Before our Alec Guinness series gets all serious with Tunes of Glory, we feature one of his finest comedies The Ladykillers? How fine is it? Fine enough that Greatest American Filmmakers (to some), Joel & Ethan Coen chose it for the first film they every tried to remake. Of course, their remake was awful. But that’s really neither here nor there.
The Ladykillers (the good one, not the Coen one) brings together some of the greatest forces in mid-century English comedy. Guinness stars, Alexander Mackendrick (The Man in the White Suit, Sweet Smell of Success) directs, Peter Sellers appears in one of his first sizable screen roles. And in the middle of this nonsense is the immovable granite of Katie Johnson.
The result is silly, frantic and — because it’s from Ealing Studios — thoroughly charming.
The Ladykillers
Monday, May 19 – 7, 9pm
Tuesday May 20 – 7, 9pm
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