Kurt: /* See also */

2022-12-12T16:58:25Z

Kurt: /* External links */

2022-12-12T16:55:07Z

External links

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:55, 12 December 2022
Line 119:		Line 119:

	==External links==		==External links==
	~~{{Wikiquote}}~~
	* {{IMDb title\|id=0048281\|title=The Ladykillers}}		* {{IMDb title\|id=0048281\|title=The Ladykillers}}
	* {{Rotten-tomatoes\|1011818-ladykillers}}		* {{Rotten-tomatoes\|1011818-ladykillers}}
Line 128:		Line 127:
	* [http://www.reelstreets.com/index.php?option=com_films_online&task=view&id=526 Locations used in 'The Ladykillers' at Reelstreets.com]		* [http://www.reelstreets.com/index.php?option=com_films_online&task=view&id=526 Locations used in 'The Ladykillers' at Reelstreets.com]

	~~{{Alexander Mackendrick}}~~
	~~{{Michael Balcon}}~~

	{{DEFAULTSORT:Ladykillers, The}}		{{DEFAULTSORT:Ladykillers, The}}
Line 146:		Line 143:
	[[Category:Films set in London]]		[[Category:Films set in London]]
	[[Category:1950s English-language films]]		[[Category:1950s English-language films]]
			[[Category:British comedy films]]

Kurt: clean up

2022-10-22T03:54:02Z

clean up

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:54, 21 October 2022
Line 130:		Line 130:
	{{Alexander Mackendrick}}		{{Alexander Mackendrick}}
	{{Michael Balcon}}		{{Michael Balcon}}

	~~{{Authority control}}~~

	{{DEFAULTSORT:Ladykillers, The}}		{{DEFAULTSORT:Ladykillers, The}}

Kurt at 21:24, 1 October 2022

2022-10-01T21:24:19Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:24, 1 October 2022
Line 1:		Line 1:
	{{short description\|1955 crime comedy film directed by Alexander Mackendrick}}		{{short description\|1955 crime comedy film directed by Alexander Mackendrick}}
	~~{{about\|the 1955 film\|the 2004 remake film\|The Ladykillers (2004 film)\|other uses\|Ladykillers (disambiguation)}}~~
	{{Use dmy dates\|date=October 2014}}		{{Use dmy dates\|date=October 2014}}
	{{Use British English\|date=October 2014}}		{{Use British English\|date=October 2014}}

Kurt: 1 revision imported

2022-08-22T18:38:29Z

1 revision imported

← Older revision	Revision as of 13:38, 22 August 2022
(No difference)

en>Sc2353: removed Category:English-language films using HotCat

2022-08-04T05:29:57Z

removed Category:English-language films using HotCat

New page

{{short description|1955 crime comedy film directed by Alexander Mackendrick}}
{{about|the 1955 film|the 2004 remake film|The Ladykillers (2004 film)|other uses|Ladykillers (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2014}}
{{Infobox film
| name = The Ladykillers
| image = The Ladykillers poster.jpg
| caption = Original film poster by [[Reginald Mount]]<ref name="TNA">{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/theartofwar/artists/mount_reginald.htm|title=Reginald Mount|work=The Art of War|publisher=[[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National Archives]]|access-date=7 January 2014}}</ref>
| director = [[Alexander Mackendrick]]
| producer = [[Michael Balcon]]
| writer = [[William Rose (screenwriter)|William Rose]]
| starring = {{Plainlist|
* [[Alec Guinness]]
* [[Cecil Parker]]
* [[Herbert Lom]]
* [[Peter Sellers]]
* [[Danny Green (actor)|Danny Green]]
* [[Jack Warner (actor)|Jack Warner]]
* [[Frankie Howerd]]
* [[Katie Johnson (English actress)|Katie Johnson]]
}}
| music = [[Tristram Cary]]
| cinematography = [[Otto Heller]]
| editing = [[Jack Harris (film editor)|Jack Harris]]
| studio = [[Ealing Studios]]
| distributor = [[The Rank Organisation]]
| released = {{film date|df=y|1955|12|08|UK}}
| runtime = 91 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget =
}}

'''''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 (actor)|Danny Green]], [[Jack Warner (actor)|Jack Warner]], and [[Katie Johnson (English actress)|Katie Johnson]] as the old lady, Mrs. Wilberforce.<ref name="The Ladykillers 1955">{{cite web|url=http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/80720/The-Ladykillers/full-credits.html|title=The Ladykillers 1955|work=[[Turner Classic Movies]]|location=[[Atlanta]]|publisher=[[Turner Broadcasting System]] ([[Time Warner]])|access-date=11 July 2016}}</ref>

[[William Rose (screenwriter)|William Rose]] wrote the screenplay,<ref name="The Ladykillers 1955"/> for which he was nominated for an [[Academy Award for Best 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.

