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The Lavender Hill Mob (DVD)

Alec Guinness (actor), Stanley Holloway (actor) and Charles Crichton (director)
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Synopsis

This classic comedy from Ealing Studios stars Alec Guinness as Holland, a mild-mannered bank clerk who masterminds an ingenious robbery. For the past 20 years, Holland's job has been to escort shipments of gold bullion from refineries to his bank's vaults. However, he's fed up with his lot in life and so decides to team up with three accomplices to smuggle a load of gold from England to France. Holland cooks up a clever, secret plan to melt stolen gold into models of the Eiffel Tower and then ship them off to Paris as souvenirs. Although the scheme seems foolproof, the caper proves tricky to pull off. Soon the motley gang of thieves are being chased through the streets of London--and their stash has fallen into the hands of some very unlikely people. THE LAVENDER HILL MOB is one of the finest comedies to come out of England in the 20th century.

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Review

Sight and Sound, 10/01/2002, p.66, "...Relatively light-hearted and easy-going..."

Title Note

Theatrical release: June 1951 (London).

Theatrical release: October 15, 1951 (New York).

THE LAVENDER HILL MOB is number 17 on the British Film Institute's list of the Top 100 British Films of the 20th Century.

T.E.B. Clarke won an Oscar for his script for THE LAVENDER HILL MOB. His other notable Ealing comedies include two more collaborations with Charles Crichton--HUE AND CRY and THE TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT--and Henry Cornelius's PASSPORT TO PIMLICO.

Alec Guinness was deservedly nominated for an Oscar for his performance as Dutch Holland. But he was not to win the Academy Award until 1957, when he received the Oscar for his extraordinary incarnation of Colonel Nicholson in THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI.

Georges Auric (1899-1983) had a long and very distinguished career as a film music composer. In Britain, as well as working on several films with Charles Crichton, he composed music for Jack Clayton, Robert Hamer, Henry Cornelius, and Thorold Dickinson. The Hollywood directors for whom he composed scores included John Huston, Anatole Litvak, Otto Preminger, and William Wyler. And in France, he wrote scores for Max Ophuls and Rene Clair; for Henri-Georges Clouzot, and Rene Clement; for Roger Vadim and Georges Franju; for Jules Dassin, Julien Duvivier, and Jean Delannoy; and above all for Jean Cocteau.

Audrey Hepburn, still only 22 years old, has a small part in THE LAVENDER HILL MOB. She can be seen briefly, but indelibly, in the openning sequence. She is only two years away from her breakthrough in William Wyler's ROMAN HOLIDAY.

Robert Shaw made his screen debut with a small part in THE LAVENDER HILL MOB.

In his 1995 memoir MY AMERICAN JOURNEY, General Colin Powell lists THE LAVENDER HILL MOB as one of his favorite films.

Product Quotation/Excerpt

"By jove, Holland, it's a good job we're both honest men."--Mr. Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway) to Mr. Holland (Alec Guiness)

Release Note

DVD Features:

Region 1
Keep Case
Full Frame
Audio:
Mono - English
Additional Release Material:
Trailers
Interactive Features:
Scene Access
Interactive Menus
Text/Photo Galleries:
Biographies - 1. Alec Guinness - Star

Product Notes

Mr. Holland (Alec Guinness) has supervised the bank's bullion run for years. He is fussy and unnecessarily overprotective, but everyone knows he is absolutely trustworthy. And so, on the day the bullion truck is robbed, he is the last person to be suspected. But there is another side to Mr. Holland--he is also Dutch, the leader of THE LAVENDER HILL MOB.

Prolific Ealing writer T.E.B. Clarke won an Oscar for his deft script for THE LAVENDER HILL MOB. But he was helped greatly by the precise direction and impeccable timing of director Charles Crichton, and by the brilliance of Alec Guinness's performance. When he tries to recruit Mr. Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway) as Pendlebury chips away at one of his sculptures, Guinness circles Holloway, playfully seducing him into the idea of robbery and, as Holloway finally understands the proposition, Guinness looks back over his shoulder like some elfin Lucifer. When the mob goes over its robbery plans, Guinness insists on a detail and Shorty (Alfie Bass) acknowledges that Guinness is the boss. Guinness, concentrating, agrees. Then, as he relaxes and eases back in his chair, Guinness sheds his years of servitude to the bank--Dutch Holland is indeed the boss.

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