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With: Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway, Sid James, Alfie Bass, Marjorie Fielding, Edie Martin, John Salew, Ronald Adam, Arthur Hambling, Gibb McLaughlin, John Gregson, Clive Morton, Sydney Tafler, Marie Burke, Audrey Hepburn
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Written by: T.E.B. Clarke
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Directed by: Charles Crichton
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MPAA Rating: NR
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Running Time: 81
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Date: 06/26/1951
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The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
The Eiffel Truth
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
Today, English actor Alec Guinness is primarily known for playing Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars (1977), and perhaps some cinephiles know him for his six films with director David Lean, notably his Oscar-winning turn in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). But hardcore fans love these early comedies -- each a work of genius -- produced at Ealing studios in the 1950s. The films generally run less than 90 minutes, and they each move with a snappy, clever pace. The general formula starts each film with a kicker of a set-up, and then flashes back to the story of how things got that way, and then finishes things off with a wicked twist.
After a tour-de-force performance in Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), Guinness returned with a leading role in the wonderful The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), directed by Charles Crichton (who went on to make A Fish Called Wanda). Guinness plays a meek bank clerk who supervises a weekly transfer of gold. After years of frustration he finally cooks up a plan to steal it by melting it into little souvenir Eiffel Towers. Of course, everything goes comically, brilliantly wrong. Look for Audrey Hepburn, not yet a big star, in a tiny role.
In 2019, Kino Lorber released a lovely Blu-ray edition includes a commentary track by film historian Jeremy Arnold, an introduction by Filmmaker Martin Scorsese, a TV interview with screenwriter T.E.B. Clarke, an audio interview with director Crichton, and trailers for this and three other Guinness/Ealing movies.
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