The Ladykillers Now

The Most English Films Ever Made | Christopher Fowler website

A gangster with a cleaning fetish manages to hide a full-sized mop about his person. The Ladykillers

If you haven’t seen the original 1955 Ealing Comedy directed by Alexander Mackendrick, you are missing one of the finest blends of farce and noir ever put to film. It is a story so blackly comedic that producer Michael Balcon famously protested, “There are six characters and at the end five of them are dead, and you say it's a comedy?”. Yes, Michael. It is. And it works perfectly. The Setup: A Misfit Gang Meets a Misfit Landlady The Most English Films Ever Made | Christopher

If you love dark comedies, clever writing, and the "most English" of films, The Ladykillers is required viewing. It’s a polite reminder that sometimes, the sweetest people are the deadliest. the 2004 Coen Brothers remake? Yes, Michael

The very house itself shifts with subsidence whenever a train passes, adding a surreal, ticking-clock element to the tension. Why It Still Matters

All five hardened criminals end up squeezed into a tiny cupboard, unable to justify their presence.

The only thing standing in their way? Their landlady, the sweet, elderly, and entirely-too-innocent Mrs. Wilberforce (Katie Johnson). The Perfect "Ealing" Chaos