The Ladykillers
- This article is about the 1955 film. For other uses, see Ladykillers (disambiguation).
| The Ladykillers | |
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 Original film poster |
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| Directed by | Alexander Mackendrick |
| Produced by | Seth Holt associate producer Michael Balcon producer (uncredited) |
| Written by | William Rose |
| Starring | Alec Guinness Cecil Parker Herbert Lom Peter Sellers Danny Green Jack Warner Katie Johnson |
| Music by | Tristram Cary |
| Cinematography | Otto Heller |
| Editing by | Jack Harris |
| Distributed by | Rank Organisation |
| Release date(s) | 1955 |
| Running time | 97 minutes |
| Country | UK |
| Language | English |
The Ladykillers is a 1955 British black comedy film made by Ealing Studios. Directed by Alexander Mackendrick, it stars Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Peter Sellers, Danny Green, Jack Warner and Katie Johnson.
American William Rose wrote the screenplay, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay and won the BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay. He claimed to have dreamt the entire film and merely had to remember the details when he awoke.
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[edit] Plot
Mrs. Louisa Wilberforce (Katie Johnson) is an eccentric old widow who lives alone with her parrots in a gradually subsiding "lopsided" house in King's Cross, built over the entrance to a railway tunnel. With nothing to occupy her time and an active imagination, she is a frequent visitor to the local police station, where she reports fanciful suspicions regarding various people she has come into contact with. Because of the wild-goose chases she has led them on in the past, the officers in the station humour her but give her absolutely no credence.
She is approached by a comically sinister criminal, 'Professor' Marcus (Alec Guinness), who wants to rent rooms in her house. Unbeknownst to her, he has put together a gang for a sophisticated security van robbery at the railway station: the gentlemanly con-man 'Major' Courtney (Cecil Parker), the Cockney spiv Harry Robinson (Peter Sellers), the slow-witted ex-boxer 'One-Round' Lawson (Danny Green), and the vicious continental gangster Louis Harvey (Herbert Lom). However, the Professor convinces Mrs. Wilberforce that they are an amateur string quintet using the room for rehearsal space. To maintain the deception, the gang members carry musical instruments and play a recording of Boccherini's Minuet (3rd movement) from String Quintet in E, Op. 11 No. 5 during their planning sessions.
After the successful theft, the real conflict begins. As the gang leaves her house, 'One-Round' accidentally gets his cello case full of banknotes trapped in the front door as it is closed by Mrs. Wilberforce. As he pulls the case free the banknotes spill out in front of Mrs. Wilberforce. She realises the truth and informs Marcus that she is going to report them to the police.
The gangsters, unaware of her reputation, decide they have no choice but to do away with her. No one wants to do it, so they draw matchsticks. The Major loses, but tries to make a run for it with the cash in hand. In quick succession, the criminals double-cross and kill one another. The Major falls off the roof of the house after being chased by Louis; Harry is killed by One-Round when he thinks Harry has killed Mrs Wilberforce after having a change of heart; One-Round tries to shoot Louis and Marcus when they plan to double-cross him, but leaves the gun's safety catch on and is killed by Louis instead; and Marcus kills Louis by pushing him from a ladder under the tunnel near the house and into the passing railway wagons. Finally, with no-one else left, Marcus himself is hit on the back of the head by the train signal over the tunnel and is thrown into another wagon. All the other bodies also end up dumped into railway wagons passing behind the house. Throughout all this, the oblivious Mrs. Wilberforce remains asleep.
When the gang members are dead Mrs. Wilberforce is left with the money. She goes to the police to return it, but they do not believe her and jokingly tell her to keep it. She is puzzled, but decides to follow their advice and goes home, leaving a banknote of a substantial denomination with a surprised beggar on the way.
[edit] Cast
- Alec Guinness as Professor Marcus
- Cecil Parker as Major Claude Courtney
- Herbert Lom as Louis Harvey
- Peter Sellers as Harry Robinson
- Danny Green as 'One-Round' Lawson
- Jack Warner as the police superintendent
- Katie Johnson as Mrs Louisa Alexandra Wilberforce
- Philip Stainton as the police sergeant
- Frankie Howerd as the barrow boy
- Kenneth Connor as the taxi driver (uncredited)
- Harold Goodwin as the railway parcels clerk (uncredited)
- Lucy Griffiths as Miss Pringle (uncredited)
- Vincent Holman as the station master (uncredited)
- Stratford Johns as the security van guard (uncredited)
- Edie Martin as Lettice (uncredited)
- Jack Melford as the detective (uncredited)
- Leonard Sharp as the pavement artist (uncredited)
The comedian Frankie Howerd has a small role as an agitated barrow boy, as does Kenneth Connor as a taxi driver. A young Stratford Johns (Charlie Barlow from Z-Cars) plays the driver of the security van that gets robbed.
Guinness based Professor Marcus on the popular comedian and actor Alastair Sim.[1] Sim's daughter has claimed in interviews that many assume that her father actually played the part.
[edit] Awards and nominations
[edit] Wins
- BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role - Katie Johnson
- BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay - William Rose
[edit] Nominations
- Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay - William Rose
- BAFTA Award for Best Film, British Film and Film from any Source
[edit] Poll
In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted The Ladykillers the 36th greatest comedy film of all time, and "The Guardian" labelled it the 5th greatest comedy of all time in 2010.
[edit] Film locations
Mrs. Wilberforce's house, No. 57, was a set built at the western end of Frederica Street, directly above the southern portal of Copenhagen Tunnel on the railway line leading out of King's Cross railway station. However, the views from her house are of Argyle Street, some distance away, with the tower of St Pancras railway station in the background. The scene of the bullion truck turning into King's Cross used the route from Goodsway, passing gas holders, turning left into Battle Bridge Road and right into Cheney Road. Goodsway was realigned northwards as a part of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link works and the gas holders were removed. A short length of Battle Bridge Road survives, but Cheney Road was largely removed to accommodate a realignment of Pancras Road that was originally to run to the east of the German Gymnasium, but now runs between St Pancras railway station and the German Gymnasium.
[edit] Adaptations
- A radio adaptation of the film was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 13 January 1996 starring Edward Petherbridge and Margot Boyd.[2]
- In 2004, the Coen Brothers directed a Hollywood remake of the film, starring Tom Hanks, with J. K. Simmons, Marlon Wayans, Tzi Ma, Ryan Hurst, and Irma P. Hall. For the remake, the setting of the film is moved from London to Saucier, Mississippi, home of a riverboat casino.
- In 2011 the film was adapted as a play by Graham Linehan. It premiered at the Liverpool Playhouse in November that year before transferring to the Gielgud Theatre in London.[3][4]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- The Ladykillers at the Internet Movie Database
- The Ladykillers at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Ladykillers at AllRovi
- The Ladykillers at the TCM Movie Database
- Then and now photographs of locations
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