Search - The Ladykillers on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Mild Violence Movie Release: 1955 DVD Release: 09/10/2002 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV - Closed Captioned Edition: Special Collection Audio Tracks: English, French SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 31 mins Studio: Anchor Bay Members Wishing: 11 Genres: Comedy, Crime, Black Comedy, Farce, Crime Comedy

Music professor Alec Guinness rents a London flat from sweet old lady Katie Johnson. He tells her that, from time to time, several other musicians will visit in order to rehearse. In truth, Guinness can't play a note, nor can his visitors: he's a criminal mastermind, holding court over a gang of thieves, including the likes of punkish Peter Sellers, homicidal Herbert Lom and punchdrunk Danny Green. The gang uses Guinness' flat as headquarters as they conceive a daring 60,000 pound robbery. After pulling off the job, the gang stuffs the loot in a railway station locker. To avoid detection, Guinness convinces the ever-trusting Johnson to pick up the money. Through a series of comic complications, Johnson returns home with a police escort, with neither the woman nor the bobbies suspecting that she's carrying a fortune in her suitcase. Mistakenly believing that Johnson has ratted on them, the gang reluctantly plans to eliminate her. The Ladykillers won an Oscar nomination for William Rose's screenplay, and a BFA award for veteran character actress Johnson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Alec Guinness - Professor Marcus
Cecil Parker - Maj. Courteney
Herbert Lom - Louis Harvey
Peter Sellers - Harry Robinson
Katie Johnson - Mrs. Louisa Alexandra Wilberforce
Danny Green - One-Round

This is a fine little home video edition of a classic British comedy that hasn't been treated overly well on high-end video up until now -- indeed, it was available on a very expensive laserdisc for all of about a one season back in the late 1980's and then disappeared. It hasn't been treated to a restoration on the level of, say, Singin' in the Rain or other Hollywood classics of the period, but apart from a few faded exterior shots that pass quickly, the image on this DVD glows and sparkles, in rich depth of color and detail. The disc opens with a menu that, although clever, is a little difficult to maneuver around and select from -- it includes the original trailer and the same Alec Guinness bio that appears on other discs in this series. The trailer, which runs a full two-and-a-half minutes, looks as good as the movie, and the latter is generally a delight to the eye; the 1.66-to-1 aspect ratio of the transfer (matched by the trailer) makes this the first video presentation of the movie in its theatrical configuration. The audio is mastered at a decent volume that requires just a small boost, and the 24 chapters are more than adequate as an outline of the movie. As an added bonus, the disc comes with a booklet containing a superb essay by Rand Vossler, dealing with the history of Ealing Studios and the career of producer Michael Balcon, a figure largely forgotten outside the circle of British film historians. It's all a bargain, especially as the presentation of British pictures such as The Ladykillers has just about disappeared from the airwaves and most cable television since the mid-1990's. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide