To my mind there’s nothing like a slice of of pure Guinness to ease you into the weekend which gives me a great excuse to flag up the recenty released restoration of Ealing comedy classic The Lavender Hill Mob.

This film is the latest in Optimum’s comendable programme of restoring and, importantly, re-releasing classics of the British film industry’s past into cinemas before the welcome Blu-ray and DVD release.

We’ll have our review of the restored film up on the site shortly but for now we have a clip from the film and its trailer, both of which should have you clicked frantically to see if this film is still playing in your local picture house, then hauling your cyber self across to the nearest DVDery to buy up the disc. It’s that good.

Here’s a synopsis and a hint as to the extras on the new Blu-ray,

Henry Holland (Alec Guiness) has worked faithfully for 20 years as a bank transfer agent for the delivery of gold bullion. A shy retiring man, completely inconsequential to his employers, he has long dreamt of a way to execute his plan of the perfect gold robbery – the only catch being how to move the gold on once stolen. One day he befriends Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway), a maker of souvenirs. Holland remarks that, with Pendlebury’s smelting equipment, one could forge the gold into harmless-looking toy Eiffel Towers and smuggle the gold from England into France. Soon after, the two plant a story to gain the services of professional criminals Lackery (Sid James) and Shorty (Alfie Bass). Together, the four plot their crime, leading to unexpected twists and turns.

Extras: Intro from Martin Scorsese / Restoration comparison / Trailer / Behind the Scenes stills gallery / and More

By Jove! It’s a clip

And a trailer? Cor.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_wbootYMio’]