Tuesday Night at the Movies is presenting “The Ladykillers,” a classic British satire from 1955, on Nov. 25 at Woodmere.
The film portrays an eccentric group of con artists – the sinister Professor Marcus (Alec Guinness), the refined Major Courtney (Cecil Parker), surly Louis Harvey (Herbert Lom), the young Cockney lad Harry Robinson (a surprisingly young Peter Sellers), and the dopey “One-Round” (Danny Green). Posing as a string quintet, they rent a room from the elderly Mrs. Wilberforce (Katie Johnson) and use her house as a base of operations for the bank robbery they are plotting behind her back.
The elaborate robbery almost succeeds, until One-Round makes a fatal mistake. As the gang leaves Mrs. Wilberforce’s house, concealing the stolen money in their instrument cases, One-Round’s cello case gets caught in the door. He pulls on it, causing the case to fly open, and hundreds of loose bills come flying out. Mrs. Wilberforce witnesses this, and now knows the gang’s secret. She threatens to reveal their criminal activity to the police. The gang decides that one of them must murder the old lady to stop her from talking. Each member of the gang tries one by one to bump off Mrs. Wilberforce, but their plans go horribly awry. (No spoilers.)
“The Ladykillers” was one of the last of the Ealing Studios series of satirical comedies which were very popular in England in the 1940s and ’50s. Director Alexander Macendrick was a veteran of the studio by 1955, having helmed some of the better Ealing comedies such as “Whiskey Galore!” and “The Man In The White Suit.” “The Ladykillers” was his last Ealing film, as he had become unhappy with the studio system. He took his cynical sensibility to America and directed the unforgettably bitter “The Sweet Smell Of Success” in 1957.
The American screenwriter, William Rose, was nominated for an Academy Award for “The Ladykillers” (and won the BAFTA Award in England). He seemed to have a wide range of ability, as he followed this dark comedy with “The Smallest Show On Earth,” a sweet and rather sentimental film about a newlywed couple inheriting an old silent movie theater. Rose later had success in the 1960s, writing the scripts for “It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” and “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner,” finally winning an Oscar for the latter.
One of the major assets of “The Ladykillers” is its memorable cast of strange characters. Guinness was firmly established by this time as one of the country’s great character actors, having already appeared in other Ealing films such as “Kind Hearts And Coronets,” “The Lavender Hill Mob,” and so on. His eerily comic performance as Professor Marcus is superb.
Parker, Lom, and Green also give solid performances. It is surprising in retrospect to see a young Peter Sellers playing a part which was not typical of his later work. Sellers at the time was best known for the variety of bizarre characters he played on BBC Radio’s surreal masterpiece “The Goon Show” every week. He had dabbled in some fairly mediocre film work up to this point – “The Ladykillers” was his first significant role in a great film.
Also worth noting is Katie Johnson’s performance as Mrs. Wilberforce. She plays the role with such a perfect blend of perplexed sincerity and downright obnoxiousness that you almost wish the criminal gang success in their attempt to murder her. Johnson had been in dozen English films going back as far as 1932. This film was made near the end of her life, and proved to be her ticket to movie immortality. She won the BAFTA Award for her performance.
As one would imagine, the film is quite dark, but it’s also witty and well-directed, and is sure to come to life when seen with an audience on the Woodmere screen. The screening starts at 7 p.m. It is free, but donations are encouraged.
Woodmere is at 9201 Germantown Ave. in Chestnut Hill.
