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The Lavender Hill Mob
DVD cover of The Lavender Hill Mob
Directed by	Charles Crichton
Produced by	Michael Balcon
Written by	T.E.B. Clarke
Starring	Alec Guinness Stanley Holloway Sid James
Music by	Georges Auric
Distributed by	GFD (UK theatrical) Universal Pictures (US theatrical)
Release date(s)	June 1951 (UK) October 15, 1951 (USA)
Running time	81 min.
Language	English French Portuguese
IMDb profile

The Lavender Hill Mob is a 1951 comedy film from Ealing Studios. The movie was written by T.E.B. Clarke and directed by Charles Crichton. Alec Guinness and Stanley Holloway starred as gold thieves. The title refers to Lavender Hill, a street in Battersea, a district of South London, in the postcode area SW11, near to Clapham Junction railway station.

Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Cast 3 Casting 4 Awards 5 External links

Henry "Dutch" Holland (Guinness) is a timid bank clerk in London who has been in charge of gold bullion deliveries for many years. He discovers that he is about to be moved to a new department.

Within a week, he plans the robbery of the weekly gold delivery, with the assistance of fellow lodger Mr Pendlebury (Holloway). They blackmail two petty crooks, Lackery Smith (Sidney James) and Shorty (Alfie Bass) into helping them carry out the robbery.

The plan is to melt the gold in Pendlebury's foundry and export it to France disguised as miniature souvenir Eiffel Towers. But the plan goes wrong when one of the towers goes astray and is recognised by the police. After a high-speed multiple car chase through London, Holland escapes to South America, whilst Pendlebury is arrested. In the opening scene of the film, Holland is being arrested by British police for extradition to Britain. It is not made clear what happens to Smith and Shorty.

• Alec Guinness as Henry Holland
• Stanley Holloway as Alfred Pendlebury
• Sid James as Lackery
• Alfie Bass as Shorty Fisher
• Marjorie Fielding as Mrs. Chalk
• Audrey Hepburn as Chiquita

Audrey Hepburn makes an early film appearance in a small role near the start of the film. Reportedly, she was supposed to have had a major part in the film, but other commitments prevented this, so Guinness lobbied for her to be given a walk-on part. Although she speaks briefly to Guiness's character, what she says is virtually unintelligible. This was the first film featuring Hepburn to be given major distribution in the United States (most of her other early roles were in movies that were only distributed in Great Britain or Europe).

Robert Shaw, later famous for his roles in such films as Jaws and From Russia With Love, makes his film debut in a wordless role as a chemist in the police exhibition sequence.

The film won the Academy Award for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay. Guinness was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

The film also won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film.

• The Lavender Hill Mob at the Internet Movie Database
• The Lavender Hill Mob review at Old Movies

Preceded by The Blue Lamp

BAFTA Award for Best British Film 1952

Succeeded by The Sound Barrier