Critic Reviews
Ladykillers, The (1955) Rank 5 Reviews
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ToxicUniverse.com (Jeremiah Kipp)
This was the master of sophisticated sangfroid in the prime of his early career. The best was yet to come. ...read the complete Ladykillers movie review at ToxicUniverse.com (Jeremiah Kipp)
Cinescape
When kindly old Mrs. Wilberforce (Katie Johnson) decides to rent out a room, the ruthless Professor Marcus (Alec Guinness) answers the ad. Along with his cronies the professor plots a dastardly robbery with Mrs. Wilberforce's house to be used as the ...read the complete Ladykillers movie review at Cinescape
filmcritic.com
As black comedies go, The Ladykillers (remade in 2004) is neither terribly black nor terribly comedic. The centerpiece performance by a sunken-eyed Alec Guinness doesn't ever raise the film above its simple beginnings, involving a band of crooks (led by ...read the complete Ladykillers movie review at filmcritic.com
Needcoffee.com - DVD Review
Meet Mrs. Wilberforce (Johnson). She's a kindly old lady who lives alone in a house at the end of a line by some train tracks. Nicest woman you'd ever want to meet--but she does get some rather crazy ideas, though...you know, about extraterrestrials and ...read the complete Ladykillers movie review at Needcoffee.com - DVD Review
Guardian/Observer
1955, UK, Crime/Comedy, cert U, 90 mins, Dir: Alexander Mackendrick
With: Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Katie Johnson, Peter Sellers
Summary: A gang of crooks rents a room from a little old lady. She unwittingly scuppers their dastardly ...read the complete Ladykillers movie review at Guardian/Observer
Q Network Film Desk (James Kendrick)
Because England is a country well known for its cultural refinement, black comedy has always been a natural fit there because it can play off those proper manners in absurdly comic ways. ...read the complete Ladykillers movie review at Q Network Film Desk (James Kendrick)
efilmcritic (Charles Tatum)
Mrs. Wilberforce lives alone in her surreal looking house (never having been repaired after the World War II bombings), occasionally bothering the local police with stories of UFO's and tales of the past. Professor Marcus (Alec Guinness) rents a room ...read the complete Ladykillers movie review at efilmcritic (Charles Tatum)
Movie Gazette DVD Review (Gary Panton)
Is it any wonder the Coen brothers were so keen to get their mitts on the rights to remake 'The Ladykillers'? Sure, it's dated (it's tough not to be at nigh-on 50 years old) and it often feels more like watching a stage production than an actual movie - ...read the complete Ladykillers movie review at Movie Gazette DVD Review (Gary Panton)
A Guide to Current DVD (Aaron Beierle)
A classic 1955 comedy starring Alec Guiness, "The Ladykillers" stars the late actor as Professor Marcus, who opens the film in search of an apartment. Coming across a local notice, he arrives at the residence of Mrs. Wilberforce (Katie Johnson), a kind ...read the complete Ladykillers movie review at A Guide to Current DVD (Aaron Beierle)
filmcritic.com (Christopher Null)
As black comedies go, The Ladykillers (remade in 2004) is neither terribly black nor terribly comedic. The centerpiece performance by a sunken-eyed Alec Guinness doesn't ever raise the film above its simple beginnings, involving a band of crooks (led by ...read the complete Ladykillers movie review at filmcritic.com (Christopher Null)
DVD Net (Anthony Clarke)
The Ladykillers dates from the final year of the Ealing Studios - 1955, when the studios were sold to the BBC. It is the only entrant in the Alec Guiness Ealing Comedies Collection box set which is in colour and widescreen.
Yet despite these ...read the complete Ladykillers movie review at DVD Net (Anthony Clarke)
moviediva
The Ladykillers is a darkly comic chamber piece about a grotesque gang of criminals entangled with an imperturbably eccentric old lady played by 87 year old Katie Johnson. Mrs. Wilberforce lives in a tilting Victoria villa near St. Pancras station in a ...read the complete Ladykillers movie review at moviediva
Reel.com DVD review (Mary Kalin-Casey)
Alec Guinness and Ealing Studios
To younger audiences, Sir Alec Guinness is probably best known for his sage-like role as Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars trilogy. But to classic-film fans, the knighted actor's name rings synonymous with ...read the complete Ladykillers movie review at Reel.com DVD review (Mary Kalin-Casey)
IndependentCritics.com (Richard Propes)
The original "Ladykillers" is a classic comedy...one that has aged quite gracefully and remains entertaining to this day.
Starring Sir Alec Guiness in the role of Professor Marcus, this film is set in London with pretty much the same storyline as the ...read the complete Ladykillers movie review at IndependentCritics.com (Richard Propes)
digitallyOBSESSED.com (Mark Zimmer)
In the hands of a lesser actor, a set of false teeth might be a crutch to prop up a performance. But in the hands of Alec Guinness, such teeth could be used to create a full-blown character, adapting his face and his posture to match the comic mouthpiece. ...read the complete Ladykillers movie review at digitallyOBSESSED.com (Mark Zimmer)
Classic Film Guide
NOT to be confused for the Coen Brothers-Tom Hanks remake (in name only) of 2004! Alec Guinness is the leader of a gang of unusual characters, criminals, who plot their next "job" while living in a boarding house run by an old (and slightly deaf?) woman, ...read the complete Ladykillers movie review at Classic Film Guide
Channel 4 Film (Daniel Etherington)
A star-studded cast is led by sinister Alec Guinness in this vintage slice of Ealing Comedy. A gang of thieves get more trouble than they bargained for when they rent rooms in the Kings Cross home of little old lady
Mrs Wilberforce (Johnson) is either ...read the complete Ladykillers movie review at Channel 4 Film (Daniel Etherington)
BFI Screen Online
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 ...read the complete Ladykillers movie review at BFI Screen Online
BBCi - Films
he last of the great Ealing Comedies, "The Ladykillers" is a wonderfully macabre black comedy that really does improve with age.
Ealing stalwart Alec Guinness delivers a typically mesmerising performance as Professor Marcus, a criminal mastermind ...read the complete Ladykillers movie review at BBCi - Films
Britmovie
The Ladykillers was premiered in the same month that the sale of the Ealing Green Studios to the BBC was announced. It is the blackest of Ealing comedies, excepting Kind Hearts and Coronets. Its central character is a little old lady, played with great ...read the complete Ladykillers movie review at Britmovie
The Nick Schager Film Project
Alec Guinness had a deadpan English wit that brightened up many '50s Ealing Studios comedies, and his charm is on full display in Alexander Mackendrick's The Ladykillers. ...read the complete Ladykillers movie review at The Nick Schager Film Project
The Miami Herald (Rene Rodriguez)
Tom Hanks sports one of the all-time weird movie accents in The Ladykillers, a bizarre Southern twang spoken by someone who's had a few too many pieces of sour candy. Hanks plays Professor Goldthwait Higginson Dorr -- or G.H. for short -- a preening, ...read the complete Ladykillers movie review at The Miami Herald (Rene Rodriguez)
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