The Lavender Hill Mob (Blu-ray)

Part of the Vintage Classics collection

One of Ealing’s most good-natured comedies, The Lavender Hill Mob is the enduringly funny story of a nobody bank employee’s ingeneious plan to rob the Bank of England and the motley crew that he assembles to carry out the raid. Much bungling and hilarity ensues as their plan threatens to come unstuck thanks to French bureacracy and some pesky English school girls.

Henry Holland (Alec Guiness) has worked faithfully for 20 years as a bank transfer agent for the delivery of gold bullion. A shy retiring man, completely inconsequential to his employers, he has long dreamt of a way to execute his plan of the perfect gold robbery – the only catch being how to move the gold on, once stolen. One day he befriends Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway), a maker of souvenirs. Holland remarks that, with Pendlebury’s smelting equipment, one could forge the gold into harmless-looking toy Eiffel Towers and smuggle the gold from England into France. Soon after, the two plant a story to gain the services of professional criminals Lackery (Sid James) and Shorty (Alfie Bass). Together, the four plot their crime, leading to unexpected twists and turns.

Writer T.E.B. Clarke was inspired to write about robbing his own bank whilst researching jewellery heists for Pool of London, and whilst writing the script he consulted with the Bank of England itself. The Lavender Hill Mob was memorably shot in the streets of the City of London, still bearing the scars of the Blitz.