The Ladykillers: The StudioCanal Collection

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Certificate: PG
Running Time: 87 Mins
Retail Price: £24.99
Release Date:
Content Type: Movie

Synopsis:
The Ladykillers, director Alexander Mackendrick's third Ealing farce, is the final comedy produced by the famous British studio and one of its most celebrated. Like the equally applauded Kind Hearts And Coronets, the film is more sophisticated and blacker in tone than typically lighthearted Ealing fare (such as Mackendrick's Whiskey Galore!). Alec Guinness stars as the superbly shifty, toothily threatening Professor Marcus, the leader of a crime ring planning a heist.

Marcus rents rooms from a sweet, eccentric old lady, Mrs. Wilberforce (Katie Johnson), in her crooked London house. The professor and his co-conspirators, blowhard Major Courtney (Cecil Parker), creepily suave Louis (Herbert Lom), chubby Harry (Peter Sellers), and muscleman One-Round (Danny Green), pose as an unlikely string quartet using the rooms for rehearsal. Dodging Mrs. Wilberforce's constant interruptions, the hoods hit upon the idea to use her in the daring daylight robbery (filmed in and around London's King's Cross station). When the old girl discovers the truth, Marcus and company cannot persuade her to stay buttoned up about it and thus decide to do her in. Accompanied by a noirish cacophony of screeching trains, parrots, and little old ladies at afternoon tea, a series of unlikely events builds to the hilarious, surprising finale.

Special Features:
Filmed interviews with: Allan Scott, Terence Davies and Ronald Harwood
Audio Commentary with Philip Kemp: Mackendrick/Ladykillers expert
Interview with James Mangold - BD live option only
Forever Ealing Documentary
Introduction to The LadyKillers by Terry Gilliam
HD Trailer

Video Tracks:
1080p Full Frame 1.33:1

Audio Tracks:
DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono English
DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono Spanish
DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono French
DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono German

Subtitle Tracks:
French
Spanish
German
Italian
Danish
Dutch
Finnish
Norwegian
Swedish
Japanese

Directed By:
Alexander Mackendrick

Written By:

Starring:
Alec Guinness
Cecil Parker
Herbert Lom
Peter Sellers
Danny Green
Katie Johnson
Jack Warner
Philip Stainton
Frankie Howerd
Fred Griffiths
Kenneth Connor

Soundtrack By:
Tristram Cary

Music From:
Tristram Cary

Director of Photography:
Otto Heller

Editor:
Jack Harris

Production Designer:
Anthony Mendleson

Visual Effects:
Sydney Pearson

Producer:
Seth Holt

Distributor:
Optimum Home Entertainment
StudioCanal Collection

Your Opinions and Comments

10 / 10
Posted by Stuart McLean on 21-2-2010 20:32David - as the third review of this set on this site I wondered if I could get your opinion on picture quality, especially in relation to other discs like 'The Go Between'. I thought it was pretty poor for a Blu-Ray

"To be honest the quality isn't that good... but when you consider the film is over 60 years old you can almost forgive that. It was a low budget film and so unlike a Hollywood extravaganza or a bid budget effect you can imagine the actual 'clean up' of the picture quality was either impossible or was thought unnecessary.
I found the quality of the picture to be great for what it was and there were no points where it became unwatchable and I guess that is what counts."
posted by David Simpson on 21/3/2010 18:49