THE LAVENDER HILL MOB (1951) **1/2 Ealing Studios' most famous comedy strikes me as fine entertainment, but not the studios' greatest work. It's a simple tale, well told and perfectly paced, with several moments of glorious absurdity mixed in for good measure (most by design, but one or two because of how the world has changed since the British were so honest and trusting). The leads are brilliant in their complementary understated ways: Alec Guinness takes the lion's share of the best lines and moments, and Stanley Holloway corrals his equally impressive talents into a textbook presentation of how to be a foil. In the opening sequence Audrey Hepburn makes her screen debut as a vivacious young lady. So what, how else can you present a vivacious young lady but by type-casting? For all of the film's strengths, its congeniality is somehow its principal attribute. It's the sort of film that makes you feel better about good guys, and bad guys, and crime, and punishment, and life in general. It's difficult to imagine anyone viewing the film, and feeling the worse for it.
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