==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 [[Snipe hunt|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 (Boccherini)|String Quintet in E, Op. 11 No. 5]] and [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn's]] Serenade for Strings Op. 3 No. 5 (the "Serenade" was 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 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 [[sortition|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, after having had a change of heart about the killing of Mrs. W, wrongly thinks that Harry has killed her; 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 changing [[railway semaphore signal|railway signal]], and his body 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==
[[File:Katie johnson ladykillers.jpg|right|thumb|Katie Johnson with (''l to r'') Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Alec Guinness and Danny Green]]
*[[Alec Guinness]] as Professor Marcus
*[[Cecil Parker]] as Major Claude Courtney
*[[Herbert Lom]] as Louis Harvey
*[[Peter Sellers]] as Harry Robinson
*[[Danny Green (actor)|Danny Green]] as 'One-Round' Lawson
*[[Jack Warner (actor)|Jack Warner]] as the Superintendent
*[[Katie Johnson (English actress)|Katie Johnson]] as Mrs Louisa Wilberforce
*[[Philip Stainton]] as the [[Station sergeant#Metropolitan Police|Station Sergeant]]
*[[Frankie Howerd]] as the barrow boy

[[Kenneth Connor]] appears in an uncredited role as the taxi driver. Alec 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 five of ''[[The Pink Panther (film series)|The Pink Panther]]'' films. Sellers and Guinness would appear together again in ''[[Murder By Death]]'' (1976).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/441533/ |title=screenonline.org.uk, part of the British Film Institute (BFI) |publisher=Screenonline.org.uk |access-date=18 September 2017}}</ref>

==Awards and nominations==
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! Award
! Category
! Nominee(s)
! Result
|-
| [[29th Academy Awards|Academy Awards]]
| [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Screenplay – Original]]
| [[William Rose (screenwriter)|William Rose]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| rowspan="4"| [[9th British Academy Film Awards|British Academy Film Awards]]
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Film from any Source|Best Film from any Source]]
| rowspan="2"| ''The Ladykillers''
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best British Film|Best British Film]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role|Best British Actress]]
| [[Katie Johnson (English actress)|Katie Johnson]]
| {{won}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay|Best British Screenplay]]
| William Rose
| {{won}}
|}

==Reception==
===Box office===
According to the [[National Film Finance Corporation]], the film made a comfortable profit.<ref>U.S. MONEY BEHIND 30% OF BRITISH FILMS: Problems for the Board of Trade: ''The Manchester Guardian'', 4 May 1956. p. 7.</ref>

===Critical response===
The film received critical acclaim from critics. On [[review aggregator]] [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film holds a rare [[List of films with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes|approval rating of 100%]] based on 31 reviews, with an [[weighted arithmetic mean|average score]] of 8.7/10. The website's consensus reads, "''The Ladykillers'' is a macabre slow-burn with quirky performances of even quirkier characters."<ref>{{cite web | url= https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1011818-ladykillers | title= ''The Ladykillers'' (1955) | website= [[Rotten Tomatoes]] | access-date= 26 July 2022 }}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], the film received a score of 91 based on 7 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".<ref>{{cite web | url= https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-ladykillers-1955 | title= ''The Ladykillers'' (1955) | website= [[Metacritic]] | access-date= 26 July 2022 }}</ref>

The [[British Film Institute]] ranked ''The Ladykillers'' the [[BFI Top 100 British films|13th greatest British film of all time]]. In 2017 a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for ''[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out]]'' magazine saw it ranked the 29th best British film ever.<ref>[https://www.timeout.com/london/film/100-best-british-films#tab_panel_4 "The 100 best British films"]. ''Time Out''. Retrieved 24 October 2017</ref>

