Originally published on Filmblerg.com. This version edited for length and spoilers.
What’s not to love about an Ealing comedy?
There’s great actors, clever storylines and just a little farce thrown in for good measure.
The Ladykillers is a black comedy, from the pen of William Rose, and features Herbert Lom, Peter Sellers, Cecil Parker, Jack Warner, Katie Johnson and Alec Guinness whose false teeth surely deserve a billing of their own. Directed by Alexander Mackendrick, who also helmed the Guinness comedy The Man in the White Suit, The Ladykillers could easily have been a stage play instead. But with Ealing behind it, it becomes something else entirely.
The entire plot hinges on a dotty old lady, Mrs Wilberforce (Johnston), who has a habit of wandering into the local police station to chat. They treat her kindly and move her on her way when things get too busy. Enter Professor Marcus (Guinness) and his "travelling players". Mrs Wilberforce's upstairs room is perfect for music practice, but Spoiler-alert his purpose is far more nefarious. He's the brains of the outfit, and assembled a gang for a robbery under arms.
Were this a modern movie, there'd be a lot more drama and fast-cutting to the resulting chase from the train station. However, being shot in the 1950s the pace is far more sedate. But however clever The Professor's plan is, as the adage goes: no plan survives contact with reality. Or indeed, a suitcase full of bank-notes.
Mrs Wilberforce is outraged rather than scared, and partly out of guilt, partly because she's an utterly harmless yet doddery old bint, and partly because the gang needs time to get away rather than Wilberforce blowing the whistle, they return to her house to discuss next-steps. Professor Marcus tries charming her. Louis (Lom) wants to kill her, but Lawson (Greene) won't let her come to harm. One thing goes wrong after another, with Marcus trying to balance the need to get the hell out of Dodge with the added complication of what to do about the old lady who is fixated on the robbers handing the money back.
For such an old movie, there’s a tendency to look back and wonder about pacing and story. One commentator, upon leaving the cinema, called it “dated”, which seems disingenuous given it was filmed and is based in the 1950s. Yet there’s not a moment of celluloid that’s wasted; like so many good stories, everything is there for a reason, from the introduction to Mrs. Wilberforce and the dark shadow following her, to the final denunciation of Louis and Professor Marcus fighting it out over the train line. Dialogue-wise, The Ladykillers is a cracker, with well-written conversational dialogue which informs rather than tells, and is character appropriate. There’s no exposition, just plot, which many modern writers could learn from.
And sure, you could argue the Police could have been a bit quicker off the mark to catch the criminals, but the other extreme is a 45 minute police procedural where the bad guys are nailed by the end of the episode.
In the end, it’s touch and go who’ll survive, but really it’s obvious when you think about it, with the priceless bookend of Mrs. Wilberforce visiting the police station then abandoning her long hated umbrella.