95 mins |
Rated
G
Released in 1955, the black comedy The Ladykillers was the last of the great Ealing comedies (although two more, very minor, comedies were released before the studio was wrapped up). It was also director Alexander Mackendrick's last film in Britain before leaving to plough even darker waters in Hollywood with his cynical masterpiece The Sweet Smell of Success (US, 1957).
The story - five criminals, posing as musicians, successfully carry out a robbery, then find themselves defeated by their apparently harmless landlady, and ultimately driven to destroy each other - came in a dream to writer William Rose (who also wrote Mackendrick's previous film, The Maggie (1954)), and Mackendrick was immediately taken by its dark humour.
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Released in 1955, the black comedy The Ladykillers was the last of the great Ealing comedies (although two more, very minor, comedies were released before the studio was wrapped up). It was also director Alexander Mackendrick's last film in Britain before leaving to plough even darker waters in Hollywood with his cynical masterpiece The Sweet Smell of Success (US, 1957).
The story - five criminals, posing as musicians, successfully carry out a robbery, then find themselves defeated by their apparently harmless landlady, and ultimately driven to destroy each other - came in a dream to writer William Rose (who also wrote Mackendrick's previous film, The Maggie (1954)), and Mackendrick was immediately taken by its dark humour.