The Lavender Hill Mob

"The men who broke the bank and lost the cargo!"

1951 1h 18m EN

👍

7.2

SOLID

★7.2TMDB · 299

ComedyCrime

Synopsis

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A meek bank clerk who oversees the shipments of bullion joins with an eccentric neighbor to steal gold bars and smuggle them out of the country.

“The men who broke the bank and lost the cargo!”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Alec Guinness
Henry 'Dutch' Holland
Stanley Holloway
Albert Pendlebury
Sidney James
Lackery Wood
Alfie Bass
Shorty Fisher
Marjorie Fielding
Mrs. Chalk
Edie Martin
Miss Evesham
John Salew
Parkin
Ronald Adam
Turner

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Charles Crichton
Writers: T. E. B. Clarke
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Tight 78-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

75 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Charles Crichton, shot by Douglas Slocombe. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Georges Auric. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Seth Holt shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Alec Guinness and Stanley Holloway and Sidney James carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The men who broke the bank and lost the cargo!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0044829 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Charles Crichton directs. Douglas Slocombe behind the camera. Georges Auric scores. Seth Holt cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Tight 78-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
275 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Directed by Charles Crichton, shot by Douglas Slocombe. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Georges Auric. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Seth Holt shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Alec Guinness and Stanley Holloway and Sidney James carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "The men who broke the bank and lost the cargo!".
8IMDB entry: tt0044829 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 11 themes, including "gold", "bank", "souvenir", "police chase".

The technical file

Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Original score: Georges Auric
Editing: Seth Holt
Costume design: Anthony Mendleson
Makeup / hair: Ernest Taylor
Runtime: 78 min · 1h 18m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Box office: $31,288
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)

Awards

BAFTA Award for Best British Film
Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Charles Crichton

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CharlesTheBold2017-03-03
Henry Holland ( Alec Guinness) is a clerk at the Bank of England. Because of his perfect record and self-effacing manner, he is considered thoroughly trustworthy and is even assigned to accompany shipments of gold. In reality Holland has a carefully hidden desire to commit the Perfect Crime, and is waiting for the big chance. The big chance comes when he befriends another frustrated man, Pendlebury (Stanley Halloway) who has the foreign connections that Holland needs. The result is a hilarious parody of the traditional gangster movie, which plays all the traditional tropes for laughs -- a holdup, a hostage thrown into the Thames, a French scene against the exotic backdrop of the Eiffel Tower, a car-chase. There is even a dizzying rush down the Eiffel Tower stairs that anticipates, in a comic mode, Hitchcock's VERTIGO. Holland's paradoxical character, half 90-pound weakling and half criminal mastermind, was of course designed to exploit Guinness's talent for playing multiple personalities. Though nobody knew it at the time, the movie would also become famous for one of Audrey Hepburn's first speaking parts, as a pretty waitress at the very start of the film.

Production companies