The Ladykillers

The Ladykillers
Original film poster by Reginald Mount
Directed by Alexander Mackendrick
Produced by Michael Balcon
Written by William Rose
Starring
Music by Tristram Cary
Cinematography Otto Heller
Edited by Jack Harris
Production
company
Distributed by The Rank Organisation (UK)
Release date
  • 8 December 1955 (1955-12-08) (UK)
Running time
 97 minutes
Country United Kingdom
Language English

The Ladykillers is a 1955 British black comedy crime film directed by Alexander Mackendrick for Ealing Studios. It stars Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Peter Sellers, Danny Green, Jack Warner and Katie Johnson as the old lady; Mrs. Wilberforce.[1] American William Rose wrote the screenplay,[1] 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.

The film holds a rare 100% rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 23 reviews.[2] The British Film Institute ranked The Ladykillers the 13th greatest British film of all time. In 2017 a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out magazine saw it ranked the 29th best British film ever.[3]

Plot

Mrs Wilberforce is a sweet and eccentric old widow who lives alone with her raucous parrots in a gradually subsiding lopsided house, built over the entrance to a railway tunnel in Kings Cross, London. 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 neighbourhood activities. Having led wild-goose chases in the past, she is humoured by the officers there who give her reports no credence whatsoever.

She is approached by an archly sinister character, 'Professor' Marcus, who wants to rent rooms in her house. She is not aware that he has assembled a gang of hardened criminals for a sophisticated security van robbery at London King's Cross railway station: the gentlemanly and easily fooled con-man Major Claude Courtney; the comedic Cockney spiv Harry Robinson; the slow-witted and punch drunk ex-boxer 'One-Round' Lawson; and the murderous, cruel and vicious continental gangster Louis Harvey. As a cover, the "Professor" convinces the naive Mrs. Wilberforce that the group is an amateur string quintet using the rooms for rehearsal space. To maintain the deception, the gang members carry musical instruments and play recordings of Boccherini's Minuet (3rd movement) from String Quintet in E, Op. 11 No. 5 and Haydn's - Serenade for Strings Op. 3 No. 5 (the "Serenade," actually composed by Roman Hoffstetter) during their planning sessions.

After the heist, "Mrs. W" is deceived into retrieving the disguised money from the railway station herself. This she successfully manages to do but not without serious complications owing to her tendency to righteous meddling. As the gang departs her house with the loot, 'One-Round' accidentally gets his cello case full of banknotes trapped in the front door. As he pulls the case free, banknotes spill forth while Mrs. Wilberforce looks on. Finally, smelling a rat, she informs Marcus that she is going to the police.

Stalling, the gangsters half convince Mrs. W that she will surely be considered an accomplice for holding the 'lolly' (slang for 'cash'.) In any case, they assert, it is a victimless crime as insurance will cover all the losses and the police will probably not even accept the money back. She wavers but when she rallies the criminals finally decide they must kill her. No one wants to do it so they draw lots using matchsticks. The Major loses but tries to make a run for it with the cash. As the oblivious Mrs. W dozes, the criminals cross, double-cross and manage to kill one another in rapid succession. The Major falls off the roof of the house after being chased by Louis; Harry is killed by One-Round who thinks Harry has killed Mrs. W after having a change of heart; One-Round tries to shoot Louis and Marcus when he overhears a plan to double-cross him but leaves the gun's safety catch on and is himself killed by Louis; Marcus kills Louis by dislodging his ladder under the tunnel behind the house causing Louis to fall into a passing railway wagon. Before falling into the carriage Louis fires a last shot at Marcus which nearly hits him. Finally, with no-one else left, Marcus himself is struck on the head by a railway signal over the tunnel and drops into another wagon. All the other bodies have been dumped into railway wagons passing behind the house and are now far away.

Mrs. Wilberforce is now left alone with the plunder. She goes to the police to return it but they do not believe her story. They humour her, telling her to keep the money. She is puzzled but finally relents and returns home. Along the way, she leaves a banknote of large denomination with a startled "starving artist".

Cast

Katie Johnson with (l to r) Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Alec Guinness and Danny Green

Guinness seems to have based his performance of Professor Marcus on the actor Alastair Sim, for whom the part was originally intended. Robinson was the first major film role for Peter Sellers; he would later appear with Lom in some of The Pink Panther films.[4]

Production

The film poster was by Reginald Mount.[5]

Locations

Mrs. Wilberforce's house, No. 57, was a set built at the western end of Frederica Street, in Barnsbury, North London. In the 1970s a new housing estate was built in that area. The closest point to the location of Mrs. Wilberforce's house is now at the southern end of Conistone Way. It was 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 actually of Argyle Street, some distance away, with the tower of St Pancras railway station in the background. The scene of the security truck turning into King's Cross used the route from Goods Way, passing gas holders, turning left into Battle Bridge Road and right into Cheney Road. Goods Way 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.

Awards and nominations

Wins

Nominations

Reception

Box office

According to the National Film Finance Corporation, the film made a comfortable profit.[6]

Reputation

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.

Adaptations

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "The Ladykillers 1955". Turner Classic Movies. Atlanta: Turner Broadcasting System (Time Warner). Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  2. ↑ . "The Ladykillers (1955): Rotten Tomatoes". Retrieved 28 November 2016.
  3. ↑ "The 100 best British films". Time Out. Retrieved 24 October 2017
  4. ↑ "screenonline.org.uk, part of the British Film Institure (BFI)". Screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  5. ↑ "Reginald Mount". The Art of War. The National Archives. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  6. ↑ U.S. MONEY BEHIND 30% OF BRITISH FILMS: Problems for the Board of Trade: The Manchester Guardian, 4 May 1956. p. 7.
  7. ↑ "BBC radio programmes catalogue entry". BBC. 26 November 2012. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  8. ↑ "The Ladykillers 2004". Turner Classic Movies. Atlanta: Turner Broadcasting System (Time Warner). Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  9. ↑ Graham Linehan. "How Graham Linehan dynamited The Ladykillers". Guardian. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  10. ↑ "Play details on Gielgud Theatre site". London-theatreland.co.uk. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  11. ↑ "Vaudeville Theatre". Vaudeville Theatre. 9 October 2007. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  12. ↑ "» Latest News". Theladykillers.co.uk. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  13. ↑ "The Ladykillers Review - Best of Theatre News". Bestoftheatre.co.uk. 15 July 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
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