary: Sweet but dull
Review: I never caught this on late night television or was willing to pay the more expensive price for the video elsewhere. Now I'm stuck with a sweet, but VERY dull video. And no, I don't care for graphic violence and much prefer comedies, but this movie just dragged on and on and on. I never laughed out loud watching this, but have to admit I did smile a few times. I was also disappointed in the quality of my video not only because it jerked around quite a bit, but that it wasn't even "sized" for television viewing. I am wondering if any of the other titles I bought, "Kind Hearts and Coronets" and "The Ladykillers" will be any better.

Rating:
Summary: Truly a "Classic" Comedy
Review: I recently purchased The Horse's Mouth (1958) from Amazon as well as "The Alec Guinness Collection" which includes The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) plus four others: Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), The Man in the White Suit (1951), The Captain's Paradise (1953), and The Ladykillers (1955). Frankly, I was amazed how well each of the six films has held up since I first saw it.

This film was directed by Charles Crighton. Noteworthy in the first scene is a brief appearance by Audrey Hepburn, identified in the credits as "Chiquita." After she departs, Henry Holland (played brilliantly, as always, by Guinness) begins to recount the Lavender Hill saga to his companion. As he explains, he was a mild-mannered fellow who supervised the transportation by van of gold bullion. His boss, the armed guards who accompany him, and those who receive the shipments all respect his fastidious (albeit anal retentive) attitude toward his duties. Holland seems to have no private life except for his friendship with Alfred Pendlebury (played by Stanley Holloway) who owns a company which manufactures paperweights. For reasons which will not be revealed here, Holland and Pendlebury decide to steal a shipment worth (in 1951) several million pounds. They realize they will need help so they recruit two smalltime Cockney crooks, Lackery Wood (Sidney James) and Shorty Fisher (Alfie Bass), and thereby create the Lavender Hill Mob. In my opinion, how they plan and then complete the heist is far less entertaining than what happens afterward. T.E.B. Clarke received an Academy Award for his script which, paradoxically, is quite simple and yet wholly unpredictable. The acting is consistently first-rate. Also, while recently seeing this film again, I enjoyed the exterior shots London and Paris more than 50 years ago. This comedy is indeed a "classic."

Rating:
Summary: Black and white heist flick bathed in purple and gold
Review: I'm usually not a fan of movies featuring bumbling innocents trying to do right, brought down by an endless series of accidents and mistakes. The futility of the whole exercise frustrates me, and I can't find any room for humour in the whole endeavor. "The Lavender Hill Mob" nearly falls into this trap, but thankfully doesn't. The reason it doesn't -- and it's a reason I can't go into without ruining the wonderful surprise ending -- preserves the comedy of this delightful little heist movie.

It's a very subdued comedy. The word on the street led me to believe that wacky hijinks and silly shenanigans would be the order of the day. Not true. Actually, there's a lot of quiet dignity here. Which makes the moments of action that much funnier. Alec Guinness as the mob's "boss" Henry Holland, a 20-year vet of the straight and narrow, is a desperate man, but he always does his best to maintain control in stressful situations. He screws up his face, peers (with glorious wide eyes) knowingly from behind his glasses, and does his best to understand and analyze the predicaments he finds himself in. When he's successful in that endeavor, the proceedings are funny. But when he isn't... well... they're that much funnier. Stanley Holloway plays his cohort, Pendlebury, a disgruntled manufacturer of cheap souvenirs. He's a less menacing, almost innocent Sydney Greenstreet-type, who gets roped into a situation that appears foolproof. Too bad these men aren't fools; they'd have gotten away scott free. It's their intellect that does them in. They're joined by a couple of charismatic career criminals, who may dress the part but seem more at home sipping tea than casing joints. The scene where the four men meet, while simultaneously trying to rob a payroll safe, is a wonderful moment of manners in the face of criminal activity. A joy to watch.

The giggly English schoolgirl scene (a classic) is creepy and disturbing. It's hilarious how a group made up of innocents can be turned menacing in a certain context. Combine the danger of the heights (they're at the top of the Eiffel Tower) with their high pitched giggling, and their tragic effect on the plot, and the girls turn into a dangerous phenomenon. It's quite ludicrous, and very funny. This is followed by a wonderfully surreal chase scene, in which Holland and Pendlebury chase them down via a spiraling staircase. Even though the special effects are cheap and obviously fake, it felt like a ridiculous version of Hitchcock's "Vertigo". It's combination of the stuffy Englishman, the Tower spinning around them, and a wind-whipped trenchcoat tossed overboard makes for some great fun. And the finale, a romp through a police exhibition, has a cool Keystone Cops quality to it that had me giggling with glee.

Unfortunately, at times, deteriorated audio tracks and murky, fuzzy video marred some of the action. Wading through the thick accents would have been tough enough, but when you can't hear their voices (or at worst see their lips move), understanding these men was a trial. Too bad, because what I did manage to hear was charming, witty, and terribly funny.