Ladykillers (1955)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Ladykillers |
| Original title | The Ladykillers |
| Country of production | United Kingdom |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1955 |
| length | 91 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Alexander Mackendrick |
| script |
William Rose Jimmy O'Connor |
| production |
Michael Balcon Seth Holt |
| music | Tristram Cary |
| camera | Otto Heller |
| cut | Jack Harris |
| occupation | |
| |
Ladykillers is a 1955 British feature film starring Alec Guinness and Katie Johnson , directed by Alexander Mackendrick at Ealing Studios . It is about the ingenious crook Professor Marcus, who with his accomplices takes up residence with an unsuspecting old lady in London and initially only plans to rob a money transport . In the course of the plot, however, he and the gangsters will seek the woman's life because of their knowledge of the coup. The film is now considered a classic of black comedy .
action
Mrs. Wimmerforce is the friendly, somewhat quirky widow of a captain and lives alone with her three parrots near King's Cross station in an old, crooked house. The mid-seventies seems like a relic from the Victorian era . She regularly visits the police station to report incidents such as UFO sightings. The police officers do not believe her numerous adventurous stories, but treat the lady kindly.
One day the mysterious Professor Marcus rents two rooms from the old lady. Little does she know that Marcus is planning a major robbery on a money transport at King's Cross. Marcus' gang also includes the somewhat nervous, gentlemanly Major Courtney, the youthful, comedic Harry Robinson, the simple-minded ex-boxer Pancake and the cruel and humorless Louis Harvey. At Mrs. Wimmerforce's, the gang meet regularly to work out their plan. The somewhat naive Mrs. Wimmerforce believes they are a string quintet that meets to practice - the "Minuet" by Luigi Boccherini (3rd movement from the quintet for two violins , viola and two cellos in E major, op. 11/5, G 275) is not played by the gangsters, but by a gramophone . The old woman gets on the nerves of the gangsters with her lovable nature and they always call her "Mrs. Over-candidate ".
The attack on the money transport with 60,000 pounds goes according to plan. The unsuspecting old lady even becomes an accomplice by collecting the suitcase with the money from the luggage storage in the train station. On the way back with the suitcase, she gets caught up in a dispute with a violent fruit dealer, which is why there is a detour to the police station. Ultimately, both Mrs. Wimmerforce and the suitcase reach their house unscathed. When the gangsters want to leave the house, the tape from Pancake's cello case gets between the door. When he pulls out the suitcase, it jumps up and countless banknotes fly through the air, which Mrs. Wimmerforce observes. After learning about the attack from her equally quirky friends, she finds out about the gangsters. She expects the gang members to confess to the police what they have done and to give the money back.
Professor Marcus and his accomplices want to convince Mrs. Wimmerforce of the opposite and explain to her that she would then also have to go to jail because she transported the suitcase away from the train station. But the old lady remains true to her principles and still wants to go to the police. The gangsters now want to kill them and decide who should kill them by pulling matches. Major Courtney loses, but tries not to kill the old lady, but to run away with the loot. Louis pushes the major off the roof. Next, Harry is supposed to kill the lady. Pancake is now against the murder of Mrs. Wimmerforce and brings Harry down because he thinks the sleeping Mrs. Wimmerforce has already been killed by Harry. Louis and Professor Marcus then want to kill Pancakes, but the latter hears their conversation and wants to shoot both of them. Pancake forgets to unlock the gun and is killed by Louis. Every time a gangster dies, he is thrown by the others into a carriage of the passing freight trains , so that no corpse remains at Mrs. Wimmerforce's house. Louis and Professor Marcus are the last remaining gangsters, but a life-and-death struggle breaks out between them too. Louis falls over a ladder loosened by Marcus into a freight wagon , but the professor hardly has time to savor his triumph (sentence in the film: "Louis, this is your train!"), Since he himself is struck down by a train signal stop and also in a wagon falls.
Mrs. Wimmerforce took a nap during the murders and saw nothing going on. She informs the police of the story, but the police officers investigating the robbery do not believe her and tell the old lady that she can keep the money. In the end, Mrs. Wimmerforce remains in possession of the stolen 60,000 pounds and goes home satisfied, not without donating another high-value banknote to a beggar.
production
Pre-production
William Rose , the play's screenwriter, kept telling me that he had the idea for the film while dreaming. In fact, he dreamed the entire plot from start to finish and only details needed to be added. Rose's idea was finally filmed by Ealing Studios , which had also produced other black comedies such as Adel . It became one of the last films to be made by Ealing Studio. Alec Guinness, the leading actor in numerous Ealing comedies, was cast in the lead role. Guinness based his role partially on the Scottish actor Alastair Sim .
