This is a random one that popped up on my Netflix recommendations. And this is exactly why Zach has to approve all Netflix movie ratings with me first - I've got my recommendations pretty well tailored with some good stuff! Like this one: The Ladykillers.
The story revolves around a gang of thieves planning a major bank heist. They rent an apartment from a seemingly harmless little old lady, under the cover of being a string quintet. Part of the group's plan is to use the unsuspecting Mrs Wilberforce (what a great name!) as an unknowing accomplice to the robbery, but as the plan goes awry, the group encounters one major problem after another. (Yes, this was remade recently, but this is the original from 1955.)
Alec Guinness is one of my absolute favorites. He's so funny in comedies like this and Kind Hearts, but does dramas so well too. I mean, who else can you picture as Smiley or Col. Nicholson? He just so perfectly inhabits his roles. Here he's the perfect simpering, polite, seemingly mild-mannered and yet incredibly creepy villain (side note - apparently, the false teeth were inspired by Alastair Sim!).
He's joined by some great character actors in his gang too. Herbert Lom and Peter Sellers are fellow gang members, for starters. Both of Pink Panther fame, in case you didn't know. And Dr. Strangelove too, of course, for Sellers fans. Sellers is very young here, much rounder face than in his later movies (had the same reaction to Peter Lorre in M, by the way). This is a one of his earliest roles, as it turns out. Oh, and apparently Sellers has an uncredited role as the voice of Mrs. Wilberforce's parrots!
Despite Guinness and the gang's great performances here, though, it's Mrs Wilberforce, played by Katie Johnson, who steals the show. She's just a great character, one of those innocent, straightforward little old ladies with the best and purest and most honest of intentions, who proceeds to drive everyone around her completely up the wall. The last scene is just priceless, best in the movie!
The movie as a whole can seem slow-moving, compared to a lot of today's louder comedies, but it's got some great moments, just more subtle. Like the look on One-Round's face after Mrs. Wilberforce locks the closest door, right before he smashes it open with just a single punch. This isn't a slapstick comedy, but it is very amusing watching the criminals and Mrs. Wilberforce thwart each other's efforts, often inadvertently (at least on her part!). If you like dark, subtle, or well-written comedies (particularly British ones), then this'll be right up your alley.
Trivia: The picture of Mrs. Wilberforce's late husband above the fireplace is actually a painting of Alec Guinness in his role as "The Admiral" in this earlier comedy, Kind Hearts and Coronets, done by the same studio (Ealing Studios). Also, according to the story Mrs. Wilberforce' tells, her husband died the same way The Admiral did. Thank you IMDB!
Review: 4.5 of 5. A bit slowly paced, but a very intelligent comedy, very subtle, if you like that sort of thing. A rare find nowadays, it seems to me!
Alec Guinness is one of my absolute favorites. He's so funny in comedies like this and Kind Hearts, but does dramas so well too. I mean, who else can you picture as Smiley or Col. Nicholson? He just so perfectly inhabits his roles. Here he's the perfect simpering, polite, seemingly mild-mannered and yet incredibly creepy villain (side note - apparently, the false teeth were inspired by Alastair Sim!).
He's joined by some great character actors in his gang too. Herbert Lom and Peter Sellers are fellow gang members, for starters. Both of Pink Panther fame, in case you didn't know. And Dr. Strangelove too, of course, for Sellers fans. Sellers is very young here, much rounder face than in his later movies (had the same reaction to Peter Lorre in M, by the way). This is a one of his earliest roles, as it turns out. Oh, and apparently Sellers has an uncredited role as the voice of Mrs. Wilberforce's parrots!
Despite Guinness and the gang's great performances here, though, it's Mrs Wilberforce, played by Katie Johnson, who steals the show. She's just a great character, one of those innocent, straightforward little old ladies with the best and purest and most honest of intentions, who proceeds to drive everyone around her completely up the wall. The last scene is just priceless, best in the movie!
The movie as a whole can seem slow-moving, compared to a lot of today's louder comedies, but it's got some great moments, just more subtle. Like the look on One-Round's face after Mrs. Wilberforce locks the closest door, right before he smashes it open with just a single punch. This isn't a slapstick comedy, but it is very amusing watching the criminals and Mrs. Wilberforce thwart each other's efforts, often inadvertently (at least on her part!). If you like dark, subtle, or well-written comedies (particularly British ones), then this'll be right up your alley.
Trivia: The picture of Mrs. Wilberforce's late husband above the fireplace is actually a painting of Alec Guinness in his role as "The Admiral" in this earlier comedy, Kind Hearts and Coronets, done by the same studio (Ealing Studios). Also, according to the story Mrs. Wilberforce' tells, her husband died the same way The Admiral did. Thank you IMDB!
Review: 4.5 of 5. A bit slowly paced, but a very intelligent comedy, very subtle, if you like that sort of thing. A rare find nowadays, it seems to me!
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