The Ladykillers
Encyclopedia
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.
) 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 at 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, with the bodies ending 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 (ironically using the same explanation given her earlier by Professor Marcus, that because the money was insured, any effort on their part to return it would only confuse things). 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.
The comedian Frankie Howerd
has a small role as an agitated barrow boy
, as does Kenneth Connor
as a taxi driver and Harold Goodwin
as a parcels clerk. 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
. Sim's daughter has claimed in interviews that many assume that her father actually played the part.
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.
. 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.
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
film made by Ealing Studios
Ealing Studios
Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in West London. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on the site ever since...
. Directed by Alexander Mackendrick
Alexander Mackendrick
Alexander Mackendrick was a Scottish American director and teacher. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and later moved to Scotland...
, it stars Alec Guinness
Alec Guinness
Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai...
, Cecil Parker
Cecil Parker
Cecil Parker was an English character and comedy actor with a distinctive husky voice, who usually played supporting roles in his 91 films made between 1928 and 1969....
, Herbert Lom
Herbert Lom
Herbert Lom is a Czech film actor, best known for his role as former Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus in the Pink Panther movie series.-Life and career:...
, Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
, Danny Green
Danny Green (actor)
Danny Green was an English character actor, best known for his role as the slow-witted ex-boxer "One-Round" Lawson in The Ladykillers.He worked in film, television and on the stage.-Filmography:...
, Jack Warner
Jack Warner (actor)
Jack Warner OBE was an English film and television actor. He is closely associated with the role of PC George Dixon, which he played until the age of eighty....
and Katie Johnson
Katie Johnson
Katie Johnson , born Bessie Kate Johnson, was an English actress who appeared on stage from 1894 and on screen from the 1930s to the 1950s...
.
American William Rose
William Rose (screenwriter)
William Rose was an American screenwriter of British and Hollywood films.Although born in Jefferson City, Missouri, after the 1939 outbreak of World War II, Rose lived in Canada and volunteered to fight overseas with the Black Watch...
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
BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay
-1967:A Man for All Seasons - Robert Bolt* Accident - Harold Pinter* The Deadly Affair - Paul Dehn* Two for the Road - Frederic Raphael-1966:Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment - David Mercer...
. He claimed to have dreamt the entire film and merely had to remember the details when he awoke.
Plot
Mrs. Louisa Wilberforce (Katie JohnsonKatie Johnson
Katie Johnson , born Bessie Kate Johnson, was an English actress who appeared on stage from 1894 and on screen from the 1930s to the 1950s...
) 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 at the local police station
Police station
A police station or station house is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, along with locker rooms, temporary holding cells and interview/interrogation rooms.- Facilities...
, 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
Alec Guinness
Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai...
), 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
King's Cross station
King's Cross station may refer to::* London King's Cross railway station in London, England** King's Cross St. Pancras tube station for London Underground lines.** King's Cross Thameslink, a disused railway station in London, England...
: the gentlemanly con-man 'Major' Courtney (Cecil Parker
Cecil Parker
Cecil Parker was an English character and comedy actor with a distinctive husky voice, who usually played supporting roles in his 91 films made between 1928 and 1969....
), the Cockney
Cockney
The term Cockney has both geographical and linguistic associations. Geographically and culturally, it often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End...
spiv
Spiv
In the United Kingdom, a spiv is a particular type of petty criminal, who deals in stolen or black market goods of questionable authenticity, especially a slickly-dressed man offering goods at bargain prices...
Harry Robinson (Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
), the slow-witted ex-boxer 'One-Round' Lawson (Danny Green
Danny Green (actor)
Danny Green was an English character actor, best known for his role as the slow-witted ex-boxer "One-Round" Lawson in The Ladykillers.He worked in film, television and on the stage.-Filmography:...
), and the vicious continental gangster Louis Harvey (Herbert Lom
Herbert Lom
Herbert Lom is a Czech film actor, best known for his role as former Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus in the Pink Panther movie series.-Life and career:...
). However, the Professor convinces Mrs. Wilberforce that they are an amateur string quintet
String quintet
A string quintet is a musical composition for a standard string quartet supplemented by a fifth string instrument, usually a second viola or a second cello , but occasionally a double bass. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who favoured addition of a viola, is considered a pioneer of the form...
using the room for rehearsal space. To maintain the deception, the gang members carry musical instruments and play a recording of Boccherini's Minuet
Minuet
A minuet, also spelled menuet, is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in 3/4 time. The word was adapted from Italian minuetto and French menuet, and may have been from French menu meaning slender, small, referring to the very small steps, or from the early 17th-century popular...
