On the 28th of July in 1951, “The Lavender Hill Mob” opened at the Marble Arch Odeon cinema in London with a charity premiere, and proved to be a critical & box office success.

Whilst initially working on “Pool of London“, the writer T.E.B. Clarke reportedly got the idea for “The Lavender Hill Mob”. The film sees Alec Guinness & Stanley Holloway as members of a criminal gang who plot to steal gold bullion which will be melted down and smuggled abroad. Without giving away too much of the story, the gang end up in Paris where the Eiffel Tower features heavily.

The post-war Ealing comedies tapped into the public mood, presenting tales of the small underdog battling a larger enemy, generally state bureaucracy or established institutions, and whilst the morals of the time couldn’t allow crime or rebellion to go rewarded, for a brief moment, audiences could will on the unlikely heroes.