Fans of A FISH CALLED WANDA, ROMAN HOLIDAY and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK will certainly want to check out an earlier work from the 1950s, as it features the directorial efforts of Charles Crichton, an early performance from Audrey Hepburn and camerawork from Douglas Slocombe, who helmed the first three INDIANA JONES efforts between 1981 and 1989.
At a time when movies appear to be getting much longer (KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON, OPPENHEIMER and DUNE: PART TWO all clock in at over two and a half hours), THE LAVENDER HILL MOB – which is getting a 2024 cinema release, plus 4K restoration release for Blu-Ray and Digital – takes us back to a time when films were OK to see at ninety minutes or less.
The chances are that most of us watched films that got us passionate about them at a more reasonable length (the likes of the original 1977 version of STAR WARS and the aforementioned RAIDERS clocked in at two hours or less).
THE LAVENDER HILL MOB – clocking in at around 81 minutes – comes from the legendary slate of Rank Film Distributors and Ealing Studios during the post-war boom in film production when the likes of A NIGHT TO REMEMBER and GENEVIEVE came into being.
Its’ enduring quality as one of the greatest ever British films is backed up by its’ box-office and critical acclaim, with the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, BAFTA for Best British Film and an Oscar nomination for Sir Alec Guinness (who was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for his role as Obi-Wan in STAR WARS).
The film is the tale of Henry Holland (Guinness) a loyal and faithful bank employee who is responsible for the transport of gold bullion. At the outset of the film he appears to be living it up in Rio and recanting his story of how he got into his fortune back in post-Second World War London during his bank days.
Living at Balmoral House in Lavender Hill (part of the title reference), he crosses paths with new tenant Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway) who moulds lead-based souvenirs and paints them with gold. A lightbulb moment comes to pass, as Holland persuades Pendlebury to utilise his method into melting down the gold from one of the transactions and turn them into toy Eiffel Towers to smuggle out of the country.
Their plan is also aided by two habitual criminals, Lackery (Sid James in a pre-CARRY ON role, though you can sense where some of his roles in the series were shaped by here) and Shorty (Alfie Bass). The plan is afoot, but are the police and others aware….?
A delightfully snappy and playful crime caper (which made Crichton the perfect man to helm Cleese and Co’s exploits in A FISH CALLED WANDA thirty-seven years later), backed up with a sharply constructed script and characters that (although you shouldn’t) you actually want to prevail with their actions, THE LAVENDER HILL MOB endures with its’ quality performances and well intended values. Hepburn appears on screen briefly at the outset in the opening Rio scene with Guinness and you already get a sense of her screen presence which would hit the first high with ROMAN HOLIDAY opposite Gregory Peck and Eddie Albert. John Gregson (GENEVIEVE) appears in fine support as a police inspector.
The script by T.E.B. Clarke was inspired by research he did whilst conducting research into jewellery heists and even consulted with the Bank of England as he wrote it.
The restoration is excellent in both picture and sound quality, painstakingly scrutinised to provide the best first viewing. There are also some interesting extras including an introduction by Martin Scorsese who is continuing to champion classic British cinema alongside his own endeavours.
THE LAVENDER HILL MOB is re-released in cinemas from 29th March 2024, followed by a 4K UHD Collector’s Edition and Digital release from 22nd April 2024.
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