The Lavender Hill Mob

Alec Guinness stars as a mild-mannered transporter of gold bullion who has spent 20 years moving gold bars to banks in an armored truck. One day he simply decides to help himself to a million British pounds' worth of the gold, but to pull off the heist he enlists an old friend who sculpts and manufactures paperweights.

Once the gold is hijacked, it's molded into souvenir miniatures of the Eiffel Tower and shipped off to Paris. Panic ensues when six of the gold miniatures are mistakenly sold to a group of English schoolgirls, and just when the amateur thieves think they've finally pulled off their heist without a hitch...

Winner of Best Screenplay at the Academy Awards and at the Venice Film Festival. Winner of Best British Film at the BAFTA Awards.

"Charles Crichton's direction is subtle but inventive - check out the snaking, near-single-take opening in a Rio cabana - and the performances, writing and plotting are faultless." - Tom Huddleston, Time Out