The Ladykillers. (PG.)
Directed by Alexander Mackendrick. (1955.)
Starring KatiKind hearts and cornets rereleasee Johnson, Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Peter Sellers, Danny Green, Jack Warner and Frankie Howerd. In cinemas now. A 5 disc Collector's UHD Blu-ray Edition is out on November 9th, part of Studiocanal's Vintage Classics collection. 95 mins.
Their remake of the Ladykillers is notorious for being perhaps the Coen Brothers' worst films – fighting it out with Intolerable Cruelty in a dark corner of the archive, kept well away from the other films. The oddity of it is not that they would do a bad job of it; the oddity is that of all the films in all the world, they would choose to remake a film that was made in their own image. The Ladykillers is a beautiful time capsule of London and the King's Cross area in the mid-50s, all lovingly encased in the hyperbolic tones of Technicolour so it will always be that bit lovelier than it really was, especially in Studiocanal's 4K restoration. But, to modern eyes, this dark comedy doesn't speak of the past. It looks like it might have been ripped up from this century and tossed back in time to land in the mid-1950s, at the top of a dead-end road in Kings Cross, just above a train tunnel.
The Ladykillers is an Ealing comedy, indeed just about the last of the Ealing comedies. It's the one where Guinness has the sticking out teeth and is the leader of a gang of five villains who plan a robbery while lodging at the lopsided home of a little old lady Mrs Wilberforce (Johnson.) To cover up their plotting they pretend to be a string quartet and use Mrs Wilberforce as an unwitting part of their scheme. As this is the 65th Anniversary and the title is its own plot spoiler I think I can safely reveal that in the last act their plot is uncovered by Mrs Wilberforce and the gang have to kill her to stop her telling the police.
In the various features and documentaries included in the lavish 5-disc edition, the word "dream" is comes up repeatedly. Famously the whole story appeared to screenwriter William Rose in one, and Mackendrick's film moves with a dreamy ease and certainty. Things fall into place. Every element is just right. The music moves between Hitchcockian suspense to ice-cream truck serenity. The sets and locations all look ravishing. The Technicolor gives everything a glow that is so much more than real life, yet still fundamentally real. For a comedy, it isn't exactly gut-busting, but then Ealing comedies never really applied themselves to the mechanic of hilarity. I like a laugh myself, and it did take me several decades to truly appreciate what Ealing offers instead. The Ladykillers is so magical you rather feel that actual guffaws would break the spell.
The film mirrors the theme of the script in that it is all about five hardened, ruthless professionals being faced down by a game old lady. Johnson had been acting in TV and films for a quarter of a century prior to this, but mostly in bit-part roles and often uncredited. Up against her were five top talents, including two who would become legendary. And the five members of the gang – Guinness, Sellers, Green, Lom and Parker - are all blissfully good. But they are no match for her.
What makes it such a great performance is that this little old lady, isn't very sweet. She causes confusion and chaos wherever she goes. You wonder if the late Mr Wilberforce was grateful for his role in the merchant navy as a way to get away from her; that the captain's decision to go down with a sinking ship wasn't quite such a sacrifice. Her moral certainty isn't endearing; it makes her unwavering and unyielding and completely unreasonable, as in the scene where she barges in on a dispute barrow boy Frankie Howerd is having with a horse that is eating his veg and ruins everything because she doesn't take the time to find out what is happening.
The expectation is that her unexpected steel will be balanced by the revelation of a softness in villains, but that isn't it. Certainly, Parker's shifty major and Green's sentimental strong man would never have been able to bump her off. Seller's teddy boy I'm not so sure about but Lom and Guinness were absolutely capable of it. Which might be why this film retains its appeal: the darkness is real and yet terribly innocent.
Special Edition.
This offers the film in three different formats: UHD Blu-ray, standard Blu-ray and DVD. There is a compilation CD of Ealing There is a disc of Extras featuring a new appreciation of the film; a featurette on the locations; various audio commentaries and interviews; an excerpt from a BBC documentary on Ealing and the complete Channel 4 documentary Forever Ealing. Best of all might be a spoof audio trailer written and performed by Peter Sellers.
