The Ladykillers

Alexander Mackendrick’s deliciously black comedy was the legendary Ealing Studio’s last and arguably finest film. It features a slew of terrific performances from Alec Guiness, Herbert Lom, Peter Sellers and a late career starmaking role for Katie Johnson as Mrs Wilberforce. A gang planning a bank robbery rent rooms from a little old lady, who thinks they are musicians. When the gang set out to kill her, they run into one problem after another, ultimately getting what they deserve.

‘Near Flawless’ Philip French, The Observer

‘It’s [the] satirical element – still not without relevance in Britain of the 21st century – and the dark tinge of the comedy that have kept The Ladykillers fresh when so many of its Ealing stablemates have faded into a faintly musty period charm.’ Philip Kemp, Sight and Sound