DVD Review: Sid James Collection
Right, here we are with the Sid James Collection - that'll be a couple of Carry On films, some episodes of Bless This House and some Tony Hancock. Actually, none of those are featured. This latest instalment in the Comic Icons series features three of Sid's earlier movies - The Big Job, Make Mine A Million and the collection's genuine classic, The Lavender Hill Mob.
The Big Job is very much in the early-Carry On mould, with production by Peter Rogers, direction by Gerald Thomas and the likes of Joan Sims and Jim Dale featuring the cast. Sid James leads the cast, playing George Brain, head of a gang of robbers (that also features Dick Emery and Lance Percival) who pull off a big job, get caught, but hide the loot before their 15-year stretch. On release, they try to track it down - but find a police station has been built over it. Yes, they have to break into a police station to get their ill-gotten gains. It's a good film - and if you love a Carry On, all the better.
Make Mine A Million is really an Arthur Askey vehicle - and he was probably approaching his "sell by" date by 1959. But again, it's good entertainment as Arthur Ashton (Askey) tells the world he's a big-shot TV producer, when he's actually just a make-up man. But his lies make it to Sid Gibson (James), who needs a way to advertise his soap powder on TV. He talks Arthur into plugging it on a live TV show - costing him his job. But the ad makes Sid some serious cash - and he decides to use Arthur to set up a pirate TV show to make even more. It's a decent little comedy, but not one that lives long in your mind.
That's not the case with the last of the set - The Lavender Hill Mob. It's a British classic, but doesn't really feature a lot of Sid. But that's not a problem when you have a cast headed by Alec Guinness and Stanley Holloway. Guinness plays Henry Holland, a long-serving and trusted bank clerk - but a man who dreams of being rich, with a plan to steal the gold he supervises every day. That plan comes together when he meets artist Alfred Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway) and two local villains (played by Sid James and Alfie Bass).
Together, they plan to steal the gold, model into miniature Eiffel Towers, then ship them out to Paris. It all goes to plan, but a minor flaw in the final execution leaves them open to police detection - unless they can wipe out the evidence. It's a gem, one of the great 50s British movies, with a top-notch cast, great script and a neat twist at the end.
And it makes this collection worth the admission. Hard to say this really represents Sid James' finest moments, but it's still a very entertaining collection of movies.
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