Amazon.com Essentials:
Britain's Ealing Studios was at the top of its game when this
classic comedy was released in 1951--one of the all-time best
crime-caper comedies and a quintessential example of the witty and
subtly subversive Ealing style. Alec Guinness stars as a mild-mannered
transporter of gold bullion who has spent 20 years moving gold bars to
banks in an armored truck. Then one day he simply decides to help
himself to a million British pounds' worth of the gold, but to pull
off the heist he enlists and old friend (Stanley Holloway), who
sculpts and manufactures paperweights. Once the gold is hijacked, it's
molded into souvenir miniatures of the Eiffel Tower and shipped off to
Paris, right under the noses of British customs officials on alert for
the missing gold. Panic ensues when six of the gold miniatures are
mistakenly sold to a group of English schoolgirls, and just when the
amateur thieves think they've finally pulled off their heist without a
hitch ... well, let's just say this classic comedy has a few climactic
tricks up its sleeve. Guinness is in peak form here, and director
Charles Crichton (who scored a late-career hit with A Fish Called
Wanda over a quarter-century later) keeps the action moving
with impeccable British efficiency. Along with The Ladykillers
and The Man in the
White Suit (both starring Guinness), The Lavender Hill
Mob represents the golden age of British comedy, and it's still
delightfully entertaining. --Jeff Shannon
