Review: Charming Characters and Clever Writing Lead "The Lavender Hill Mob" (Remembering Sir Alec Guinness)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 46 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux


The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: U.K.
Running time: 81 minutes (1 hour, 21 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Charles Crichton
WRITER: T.E.B. Clarke
PRODUCER: Michael Balcon
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Douglas Slocombe (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Seth Holt
COMPOSER: Georges Auric
Academy Award winner

CRIME/COMEDY

Starring: Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway, Sidney James, Alfie Bass, Marjorie Fielding, Edie Martin, John Salew, Ronald Adam, Arthur Hambling, Gibb McLaughlin, John Gregson, and Audrey Hepburn

The subject of this movie review is The Lavender Hill Mob, a 1951 British crime comedy. Directed by Charles Crichton, the film stars Sir Alec Guinness and Stanley Holloway in a story about a plot to steal gold bullion.

Henry Holland (Alec Guinness) is a dedicated bank clerk, and he regularly sees to the delivery of gold bullion to the bank where he works. But he wants more out of life. One day he happens upon an idea to get the gold for himself and brings in a small group of accomplices with him to pull off a robbery. Henry plots the theft of one million pounds of gold, and suddenly the meek Henry becomes “Dutch,” the leader of The Lavender Hill Mob. The heist is successful, but the best laid plans of mice and men. Slowly, the intricate plan begins to fall away by pieces, and just maybe the law is on to Dutch and the Lavender Hill Mob.

Many film fans consider The Lavender Hill Mob to be one of the three great Ealing Studios comedies. Studio writer T.E.B. Clarke won an Oscar® for this film’s screenplay, which it is clever and occasionally witty, but mostly dry. Director Charles Crichton has his moments – most of them in the last second half of the film: the Eiffel Tower descent, Henry and Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway) attempting to buy a cruise ship ticket, and the police car chase are among some of the best moments.

But the true star is Alec Guinness. By turns clever and subtle and droll and menacing, the film revolves around him, and he sells the entire thing. The film is not a great feat in directing or writing, but it is about a great actor who can so become a character that the audience buys into the character. Henry Holland is an interesting and intriguing fellow, and you may want to watch his every move. Sir Alec seems totally confident in what he’s doing before the camera. He’s the focal point, and the audience lives and dies with him, viewing the story entirely from Henry’s point of view. Many actors get us to buy into their characters because of the actors’ star power. Sir Alec did it by creating a character we want to know and through whom we want to live vicariously – a great performance that makes The Lavender Hill Mob memorable.

7 of 10
B+

NOTES:
1953 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Writing, Story and Screenplay” (T.E.B. Clarke) and l nomination: “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Alec Guinness)

1952 BAFTA Awards: 1 win: “Best British Film” and 1 nomination: “Best Film from any Source”

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"The Thing from Another World" Still Out of This World

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 67 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Thing from Another World (1951) – B&W
Running time: 87 minutes (1 hour, 27 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Christian Nyby with Howard Hawks (no screen credit)
WRITER: Charles Lederer with Howard Hawks and Ben Hecht (neither received screen credit); (based upon a story by John W. Campbell, Jr.)
PRODUCER: Howard Hawks
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Russell Harlan (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Roland Gross
COMPOSER: Dimitri Tiomkin

HORROR/SCI-FI

Starring: Margaret Sheridan, Kenneth Tobey, Robert Cornthwaite, Douglas Spencer, James R. Young, Dewey Martin, and James Arness

There’s no doubt. As corny as The Thing from Another World can be, it is one of the great sci-fi/horror films of all time, a true classic. I’ve it seen several times, and it remains a favorite of mine. I find it as creepy today as I did the first time I saw it almost two decades ago.

A group of scientists and military personnel at an Arctic research station discover a spacecraft buried in the ice. After accidentally destroying the ship, they manage to recover the body of an alien frozen in a block of ice, which they take back to the research station. During the first night, they accidentally thaw the creature from the ice, and it begins to hunt them.

The Thing from Another World is a film definitely of its time, hinting at the Cold War paranoia in America that was an element of some many sci-fi films, but it is still a creepy thrill, dated as it might seem. I always have a good time watching the research station’s occupants fight for the lives with the most serene attitudes. Everybody is so relaxed and chilled, talking about ordinary things like dating and having a good time with the friends, all the while they’re fighting for their lives. I think it makes us identify with the characters, especially the military guys, as if they were regular folks.

Christian Nyby, a protégé of famed film director/producer Howard Hawks, who produced this film, is credited as this movie’s director. However, many film historians and fans have said that this film bears Hawk’s imprint, so he either directed it in total or in part; at that time, a director of Hawk’s stature would not have directed a sci-fi film because doing so was deemed unworthy of an A-list talent.

Attitudes aside, this is a good movie. It certainly lacks the spectacular intensity of today’s hi-octane action-oriented sci-fi/horror movies, but those who can look beyond that will enjoy this gem.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
2001 National Film Preservation Board, USA: National Film Registry

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Review: Original Walt Disney's "Alice in Wonderland" is not Exactly Classic

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 169 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Alice in Wonderland (1951) – animation

Running time: 75 minutes (1 hour, 15 minutes)

DIRECTORS: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, and Hamilton Luske

WRITERS: Winston Hibler, Ted Sears, Bill Peet, Erdman Penner, Joe Rinaldi, Milt Banta, William Cottrell, Dick Kelsey, Joe Grant, Dick Heumer, Del Connell, Tom Oreb, and John Walbridge with Aldous Huxley (based upon the book by Lewis Carroll)

PRODUCER: Walt Disney

EDITOR: Lloyd Richardson

Academy Award nominee

ANIMATION/COMEDY/FAMILY/FANTASY/MUSICAL

Starring: (voice) Kathryn Beaumont, Ed Wynn, Richard Haydn, Sterling Holloway, Jerry Colonna, Verna Felton, J. Pat O’Malley, Bill Thompson, Heather Angel, Joseph Kearns, and James MacDonald

Walt Disney’s Alice in Wonderland is animated feature film adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s world-renowned children’s novels, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1872). The film takes elements from both books, but especially the more popular Alice. Thankfully, the film manages to be something on its own as its screenplay could never capture subtle satire, allusion, symbolism or the mysterious meanings behind Carroll’s remarkable work.

The adaptation is rather simple, Alice (Kathryn Beaumont) follows the White Rabbit (Bill Thompson) down a deep, dark hole in a tree and ends up in Wonderland. She has many encounters with the land’s strange inhabitants, including a tumultuous run in with the violent-tempered Queen of Hearts (Verna Felton), before the inhabitants of Wonderland chase her out of their domain.

Although Alice in Wonderland would stand head and shoulders above most other feature-length animated films, when compared to the Disney greats, this film isn’t one of them. It’s actually quite dry for most of its running time. What makes the film so memorable is the animation that is drawn to resemble the work of book illustrator John Tenniel, whose drawings for the Alice novels would become the definitive visual interpretation of Carroll’s characters. The Disney animation artists do a worthy job turning Tenniel’s precise delineation into the line work necessary for animation.

The second really memorable element of the film is the superb voice acting. Each and every actor deserves notice, from the starring roles to the small bits. I especially liked Ed Wynn as the Mad Hatter, Jerry Colonna as the March Hare and, of course, Kathryn Beaumont as Alice. The film’s 14 songs are the most thus far for a Disney animated film. They are good, though not great, except for the one that has most stayed in the public’s pop culture conscience, “I’m Late,” written by Bob Hilliard and Sammy Fain.

6 of 10

B

NOTES:

1952 Academy Awards: 1 nomination for “Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture” (Oliver Wallace)

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