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THE LAVENDER HILL MOB 31
Sadly, then, we said good-bye to the inspection of the warehouse.
Also missing from the screen is the page of script in which Mr Holland momentarily suspects Lackery and Shorty of having 1 shopped ' his partner, Mr Pendlebury . This was a far easier cut to make ; indeed, it would have been made even if the original script had not been too long.
When one reads a script from beginning to end at a sitting, there inevitably emerge certain weaknesses which were not apparent at the time of writing. Not until this stage did I realize to the full how pleasantly amicable was the relationship between Mr Holland, the amateur criminal, and his professional henchmen. Making the latter pair seem menacing even for a moment struck a jarring note. Out unregretted went the menace.
Another 'blind spot' in the writing was the direction requiring Shorty, when he captures the bullion van, to put on a peaked cap which the guard has left behind in it. As an illustration of how completely one may change one's views on re-reading one's own work, let me quote the note I later set against this passage in the script: 'Wallis should not leave his cap behind. He ought to look every inch the alert guard and not go slouching around bareheaded. In any case, it seems far too convenient for Shorty and not at all necessary.'
Wallis consequently retained his headgear, which is why Shorty is seen — in defiance of the original script — still wearing his own cloth cap when he drives the van away.
Finally, there is also seen on the screen a diversion from the script for which I should dearly like to claim credit.
When Charles Crichton found a suitable location for the crew of the police car to set off in pursuit of the stolen van, he saw facing him a huge pile of sand put down in the road by some workmen engaged on a building job. The sight of it suggested to him a big improvement on the bare and somewhat unimaginative description of the action which appears in the script. He made the police car turn on this heap of sand, with the result that the unfortunate wireless operator was bounced up and down like a rubber ball as he endeavoured to transmit his urgent message to Scotland Yard.
Nothing could have served better to set the key for the fun we had already planned to have later at the expense of the police.