The Lavender Hill Mob 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		0.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

The Lavender Hill Mob 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 7, 2025

Charles Crichton's "The Lavender Hill Mob" (1951) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include archival introduction by Martin Scorsese; archival interview with writer T.E.B. Clarke; excerpts from the BECTU history project interview with director Charles Crichton; and archival audio commentary by film historian Jeremy Arnold. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free "locked".

Some crooks are different

Henry Holland (Alec Guinness, The Bridge on the River Kwai) is a quiet bank clerk who works in a gold bullion office in downtown London. For over twenty years, he has been dreaming of being rich. He is in his early fifties and single.

Convinced that it is time for a change, Henry decides to rob his bank. He invites amateur sculptor and paperweight designer Alfred Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway, Brief Encounter, My Fair Lady) to assist him after he realizes that he is just as disillusioned with life as he is. Shortly after, the two are joined by a duo of professional gangsters -- Lackery (Sidney James, The Glass Tomb, Too Many Crooks), a safe cracker, and Shorty (Alfie Bass, The Bespoke Overcoat, Come Play With Me), a man with an unlimited arsenal of special skills.

The plan is to hijack a truck full of gold bullion, with Henry inside it, and have Alfred melt the gold into souvenir models of the Eiffel Tower, which will be shipped to Paris. Once in France, the gold will be sold on the black market. The money from the sale will be evenly distributed between Henry, Alfred, Lackery, and Shorty.

A day after the gang is formed, however, Henry is told by his boss that he will be promoted -- meaning that he will no longer have to work in the gold bullion office and sign off deliveries. This puts his plan in jeopardy because, without him around, it would be impossible to hijack the truck. Afraid that they might miss their chance to get rich, Henry, Alfred, Lackery, and Shorty agree to expedite things.

The heist goes according to Henry’s plan. While Scotland Yard is looking for the robbers, the gold is quickly melted and shipped to Paris. Unfortunately, a few British schoolgirls visiting the city end up buying a couple of the souvenirs. When Henry and Alfred go after them and try to recover the souvenirs, all hell breaks loose.

Based on an original script by T.E.B. Clarke, an Ealing Studios regular, Charles Crichton’s The Lavender Hill Mob is a charming, highly energetic film, one of the very best in the caper genre. It is also a refreshingly politically incorrect film, which is why it is so irresistibly funny.

The Lavender Hill Mob is loaded with terrific one-liners that effectively neutralize its minor plot inconsistencies. The tempo is steady and the camerawork surprisingly strong. (The entire production was funded with a limited budget, but it never shows).

Guinness and Holloway make a great pair of crooks. After their trip to Paris -- the highlight of which is the wonderfully edited Eiffel Tower sequence -- The Lavender Hill Mob switches gears and also delivers a series of effective satirical blows.

The long chase through the streets of London in the final third is executed with a great sense of style. Additionally, where in so many similarly themed films a chase is used to showcase various techniques or locations, here it actually enhances the satire.

There is a very surprising cameo. As the heist is put together, the beautiful Audrey Hepburn appears as Chiquita, a supposedly good friend of Guinness’ character.

*In 1951, The Lavender Hill Mob was nominated for the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival. In 1953, it won an Oscar statuette for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay (T.E.B. Clarke).

The Lavender Hill Mob 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Kino Lorber's 4K Blu-ray release of The Lavender Hill Mob does not have a Blu-ray copy of the film. If you need one, you should consider acquiring this Blu-ray release.

Please note that all screencaptures included with this article are taken from the 4K Blu-ray disc and downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the 4K content on the 4K Blu-ray disc.

This 4K Blu-ray release brings to America StudioCanal's recent 4K restoration of The Lavender Hill Mob. (On the other side of the Atlantic, StudioCanal introduced the 4K restoration with this Collector's Edition combo pack in 2024). The 4K restoration can be viewed with Dolby Vision and HDR grades.

The 4K restoration replaces a very good 2K restoration that was first introduced with this Region-B release in 2011. Even though it has been a while, I still think that the 2K restoration is a lovely presentation of The Lavender Hill Mob.

The 4K restoration brings meaningful improvements in several areas. For example, with HDR enabled, the daylight and darker footage reveal additional details, some of which are finer nuances that help depth look superior as well. Also, the grayscale is managed more convincingly, which is why the dynamic range of virtually all visuals is better. (There are a few transitions where minor fluctuations make this improvement less obvious). On a larger screen, it is easy to see that the 4K restoration has improved the entire grain field, so there is more and better exposed grain now. Finally, minor but meaningful stability enhancements have been introduced, too. So, should you consider an upgrade if you already have the previous Blu-ray release with the 2K restoration of The Lavender Hill Mob? If you have a large screen and want the best presentation of the film, the answer is yes. The 4K restoration gives the film a very healthy, attractive organic appearance, and while some minor native fluctuations are retained on it, it is the most consistent presentation of the film.

The Lavender Hill Mob 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this release: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

Even on the older 2K restoration of The Lavender Hill Mob, the lossless audio already sounded great. I am unsure if any new work was done on the audio when the 4K restoration was prepared. If any adjustment were made, it is impossible to tell. The dialogue is clear and easy to follow. Dynamic contrasts are extremely modest, but this is an inherited limitation.

The Lavender Hill Mob 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

4K BLU-RAY DISC

• Audio Commentary - in this archival audio commentary, film historian Jeremy Arnold, a huge admirer of The Lavender Hill Mob, discusses in great detail the production history of the film, its placement in the Ealing catalog (and how it compares to the other great comedies in it), the specific nature of the humor and the manner in which it is blended with the action that make the film so attractive, some of the key locations where memorable scenes were shot, the perfect chemistry between its leads, etc. The commentary was initially included on Kino Lorber's Blu-ray release of The Lavender Hill Mob.

BLU-RAY DISC

• Introduction - an archival video introduction by director Martin Scorsese, a big fan of The Lavender Hill Mob. In English, not subtitled. (4 min).

• Good Afternoon: Mavis interviews T.E.B. Clarke - presented here is a wonderful, very informative archival program with writer T.E.B. Clarke, who wrote the script for The Lavender Hill Mob and several other Ealing Studios films. In English, not subtitled. (26 min).

• Interview with Director Charles Crichton - excerpts from the BECTU history project interview with director Charles Crichton. The interview was conducted by Sidney Cole on December 15, 1988. Audio only. In English, not subtitled. (13 min).

• Trailer - presented here is a vintage trailer for The Lavender Hill Mob. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

The Lavender Hill Mob 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Sadly, the witty simplicity and political incorrectness that made so many British comedies so effective and timeless are now lost art. Over the weekend, I introduced several of my favorite British comedies with Terry-Thomas and Leslie Phillips to good friends, and then screened The Lavender Hill Mob. We all agreed that these films cannot be made (or effectively remade) today. Most of the innuendo and straight talk in them, which produce many of the greatest laughs, would not be tolerated, and some could destroy careers. The Lavender Hill Mob is probably the most politically incorrect of the Ealing comedies, and this is unquestionably one of its greatest strengths. Kino Lorber's 4K Blu-ray release brings to America the recent excellent 4K restoration of it, prepared on behalf of StudioCanal. The 4K Blu-ray release is included in Alec Guinness: Masterpiece Collection, a four-disc box set. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.