Directed by Alexander Mackendrick. (1955.)
Starring KatiKind hearts and cornets rereleasee Johnson, Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Peter Sellers, Danny Green, Jack Warner and Frankie Howerd. In cinemas now. A 5 disc Collector's UHD Blu-ray Edition is out on November 9th, part of Studiocanal's Vintage Classics collection. 95 mins.
Their remake of the Ladykillers is notorious for being perhaps the Coen Brothers' worst films – fighting it out with Intolerable Cruelty in a dark corner of the archive, kept well away from the other films. The oddity of it is not that they would do a bad job of it; the oddity is that of all the films in all the world, they would choose to remake a film that was made in their own image. The Ladykillers is a beautiful time capsule of London and the King's Cross area in the mid-50s, all lovingly encased in the hyperbolic tones of Technicolour so it will always be that bit lovelier than it really was, especially in Studiocanal's 4K restoration. But, to modern eyes, this dark comedy doesn't speak of the past. It looks like it might have been ripped up from this century and tossed back in time to land in the mid-1950s, at the top of a dead-end road in Kings Cross, just above a train tunnel.
The Ladykillers is an Ealing comedy, indeed just about the last of the Ealing comedies. It's the one where Guinness has the sticking out teeth and is the leader of a gang of five villains who plan a robbery while lodging at the lopsided home of a little old lady Mrs Wilberforce (Johnson.) To cover up their plotting they pretend to be a string quartet and use Mrs Wilberforce as an unwitting part of their scheme. As this is the 65th Anniversary and the title is its own plot spoiler I think I can safely reveal that in the last act their plot is uncovered by Mrs Wilberforce and the gang have to kill her to stop her telling the police.
In the various features and documentaries included in the lavish 5-disc edition, the word "dream" is comes up repeatedly. Famously the whole story appeared to screenwriter William Rose in one, and Mackendrick's film moves with a dreamy ease and certainty. Things fall into place. Every element is just right. The music moves between Hitchcockian suspense to ice-cream truck serenity. The sets and locations all look ravishing. The Technicolor gives everything a glow that is so much more than real life, yet still fundamentally real. For a comedy, it isn't exactly gut-busting, but then Ealing comedies never really applied themselves to the mechanic of hilarity. I like a laugh myself, and it did take me several decades to truly appreciate what Ealing offers instead. The Ladykillers is so magical you rather feel that actual guffaws would break the spell.
The film mirrors the theme of the script in that it is all about five hardened, ruthless professionals being faced down by a game old lady. Johnson had been acting in TV and films for a quarter of a century prior to this, but mostly in bit-part roles and often uncredited. Up against her were five top talents, including two who would become legendary. And the five members of the gang – Guinness, Sellers, Green, Lom and Parker - are all blissfully good. But they are no match for her.
What makes it such a great performance is that this little old lady, isn't very sweet. She causes confusion and chaos wherever she goes. You wonder if the late Mr Wilberforce was grateful for his role in the merchant navy as a way to get away from her; that the captain's decision to go down with a sinking ship wasn't quite such a sacrifice. Her moral certainty isn't endearing; it makes her unwavering and unyielding and completely unreasonable, as in the scene where she barges in on a dispute barrow boy Frankie Howerd is having with a horse that is eating his veg and ruins everything because she doesn't take the time to find out what is happening.
The expectation is that her unexpected steel will be balanced by the revelation of a softness in villains, but that isn't it. Certainly, Parker's shifty major and Green's sentimental strong man would never have been able to bump her off. Seller's teddy boy I'm not so sure about but Lom and Guinness were absolutely capable of it. Which might be why this film retains its appeal: the darkness is real and yet terribly innocent.
Special Edition.
This offers the film in three different formats: UHD Blu-ray, standard Blu-ray and DVD. There is a compilation CD of Ealing There is a disc of Extras featuring a new appreciation of the film; a featurette on the locations; various audio commentaries and interviews; an excerpt from a BBC documentary on Ealing and the complete Channel 4 documentary Forever Ealing. Best of all might be a spoof audio trailer written and performed by Peter Sellers.
