First seen in the summer of 1951, year of the Festival of Britain, this heist spoof is one of the most glorious gems in the Ealing crown, with a fine script by wartime copper TEB Clarke and marvellous black-and-white photography by Douglas Slocombe, who shot Hue and Cry and Kind Hearts and Coronets. The Old Vic's Guinness, speaking with a slight lisp that gives his sad, nervous nonentity a curious edge, and music hall comedian Stanley Holloway, all brash confidence, are perfect as the bullion thieves who recruit inept, small-time crooks Sid James and Alfie Bass for the eponymous band of south London villains. Inventive, economic, masterly.