Pretty Good

Brilliant and touching

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

A million pounds in bullion is stolen from a British bank; the crooks successfully hide out in a foundry, melting the gold down and pouring it into molds for Eiffel Tower paperweights...but what happens when one little schoolgirl gets away with a souvenir and turns it over to the police? Sluggish and talk-heavy at the start, this comedic caper eventually becomes a breathless chase film, aided by the wonderfully 'light-fingered', light-headed team of Alec Guiness and Stanley Holloway. Their flight by foot from the actual Eiffel Tower is piece-of-genius filmmaking, while director Charles Crichton and screenwriter T. E. B. Clarke are adept at keeping the thieves affable...anti-heroes, as it were. "Mob" provided the virtual formula for many other heist pictures to follow, a genre wherein the audience is prodded to cheer for the criminals as if they were the good guys. This is acceptable here as a bright-eyed early example, with a first-rate cast and production. An added bonus: Audrey Hepburn, pre-"Roman Holiday", in a bit part as a grateful recipient of Guinness's affection. **1/2 from ****

Another awesome comedy from Ealing studios era. Movie is very simple crime comedy but the involvement of Alec Guinness leads it to an other level. He is a genius actor, there is no second thought about it. It is about some normal lawful folks with ambitions of better living. They are fed up with normal life and finally take a big step to change their life-style. The crime portion is not much of importance but the humor within it, behavior of characters and all the little things in the screenplay which makes it a remarkable one. Movie is very short in length and follows straight routine. It never stick to a particular point. It has lots of ironic things involved in it. And I just can't imagine a better ending. Stanley Halloway also delivers a good performance but the movie belongs to Guinness only. The best thing about this film is that it never looses its cool. And loved the dialogues. There is also Audrey Hepburn cameo in it.

THE LAVENDER HILL MOB is a wonderful heist comedy that preceded THE LADYKILLERS by 4 years. Alec Guiness and Stanley Holloway are pretty square masterminds of a bullion robbery where everything seems to be going fine until a bunch of English school girls thwart their well laid out plans. Much hilarity ensues.The plotting is brilliant with some truly hilarious and surprising twists to the story. Especially the "surprise" at the end. There is a brilliant car chase and nearly everything about this movie was perfect. There is hardly a false note anywhere, not even in the most outrageously funny scenes.(10/10)

I do not recall the last time I had such a good time in watching a film comedy as I did with this one. I've known about this classic for years but somehow in the list of thousands of films I've taken the time out to see, this one got put off-until now. I guarantee that I will re-visit this film probably several times over the next few years, because like a few other greats, this one seems like the type of film that will show me things that I missed the first time around.This is a British comedy even us Americans can enjoy, brilliant in every aspect from start to finish, and featuring one of the all-time best screenplays that stands the test of time as it sets out to amuse and comically teach that crime never pays off. The wonderful Alec Guennis, with that grinch-like grin, plays a milquetoast so mild-mannered he's content with his long-time position as the guardian of gold bricks as they are sent from being made to the vaults in which they are stored. Nobody suspects that he could be anything more, and his employer agrees that the only real quality he has is his total honesty. That is, until, he makes it known to the audience that he has only been honest up until now in order to bide time to get his employer's trust so he can move forward with his dastardly plan, stealing bricks of gold and having them shipped out of the country. When the robbery does occur, he is made a hero, having been "kidnapped" by the robbers. Nobody suspects him of everything, and on vacation in France, the gold (made into miniature Eiffel Towers) are shipped for impending pick-up. But six of them are sold to some British schoolgirls at the real Eiffel Tower, and Guennis chases them down the tower (in a hysterical cartoon like chase) in order to get them. They keep repeating "Goodbye, Goodbye!" like they know something is up and wish to rub it in his face. So when he shows up at their school and makes an offer to get them back, it is like he is taking candy away from babies, and it is totally delightful.Guennis was deservedly Oscar Nominated for this grandiose performance, and is ably supported by a fine cast, most notably Stanley Holloway, giving a not so cockney performance (as he did in "My Fair Lady") and Marjorie Fielding. Diminutive Edie Martin steals every moment she is on screen as Guennis's landlord. The screenplay combines comedy both verbal and slapstick with chase sequences both thrilling and hysterically funny. And when the police car Guennis is riding in starts playing "Old MacDonald", I dare you to try not to choke from laughter. The film, told in flashback (which has a cameo by starlet Audrey Hepburn, instantly recognizable in her adorable walk-on), has so many great twists and turns like the London streets, Eiffel Tower stairwell, and eventually the South American get-away it starts and finishes in. No remake of this film could do it justice.