(3rd movement) from String Quintet in E, Op. 11 No. 5
String Quintet in E (Boccherini)
The String Quintet in E major, Op. 11, No. 5 , by Luigi Boccherini was written in 1771 and published in 1775. It is one of his most popular works...
during their planning sessions.
After the successful theft, the real conflict begins. As the gang leaves her house, 'One-Round' accidentally gets his cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
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, with the bodies ending 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 (ironically using the same explanation given her earlier by Professor Marcus, that because the money was insured, any effort on their part to return it would only confuse things). 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.
Cast
- Alec GuinnessAlec GuinnessSir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai...
as Professor Marcus - Cecil ParkerCecil ParkerCecil Parker was an English character and comedy actor with a distinctive husky voice, who usually played supporting roles in his 91 films made between 1928 and 1969....
as Major Claude Courtney - Herbert LomHerbert LomHerbert Lom is a Czech film actor, best known for his role as former Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus in the Pink Panther movie series.-Life and career:...
as Louis Harvey - Peter SellersPeter SellersRichard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
as Harry Robinson - Danny GreenDanny Green (actor)Danny Green was an English character actor, best known for his role as the slow-witted ex-boxer "One-Round" Lawson in The Ladykillers.He worked in film, television and on the stage.-Filmography:...
as 'One-Round' Lawson - Katie JohnsonKatie JohnsonKatie Johnson , born Bessie Kate Johnson, was an English actress who appeared on stage from 1894 and on screen from the 1930s to the 1950s...
as Mrs Louisa Alexandra Wilberforce - Jack WarnerJack Warner (actor)Jack Warner OBE was an English film and television actor. He is closely associated with the role of PC George Dixon, which he played until the age of eighty....
as the police superintendent - Philip Stainton as the police sergeant
The comedian Frankie Howerd
Frankie Howerd
Francis Alick "Frankie" Howerd OBE was an English comedian and comic actor whose career, described by fellow comedian Barry Cryer as "a series of comebacks", spanned six decades.-Early career:...
has a small role as an agitated barrow boy
Costermonger
Costermonger, or simply Coster, is a street seller of fruit and vegetables, in London and other British towns. They were ubiquitous in mid-Victorian England, and some are still found in markets. As usual with street-sellers, they would use a loud sing-song cry or chant to attract attention...
, as does Kenneth Connor
Kenneth Connor
Kenneth Connor MBE was an English comedy stage, radio, film and TV actor, best known for his appearances in the Carry On films.-Career:...
as a taxi driver and Harold Goodwin
Harold Goodwin (English actor)
Harold Goodwin was an English actor born in Wombwell, Yorkshire, England.Goodwin trained at RADA and was a stage actor at Liverpool repertory theatre for 3 years...
as a parcels clerk. A young Stratford Johns
Stratford Johns
Stratford Johns, born Alan Edgar Stratford-Johns, was a popular British stage, film and television actor who is best remembered for his starring role as Detective Inspector Charlie Barlow in the innovative and long-running BBC police series Z-Cars, created by Troy Kennedy-Martin.-Early life:Johns...
(Charlie Barlow from Z-Cars
Z-Cars
Z-Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby in the outskirts of Liverpool in Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.-Origins:The series was developed by...
) plays the driver of the security van that gets robbed.
Guinness based Professor Marcus on the popular comedian and actor Alastair Sim
Alastair Sim
Alastair George Bell Sim, CBE was a Scottish character actor who appeared in a string of classic British films. He is best remembered in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1951 film Scrooge, and for his portrayal of Miss Fritton, the headmistress in two St. Trinian's films...
. Sim's daughter has claimed in interviews that many assume that her father actually played the part.
Wins
- BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleBAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading RoleBest Actress in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognise an actress who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.- Winners and nominees :...
- Katie Johnson - BAFTA Award for Best British ScreenplayBAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay-1967:A Man for All Seasons - Robert Bolt* Accident - Harold Pinter* The Deadly Affair - Paul Dehn* Two for the Road - Frederic Raphael-1966:Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment - David Mercer...
- William Rose
Nominations
- Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay - William Rose
- BAFTA Award for Best FilmBAFTA Award for Best FilmThis page lists the winners and nominees for the BAFTA Award for Best Film, BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language and Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film for each year, in addition to the retired earlier versions of those awards...
