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The Ladykillers (1955)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
December 1955 (UK)
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Tagline:
Meet "The Unholy Five"...The Most Befuddled Set of Assorted Thugs That Ever Fouled Up a Million Dollar Bank Robbery!!
Plot:
Five diverse oddball criminal types planning a bank robbery rent rooms on a cul-de-sac from an octogenarian widow under the pretext that they are classical musicians. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Widow
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Planning
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Criminal
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Octogenarian
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Bank Robbery
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Awards:
Nominated for Oscar.
Another 2 wins
&
2 nominations
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NewsDesk:
(9 articles)
Kurosawa's 'Ran' Will Still Find Its Way to Blu-ray
(From Rope Of Silicon. 24 November 2009, 3:38 PM, PST)
How Do You Say 'Blood Simple' in Chinese?
(From Cinematical. 29 July 2009, 6:15 PM, PDT)
(From Rope Of Silicon. 24 November 2009, 3:38 PM, PST)
How Do You Say 'Blood Simple' in Chinese?
(From Cinematical. 29 July 2009, 6:15 PM, PDT)
User Comments:
not just the perfect comedy
more (93 total)
Cast
(Complete credited cast)| Alec Guinness | ... | Professor Marcus | |
| Cecil Parker | ... | Claude (a.k.a. 'Major Courtney') | |
| Herbert Lom | ... | Louis (a.k.a. 'Mr. Harvey') | |
| Peter Sellers | ... | Harry (a.k.a. 'Mr. Robinson') | |
| Danny Green | ... | One-Round (a.k.a. 'Mr. Lawson') | |
| Jack Warner | ... | The Superintendent | |
| Katie Johnson | ... | The Old Lady | |
| Philip Stainton | ... | The Sergeant | |
| Frankie Howerd | ... | The Barrow Boy |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
The Lady Killers
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Parents Guide:
Runtime:
91 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.66 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Iceland:12 |
Australia:G |
Sweden:11 (1975 re-rating) |
Argentina:13 |
Australia:PG |
Finland:K-16 |
Norway:15 |
Sweden:15 (original rating) |
UK:U
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Richard Attenborough was originally considered for the role of Harry, by director Alexander Mackendrick.
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Goofs:
Errors in geography: From the street in front of Mrs. Wilberforce's house, the front of St. Pancras station is visible, placing the house south of the station. No tracks leave St. Pancras or the adjacent King's Cross station in that direction, so the house could not be adjacent to a tunnel as depicted (see trivia entry).
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Quotes:
[last lines]
The Superintendent: [as she is leaving, the superintendent follows her out with her umbrella] Mrs. Wilberforce, wait! Just a moment!
[Holding out the umbrella]
The Superintendent: You forgot it, mum.
Mrs. Louisa Wilberforce: [Reaches for it, then changes her mind] Oh. Oh, no I don't think I want it. I never liked it. Now I can buy a dozen new ones.
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The Superintendent: [as she is leaving, the superintendent follows her out with her umbrella] Mrs. Wilberforce, wait! Just a moment!
[Holding out the umbrella]
The Superintendent: You forgot it, mum.
Mrs. Louisa Wilberforce: [Reaches for it, then changes her mind] Oh. Oh, no I don't think I want it. I never liked it. Now I can buy a dozen new ones.
more
Movie Connections:
Featured in The Unknown Peter Sellers (2000) (TV)
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Soundtrack:
Music
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FAQ
Who got the money in the end?Who actually dies?
How much sex, violence, and profanity are in this movie?
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more (93 total)
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One of the Ealing studio's finest achievements, this immensely entertaining crime caper looks at first glance to be pure, inconsequential entertainment. But it doubles as a sly, subtle rummage around the psychology of the respectable, old-fashioned middle classes, with Katie Johnson deserving top billing alongside Alec Guinness (she doesn't get it) for her remarkable turn as the lady in question, the redoubtable Mrs Wilberforce.
No less than the not-quite-ruthless-enough gang of criminals who scheme in her house, she lives in her own private universe with its own particular rules and values. Though she begins the film as the stereotype of a maddeningly officious pillar of local society, it gradually emerges that there is a freer as well as shrewder spirit locked in there than meets the eye. The umbrella she is always losing (she herself suggests that she unconsciously _wants_ to lose it), the escapologist parrot, and most poignantly the memory of a 21st birthday party interrupted by the end of the Victorian age, all hint at an inner life that the comic plot could easily have done without. The screenplay, deservedly Oscar-nominated, has the genius and economy to provide us with all these hints without ever slowing down a tightly-edited and superbly directed narrative.
The other characters are a good deal simpler, but Alec Guinness is in impressively seedy form as 'Professor' Marcus and Cecil Parker makes an appealing Major. Peter Sellers and Herbert Lom don't have a great deal to do and don't try to hog the limelight, but there's a nice cameo from Frankie Howerd. Ealing went out on a high.