The Lavender Hill Mob
General Film Distributors (GFD) | Release Date: October 15, 1951 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
90
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 13 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The Observer (UK)Philip French
Inventive, economic, masterly. Read full review
100
Time OutTom Huddleston
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. Read full review
100
EmpireDavid Parkinson
Alec Guinness shines in this hilarious British comedy. Read full review
100
The TelegraphSukhdev Sandhu
Helped by a peerless script and a great team of actors (Alfie Bass and Sid James as professional thieves; Stanley Holloway as an oratory-inclined artist-scamster), the film is both a joyous comedy and a tense thriller. Read full review
100
The New YorkerPauline Kael
Clarke's script, Charles Crichton's direction, and Georges Auric's music contribute to what is probably the most nearly perfect fubsy comedy of all time. It's a minor classic, a charmer.
90
The IndependentBen Walsh
The Lavender Hill Mob, along with Passport to Pimlico and Genevieve, is one of British cinema's most evocative films. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Though [Guinness's] performance may not immediately announce itself as his best, it's certainly one of his most representative, a thoroughly recognizable character of unseen depths and unexpected capabilities. Read full review
80
CineVueMatt Migliorini
Ultimately, The Lavender Hill Mob remains an unblemished gem that proves that the period wasn’t just one of fertility on the other side of the atlantic. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter Bradshaw
It's tremendously good fun, though lighter in tone than Ealing's two scabrous masterpieces Kind Hearts and Coronets and The Ladykillers, and not quite matching their elegant perfection; I've never been able to rid myself of the feeling that, however superbly set up, the aftermath of the heist itself is ever so slightly lacking in tension. Read full review
80
The New York TimesBosley Crowther
Except for a couple of places, there is no hilarity in The Lavender Hill Mob. But its humors are so ingenious and persistent that it is one big chuckle from beginning to end. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
A hilarious tongue-in-cheek crime comedy, one of the finest to come out of the Ealing Studios during their most prolific years. Read full review
80
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
With The Lavender Hill Mob, Ealing clicks with another comedy winner. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRachel Ward
Charles Crichton's classic crime spoof remains one of Ealing Studios' most successful films. [25 May 2013, p.36]
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