The Ladykillers
Director: Alexander Mackendrick
Year Released: 1955
Rating: 3.0
Truly charming film from Mackendrick, who made The Man in the White Suit before it and Sweet Smell of Success after ... not a bad trio, if I might say so. Pesky old ladies seem to be an easy target in movies, and the senior citizen that inhabits this is no exception; she unknowingly bungles an attempted theft by a group of goofballs lead by Alec Guinness (the ubiquitous Herbert Lom is the most interesting criminal) but the story and dialogue are witty enough to make amends (the most clever remarks are the most tossed-off and occasionally missed). Like a lot of the pictures from Ealing Studios, the running time is a convenient and viewer-friendly 90 minutes.
