The Ladykillers (1955)

Director:

Alexander Mackendrick

Writers:

William Rose (story)
William Rose (screenplay)

Release Date:

December 1955 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

Meet "The Unholy Five"...The Most Befuddled Set of Assorted Thugs That Ever Fouled Up a Million Dollar Bank Robbery!!

Plot:

Five diverse oddball criminal types planning a bank robbery rent rooms on a cul-de-sac from an octogenarian widow under the pretext that they are classical musicians.

Plot Keywords:

Planning | Octogenarian | Criminal | Widow | String Quintet

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Alec Guinness	...	Professor Marcus
Cecil Parker	...	Claude (a.k.a. 'Major Courtney')
Herbert Lom	...	Louis (a.k.a. 'Mr. Harvey')
Peter Sellers	...	Harry (a.k.a. 'Mr. Robinson')
Danny Green	...	One-Round (a.k.a. 'Mr. Lawson')
Jack Warner	...	The Superintendent
Katie Johnson	...	The Old Lady
Philip Stainton	...	The Sergeant
Frankie Howerd	...	The Barrow Boy

Also Known As:

The Lady Killers

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Australia:G | Sweden:11 (1975 re-rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 (original rating) | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Argyle Street, St. Pancras, London, England, UK

Company:

Ealing Studios

Trivia:

The picture of Mrs. Wilberforce's late husband above the fireplace is actually a painting of Alec Guinness in his role as "The Admiral" in the earlier Ealing Studios comedy, Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949). Also, Mrs. Wilberforce's husband died when he "remained at the salute on the bridge" when his boat was going down, the same way Guinness died as The Admiral in "Kind Hearts and Coronets".

Goofs:

Errors in geography: From the street in front of Mrs. Wilberforce's house, the front of St. Pancras station is visible, placing the house south of the station. No tracks leave St. Pancras or the adjacent King's Cross station in that direction, so the house could not be adjacent to a tunnel as depicted (see trivia entry).

Quotes:

[She knocks on the door]
Mrs. Louisa Wilberforce: [pacing] Oh, oh dear, oh dear. Poor Mr. Robinson.
[She knocks again; the music stops and Claude opens the door]
Mrs. Louisa Wilberforce: I'm so sorry, Major Courtney, but I'm afraid General Gordon has bitten Mr. Robinson's finger. Now he's on the top of the cabinet and refuses to come down.
Louis: Mr. Robinson is on top of the cabinet?
Mrs. Louisa Wilberforce: Oh, no Mr. Harvey. General Gordon. Mr. Lawson, you're the tallest. Do you think you could try to get him down for us?
One-Round: Sure, I'll get 'im, mum
[he starts down the stairs]
Mrs. Louisa Wilberforce: Oh, I feel I'm being such a bother.
Louis: How could you possibly think a thing like that?
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004)

Soundtrack:

Music

A classic crime comedy that evidently can't be updated.

The humor in this movie is not only British, which is notoriously misunderstood by American audiences (and vice versa), which is odd because both the writer and director were American, but it is also now five decades old. Only the best American comedies have lasted anywhere near that long (consider, for example, the sad fate of many of the movies that people thought were really funny in the 80s – Police Academy, anyone?). The reason The Ladykillers has not only survived but has now been remade is because the comedy in it is not only effective, but it is intelligent, and it is very difficult not to be impressed by a comedy with a brain.

Alec Guinness is in top form as the leader of the gang, whose members reflects criminals of all walks of life. The ingenious plan is to rent out a room from a sweet old lady while they pull off a heist. The comedy, for me, lies in the difference between what is planned and what is played out, particularly in the difficulties that the gang of criminals have in outsmarting a sweet old lady who acts like a grandmother supervising a group of unruly grandchildren.

The problem that the movie has is that the pace is very slow and much of the comedy has faded over the years, but structurally and intellectually it remains a respectable film, even more now in comparison to its disastrous remake. What went wrong in the remake is that they did not maintain who the character of Mrs. Wilberforce was, because it was the juxtaposition of her as a frail old woman surrounded by toughened criminals that made it funny when things kept going wrong in their plan. In the remake she is replaced by Mrs. Munson, a tough-talking woman who was to be feared from the outset. There is no irony in being overpowered by someone more powerful than yourself from the outset, which I imagine is why the remake also featured Marlon Wayans and a case of irritable bowel syndrome, which I have never seen used in an even remotely amusing way.

While the original film may be a bit too slow for modern audiences, it is indeed charming the way 87-year-old Mrs. Wilberforce continually foils their carefully thought out plans, many times inadvertently. Alec Guinness is wonderful as the band's leader, wearing outrageous false teeth, nearly rivaling Lon Chaney as the man of a thousand faces, and Peter Sellers is one of the criminals as well. I'm no expert about British comedies or Alec Guinness' early works, but I can certainly tell enough from watching this movie that the Coen Brothers' remake did nothing to impress the British about Hollywood's respect for the classics.