, British Film and Film from any Source
Poll
In 2000, readers of Total FilmTotal Film
Total Film is a British film magazine published 13 times a year by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and offers film, DVD and Blu-ray news, reviews and features...
magazine voted The Ladykillers the 36th greatest comedy film of all time, and "The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
" labelled it the 5th greatest comedy of all time in 2010.
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 stationKing's Cross railway station
King's Cross railway station, also known as London King's Cross, is a central London railway terminus opened in 1852. The station is on the northern edge of central London, at the junction of the A501 Euston Road and York Way, in the Kings Cross district and within the London Borough of Camden on...
. However, the views from her house are of Argyle Street, some distance away, with the tower of St Pancras railway station
St Pancras railway station
St Pancras railway station, also known as London St Pancras and since 2007 as St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus celebrated for its Victorian architecture. The Grade I listed building stands on Euston Road in St Pancras, London Borough of Camden, between the...
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
German Gymnasium, London
The German Gymnasium is in Pancras Road, London close to the new international railway station of St Pancras. It was constructed in 1864-65 for the German Gymnastics Society, a sporting association established in London in 1861 by Ernst Ravenstein...
, but now runs between St Pancras railway station and the German Gymnasium.
Adaptations
- A radioRadioRadio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
adaptation of the film was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
on 13 January 1996 starring Edward PetherbridgeEdward PetherbridgeEdward Petherbridge is a British actor. Among his many roles, he portrayed Lord Peter Wimsey in several screen adaptations of Dorothy L...
and Margot BoydMargot BoydMargot Boyd , born Beryl Billings, was an English stage, television and radio actress. She grew up in Bath and trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art...
.
- In 2004, the Coen BrothersCoen BrothersJoel David Coen and Ethan Jesse Coen known together professionally as the Coen brothers, are American filmmakers...
directed a Hollywood remakeThe Ladykillers (2004 film)The Ladykillers is a 2004 dark comedy film directed, written and produced by the Coen brothers and stars Tom Hanks, with a supporting cast that includes J. K. Simmons, Marlon Wayans, Tzi Ma, Ryan Hurst and Irma P. Hall...
of the film, starring Tom HanksTom HanksThomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
, with J. K. SimmonsJ. K. SimmonsJonathan Kimble "J. K." Simmons is an American actor. He is best known for his roles on television as Dr. Emil Skoda in NBC's Law & Order , Assistant Police Chief Will Pope in TNT's The Closer, neo-Nazi Vernon Schillinger in the HBO prison drama Oz, on film as J...
, Marlon WayansMarlon WayansMarlon L. Wayans is an American actor, model producer, comedian, writer, and director of movies, beginning with his role as a pedestrian in I'm Gonna Git You Sucka in 1988...
, Tzi MaTzi MaTzi Ma is a Chinese American actor who has made numerous appearances in American films and TV series.-Life and career:Ma was born in Hong Kong...
, Ryan HurstRyan HurstRyan Douglas Hurst is an American actor who perhaps most notably starred as Gerry Bertier, an All-American linebacker in Disney's Remember the Titans and as Alison's brother, Michael, in the show Medium. He also played the role of football player Lump Hudson in The Ladykillers, appeared in the...
, and Irma P. HallIrma P. HallIrma P. Hall is an African American actress who has appeared in numerous films and television shows since the 1970s. She is best known for playing matriarchal figures the films A Family Thing, Soul Food and The Ladykillers....
. For the remake, the setting of the film is moved from LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to Saucier, MississippiSaucier, MississippiSaucier is a census-designated place in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It is part of the Gulfport–Biloxi, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, home of a riverboat casinoRiverboat casinoA riverboat casino is a type of casino found in several areas of the United States which use a riverboat as a casino. Several states authorized this type of casino to limit the areas where casinos could be constructed under a type of legal fiction.-History:...
.
- In 2011 the film is being adapted as a playThe Ladykillers (play)The Ladykillers is a 2011 stage adaptation of the film of the same title. It is written by Graham Linehan and is due to première at the Liverpool Playhouse in November 2011 before transferring to the Gielgud Theatre in London.-Premiere cast:...
, to premiere at the Liverpool PlayhouseLiverpool PlayhouseThe Liverpool Playhouse is a theatre in Williamson Square in the city of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It originated in 1866 as a music hall, and in 1911 developed into a repertory theatre. As such it nurtured the early careers of many actors and actresses, some of which went on to achieve...
in November that year before transferring to the Gielgud TheatreGielgud TheatreThe Gielgud Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster, London, at the corner of Rupert Street. The house currently has 889 seats on three levels.-History:...
in London.