Rent The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
3.9 of 5 from 179 ratings
1h 17min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Sir Alec Guinness stars as a timid bank clerk who has the perfect scheme for stealing gold bullion from the Bank of England. One of the most affectionately remembered Ealing comedies, it features a skit on the 1950's Ealing film The Blue Lamp, with the unlikely gangsters almost getting away with the bullion in a madcap chase climax.
- Actors:
- Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway, Sidney James, Alfie Bass, Marjorie Fielding, Edie Martin, John Salew, Ronald Adam, Arthur Hambling, Gibb McLaughlin, John Gregson, Clive Morton, Sydney Tafler, Marie Burke, Audrey Hepburn, William Fox, Michael Trubshawe, Ann Heffernan, Jacques B. Brunius, Eugene Deckers
- Directors:
- Charles Crichton
- Producers:
- Michael Balcon
- Writers:
- T.E.B. Clarke
- Others:
- T. E. B. Clarke
- Studio:
- Warner
- Genres:
- Classics, Comedy
- Collections:
- Acting Up: British Actors at the Oscars, Award Winners, Films to Watch If You Like..., Films to Watch if You Like: Get Carter, Getting to Know..., Getting to Know: Audrey Hepburn, Getting to Know: Sidney James, Heist Movies: A 20-Year Stretch, inema Paradiso's 2023 Centenary Club: Part 2, A Brief History of Film..., The Instant Expert's Guide, The Instant Expert's Guide to: Charles Crichton, Top 100 BFI Films, Top Films
- Awards:
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 01/08/2011
- Run Time:
- 81 minutes
- Languages:
- English LPCM Mono
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- DVD Regions:
- Region 2
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Full Screen 1.33:1 / 4:3
- Colour:
- B & W
- Bonus:
- Introduction to Martin Scorsese
- Excerpt from BECTU history project – Interview with Charles Crichton
- Good afternoon: Mavis interviews T.E.B. Blarke
- Behind the scenes stills gallery
- Trailer
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 22/04/2024
- Run Time:
- 81 minutes
- Languages:
- English
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- DVD Regions:
- Region 0 (All)
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Full Screen 1.37:1
- Colour:
- B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- (0) All
- Bonus:
- New - The Lavender Hill Mob: Analysis by BENEDICT MORRISON
- New - London Comedy Film Festival Q&A with PAUL MERTON
- Introduction by MARTIN SCORSESE
- Those British Faces: Stanley Holloway
- Extract from BEHP Audio interview with CHARLES CRICHTON
- Good Afternoon: Mavis interviews T.E.B. CLARKE
- Audio Commentary by film historian JEREMY ARNOLD
- Original Trailer
- Behind the Scenes
- Stills Gallery
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Reviews (4) of The Lavender Hill Mob
Gentle - The Lavender Hill Mob review by JD
The pace is slow, the plot simple, the photography absolutely stunning. Good black and white such as this give a texture to the picture which I find better than any high definition colour. Alec G is of course great, Sid James plays a very straight character, pre slap stick. It is about a burglary but it is more than the plot and certainly more than the action which by modern standards is poor. A great film for a rainy Saturday.
2 out of 2 members found this review helpful.
Clean old fashioned humour - The Lavender Hill Mob review by JJ
This was my first introduction to The Ealing Comedies and it was a refreshing, simple romp with some great acting from a young Alec Guinness and rotund Stanley Holloway.
Such straightforward stuff to raise the spirits post WW 2 and now in the thick of a 2020 pandemic.
2 out of 2 members found this review helpful.
Heist comedy. - The Lavender Hill Mob review by Steve
Genial caper which was one of the most successful of the post-war Ealing comedies at the box office. It's curious how the heist film became so abundant across Europe in the early fifties. Maybe the dreams of people still using their ration books made it a popular temptation to make off with the contents of a safe.
It's that image of the underdog who has his day which inspires Alec Guinness performance as a wage slave who is assumed to be a mild, unambitious man in a pin stripe and bowler hat.... who then robs a security van full of gold ingots in the pursuit of a more lavish, exotic lifestyle.
He makes a fine comic team with Stanley Holloway, who melts the gold into Eiffel Tower paperweights, in order to get the swag out of the country. With Alfie Bass and Sidney James they are a likeable bunch of rogues. Audrey Hepburn has a brief pre-fame cameo as a society it girl.
It's an entertaining diversion which pastiches American noir, with the shadows and procedural voice over. The Oscar for best screenplay feels a bit of a stretch; it isn't really that funny. Unusually for a mainstream comedy, there is no romance. But there is a strong flavour of austerity Britain, its citizens finding escape in improbable fantasies.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.