The Lavender Hill Mob

Another of the classic films that I'd identified on my list of five to watch before I'm 30 was the Lavender Hill Mob.  This was partly because I know Lavender Hill in Clapham Junction well, but also because my Grandma tells me that she and my Grandad watched it at the cinema, presumably when it first came out in 1951.

Once again, I enjoyed escaping into a world which feels more harmless than today's.  Where crime and criminals feel less threatening and more lighthearted.  This film felt rather like a cross between Oceans 11 and The Italian Job.  I suppose the first of these films shows that it's still possible today to make a film where petty (or not so petty) crime is still treated in a comedic way and the audience side with the criminals since they are railing against the domination of the rich/the establishment.   'Ordinary man makes good and achieves his dreams' type thing.  Too often, however, as I've said before, I find more modern cinema disturbing and too violent at times and prefer this escapist kind of earlier film.

The film is a funny, slightly ridiculous story of a man who's worked very hard and with great integrity and honesty for 19 years in a factory that produces the gold bullion for banks.  His is a tedious job but he performs it well, with great attention to detail, and takes pride in ensuring that the bullion is made efficiently and transported safely to the bank. 

When he hatches a plan, therefore, to break this model of honesty, and achieve his dream of making millions and moving to South America, no-one suspects him.  The film chronicles the clever scheme that he hatches, and the scrapes that he and his fellow honest-man-turned-rather-naive-criminal run into. It's not a great work of art but it's funny.  It's a diverting and amusing way to spend a couple of hours and I'm glad that I watched it.