Details

Release year: 1951

Storyline

A meek bank clerk who oversees the shipment of bullion joins with an eccentric neighbour to steal gold bars and smuggle them out of the country as miniature Eiffel Towers.

Top credits

Directors

Charles Crichton

Writers

T.E.B. Clarke

Cast

Alec Guinness — Holland
Stanley Holloway — Pendlebury
Sidney James — Lackery
Alfie Bass — Shorty

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Awards

1 win & 1 nomination

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Did you know

• Audrey Hepburn (Chiquita) was considered for a larger role in this movie, but stage work made her unavailable. Sir Alec Guinness was impressed with the young actress and arranged for her to appear in a bit part. This is considered to be Hepburn's first appearance in a major movie.

• Ealing Studios, planning a bank robbery movie, asked the Bank of England to devise a way in which a million pounds sterling could be stolen from the bank. A special committee was created to come up with an idea, and their plan is the one used in this movie.

• One of the rationales the filmmakers considered in not allowing the mob to get away with their crime is that prevailing censorship criteria in the U.S. would have cost them the lucrative American market. (The U.K. had no such rule, and the filmmakers could have had the criminals successful if desired.)