Ealing Studios Collection: Volume 2

Four films from the legendary Ealing Studios. 'The Lavender Hill Mob' (1951) is a classic Ealing comedy.

Nobody would ever suspect gold bullion delivery man Henry Holland (Alec Guinness) of anything other than total devotion to his job.

However, with the aid of fellow lodger Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway), he gathers together a gang to carry out a heist, intending to smuggle the gold out of the country by melting it down into miniature models of the Eiffel Tower.

All goes well until the consignment of models becomes muddled up with another, non-golden batch.

Watch out for an early cameo by Audrey Hepburn. 'The Titfield Thunderbolt' (1952) is another classic Ealing comedy about a group of villagers who, angered by British Rail's decision to close down their local branch line, make a bid to run the service themselves, making use of an antique locomotive liberated from a local museum. 'Hue and Cry' (1946) is the first of the Ealing comedies.

A bunch of crooks use a comic paper, featuring stories penned by Felix H.

Wilkinson (Alastair Sim), to pass on coded messages for robberies.

When the comic's readership, a bunch of East End boys, discover what's going on they go to the police.

The local constabulary, however, are no help, and so the plucky lads set out to foil the robbers themselves. 'Dead of Night' (1945) is a horror anthology comprising five stories of supernatural terror from four different directors.

Architect Walter Craig (Mervyn Johns) arrives at country house Pilgrim Farm thinking that he has been hired to remodel it.

He finds the building strangely familiar, and upon entering discovers that he recognizes all of the house's occupants from a recurring nightmare he has experienced.

One by one, everyone present relates their own horrific nightmare: Grainger (Anthony Baird) dreams that he is a racing driver recuperating from an accident; teenager Sally O'Hara (Sally Ann Howes) dreams of a Christmas party where she discovers a lone crying child; Joan Courtland (Googie Withers) relates a story of an antique mirror linked to an ancient murder; the next story concerns two golfers who vie murderously for the attention of a young lady; and the final story features a ventriloquist (Michael Redgrave) whose dummy comes to life.