===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==
[[File:The Ladykillers at the Gielgud (6481418261).jpg|thumb|upright|''[[The Ladykillers (play)|The Ladykillers]]'' playing at the [[Gielgud Theatre]] in the [[West End theatre|West End]], December 2011]]
*In 1966 the film was adapted into an [[opera]] by the Czech composer [[Ilja Hurník]] under the name ''The Lady and the Robbers'' (''Dáma a lupiči'').
*A [[radio]] adaptation of the film, by Bruce Bedford, was first broadcast on [[BBC Radio 4]] on 13 January 1996 starring [[Edward Petherbridge]] and [[Margot Boyd]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jnlr |title=BBC radio programmes catalogue entry |publisher=BBC|date=26 November 2012|access-date=1 November 2014}}</ref>
*In 2004 the [[Coen brothers|Coen Brothers]] directed an American [[The Ladykillers (2004 film)|remake of the film]], starring [[Tom Hanks]], [[Irma P. Hall]], [[Marlon Wayans]], [[J. K. Simmons]], [[Tzi Ma]] and [[Ryan Hurst]]. The setting of the film is moved from [[London]] to [[Saucier, Mississippi]], home of a [[riverboat casino]].<ref name="The Ladykillers 2004">{{cite web|url=http://alt.tcm.turner.com/tcmdb/title/452160/Ladykillers-The/full-credits.html|title=The Ladykillers 2004|work=[[Turner Classic Movies]]|location=[[Atlanta]]|publisher=[[Turner Broadcasting System]] ([[Time Warner]])|access-date=11 July 2016|archive-date=13 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180713103554/http://alt.tcm.turner.com/tcmdb/title/452160/Ladykillers-The/full-credits.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
*In 2011 the film was [[The Ladykillers (play)|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 with [[Peter Capaldi]] as Professor Marcus.<ref>{{cite news|author=Graham Linehan |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2011/dec/18/graham-linehan-dynamited-ladykillers |title=How Graham Linehan dynamited The Ladykillers |newspaper=Guardian |access-date=1 November 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.london-theatreland.co.uk/theatres/gielgud-theatre/the-ladykillers.php |title=Play details on Gielgud Theatre site |publisher=London-theatreland.co.uk |access-date=1 November 2014}}</ref>
*The play was revived at the [[London]] Vaudeville Theatre<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vaudevilletheatre.org.uk/ |title=Vaudeville Theatre |publisher=Vaudeville Theatre |date=9 October 2007|access-date=1 November 2014}}</ref> in 2013 and subsequently toured around the [[UK]] and [[Ireland]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theladykillers.co.uk/category/news/ |title=» Latest News |publisher=Theladykillers.co.uk |access-date=1 November 2014}}</ref> This revived production featured a new cast.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bestoftheatre.co.uk/blog/post/ladykillers-review |title=The Ladykillers Review - Best of Theatre News |publisher=Bestoftheatre.co.uk |date=15 July 2013|access-date=1 November 2014}}</ref>
*The play had its North American premiere at the [[Shaw Festival]] in [[Niagara-on-the-Lake]], [[Ontario]], [[Canada]] in June 2019 with [[Damien Atkins]] as Professor Marcus and Chick Reid as Mrs. Wilberforce.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.shawfest.com/playbill/the-ladykillers/| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190507130433/https://www.shawfest.com/playbill/the-ladykillers/| archive-date = 2019-05-07| title = The Ladykillers - Shaw Festival Theatre}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[BFI Top 100 British films]]
* [[The Pardoner's Tale]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{IMDb title|id=0048281|title=The Ladykillers}}
* {{Rotten-tomatoes|1011818-ladykillers}}
* {{Amg movie|28110|The Ladykillers}}
* {{tcmdb title|id=80720}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130411083103/http://www.martinunderwood.f9.co.uk/Ladykillers Then and now photographs of locations]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W07jipxwXk Brief YouTube documentary on locations used in 'The Ladykillers']
* [http://www.reelstreets.com/index.php?option=com_films_online&task=view&id=526 Locations used in 'The Ladykillers' at Reelstreets.com]

{{Alexander Mackendrick}}
{{Michael Balcon}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ladykillers, The}}
[[Category:1955 comedy films]]
[[Category:1955 films]]
[[Category:1950s black comedy films]]
[[Category:1950s crime comedy films]]
[[Category:1950s heist films]]
[[Category:British black comedy films]]
[[Category:British crime comedy films]]
[[Category:British heist films]]
[[Category:Ealing Studios films]]
[[Category:Films adapted into operas]]
[[Category:Films directed by Alexander Mackendrick]]
[[Category:Films produced by Michael Balcon]]
[[Category:Films set in London]]
[[Category:1950s English-language films]]