Watch The Lavender Hill Mob very closely. About four minutes into the movie, there appears on screen a tantalisingly familiar, very sweet and svelte figure. Is it? Could it be? In a tiny role with less than half a dozen words?
Well, yes it is; the end-credits confirm it. I won't say who it is; that should be your surprise. But it is just one delight in a movie which is total delight from beginning to end. OK, a tiny clue - she is the most famous actress Belgium has yet produced. And this appearance, in 1951, was a full two years away from her first starring role.
The Lavender Hill Mob is one of the four movies making up The Sir Alec Guiness Ealing Comedy DVD Selection box-set - now, there's a clever, tantalising name. The film (not the box-set name) proves that length is no guarantee of quality - rather, it's how the running-length is used. Instead of unnecessarily blowing-out the movie to the standard 90 minutes, it clocks in at a neat 78 minutes - yet there's no sense of being short-changed. This comedy is trim, taut and terrific.
The story is simple. Mild-mannered bank employee Henry Holland longs for a different life. He is tired of his the daily drudgery and the evening boredom at his suburban digs in Lavender Hill. He longs for the exotic, for romance and adventure.
And since his daily chore is to accompany the bank's bullion van each day from smelter to bank vault, locked inside the van along with scores of golden bars, the means to a different life is right at hand. But how to liberate these bars from the van? More difficult still, how to get them out of England, to sell on the lucrative European black-market where bullion sells for more than twice its 'official' currency-pegged English value?
Enter the answer to the second question - equally mild-mannered Alfred Pendlebury, played by Stanley Holloway. He shares Henry's Lavender Hill digs. He too is a romantic. By night he is a painter and sculptor, by day he runs a metal foundry making souvenirs for the European market. Trevi Fountain sculptures in bronze for Rome, Eiffel Towers in lead for Paris. That sort of thing.
| "BY JOVE HOLLAND... IT'S A GOOD JOB WE'RE BOTH HONEST MEN..." |
'Hmmmmm', thinks Holland. And a brilliant scheme for getting the gold out of England springs to his mind. He expounds his idea to Pendlebury. "By Jove, Holland", exclaims Pendlebury. "It's a good thing we're both honest men!"
Then the roster of players is enlarged to include Sidney James and Alfie Bass. They're enlisted as part of the Lavender Hill Mob, to make Holland's daydreams come true. And enter too that wonderful English actor John Gregson, as the young detective who'll do his best to thwart them. John Gregson himself was no mean slouch at English comedies, starring in one of the very best of them, Genevieve.
A wonderful cast, and lovely subtle acting. For top acting honours, I think Guinness comes close, but might be just edged out by a nose at the finishing-post by Stanley Holloway in one of his most sympathetic roles. It's a pity that for most people now Holloway is remembered in the main as Alfred Doolittle in My Fair Lady - he was capable of much more than that fairly unrewarding role.
This is a strong entrant in the box-set; it's one of the most delectable of the Ealing comedies. And the surprise twist at the end is still... you'll have to wait and see.
This is a totally serviceable transfer of the 1951 black-and-white movie; there are no obvious signs of wear-and-tear or other artefacts; there is a pleasing level of detail in the darker scenes, with good definition remaining in testing shadowed-scenes.
The only annoying aspect is that before we can get to the menu, we must sit through the loud, though reasonably stylish, Studio Canal intro logo. Once is fair enough. But then, once into the menu, if we select 'play film', we must go through the identical logo again before Mr Rank strikes his gong. Once is enough.
