The Lavender Hill Mob comes from an Oscar-winning script by T.E.B. Clarke, features early appearances from Audrey Hepburn and Robert Shaw, and was directed by Charles Crichton, who made the charming comedy Another Shore in Dublin in 1948. Meek and mild bank clerk Henry Holland (Alec Guinness) hatches an ingenious plan to relieve his employers of their gold bullion holdings. After he and his coterie of accomplices successfully carry out their daring heist, the gold is smuggled to France in the form of miniature Eiffel Towers. When some of these are mistakenly sold to a group of British schoolgirls, the carefully laid plan begins to unravel. This glorious crime caper is one of Ealing’s most delightfully entertaining.

There will be Open Captioned screenings at 15.45 on Sunday, March 31st, and 18.30 on Tuesday 2nd.

Notes by Kevin Coyne