For the role of the old lady, Katie Johnson was selected, who until then had hardly gotten beyond minor supporting roles in the film business. The producers thought Johnson was too fragile and old and wanted to replace her with a younger actress - but that younger actress died before filming had even started. For the role of Harry Richard Attenborough was temporarily considered before it was decided on Peter Sellers . Sellers is here for the first time together with Herbert Lom in front of the camera. In the later films of the Pink Panther series , they came together again in their most famous characters as Jacques Clouseau and Charles Dreyfus.
Locations
All exterior scenes in the film were shot in the vicinity of King's Cross station. Since this area has been significantly changed in the years after the turn of the millennium by traffic construction and urban development measures, the film is also an important source of the history of London and the railroad. The locations in detail:
- Mrs. Wimmerforce's house was at the end of Frederica Street, facing the junction of the East Coast Main Line, which converged on King's Cross, with the North London Line . It was created only for the filming as a film set. Today this area has been changed considerably by residential and commercial buildings and the canal tunnel access route . ⊙
- The exterior shots in front of the house were taken in a completely different location, namely on Argyle Street with a view of St. Pancras train station . ⊙
- The robbery on the money transporter was filmed in Goods Way, near the gas boiler, which is now a memorial. The street was widened and straightened in the course of the renovation of St. Pancras station in 2007. ⊙
- Mrs. Wimmerforce picks up the parcel at King's Cross station and gets into the taxi where the new concourse has been located since 2012. ⊙
synchronization
The German dubbed version was created in 1957 in the studio of J. Arthur Rank Film-Synchron-Produktion in Hamburg-Rahlstedt under the direction of Edgar Flatau . The dialogue book is by Erwin Bootz . Friedrich Albrecht was responsible for the sound engineering, the editing was in the hands of Else Wieger. The German role names differ considerably from those in the original. For example, Mrs. Wilberforce is called Mrs. Wimmerforce in the German version .
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Professor Marcus | Alec Guinness | Heinz Reincke |
| Louisa Alexandra Wimmerforce (in the original: Mrs. Wilberforce ) | Katie Johnson | Annemarie Schradiek |
| Major Claude Courtney | Cecil Parker | CW castle |
| Mr. Louis Harvey | Herbert Lom | Benno Gellenbeck |
| Mr. Harry Robinson | Peter Sellers | Gert Niemitz |
| Mr. Knot (nickname: pancake, originally: "One-Round" Lawson ) | Danny Green | Eduard Wandrey |
| Chief Inspector of the Police | Jack Warner | Heinz Klingenberg |
| Sergeant McDonald, assistant to the inspector | Philip Stainton | Carl Voscherau |
| Fruit dealer argues with Mrs. Wimmerforce | Frankie Howerd | Gerlach Fiedler |
| Constance, Mrs. Wimmerforce's friend | Phoebe Hodgson | Charlotte Voigt-Wichmann |
| Apollonia, Mrs. Wimmerforce's girlfriend (original: Hypatia ) | Hélène Burls | Maria Martinsen |
| Amelia, Mrs. Wimmerforce's friend | Evelyn Kerry | Asta south house |
| Lenchen, Mrs. Wimmerforce's friend (original: Lettice ) | Edie Martin | Erna Nitter |
Reception and aftermath
publication
The film celebrated its world premiere in London for English cinemas on December 8, 1955. The film should be a box office hit. The film opened in most European countries in 1956. In contrast, the film did not reach cinemas in West Germany until January 24, 1957, while the film did not premiere in the GDR until 1962. In the following decades there were re-releases in some countries .
The unabridged German version appeared in the early 1970s as a Super 8 publication by Ullstein AV. The photocopies with light tone were loaned out through Foto-Quelle. Since Ullstein AV could not assert itself in the Super 8 business, the films quickly disappeared from the market. Some lending copies ended up in collectors' holdings. There are now several DVD and Blu-ray versions of the film.
Awards
For his original screenplay , William Rose received the BAFTA for Best British Screenplay and an Oscar nomination in 1956 . Katie Johnson received a British Film Academy Award for Best British Actress . The film itself was also nominated for a British Film Academy Award in two categories.
When choosing the best British films of the 20th century by the British Film Institute landed Ladykillers ranked 13th
Reviews
| source | rating |
|---|---|
| Rotten tomatoes | |
| critic |
|
| audience |
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| IMDb |
|
In general, the reviews of the film are excellent. At Rotten Tomatoes , all 23 reviews are positive and 87% of the audience with around 10,500 votes. At IMDb , the film received 7.7 out of a possible 10 stars with around 24,500 votes. (As of October 22, 2019)
“The famous classic of black humor with the large violin case; (...); funny, full of macabre ideas. (Rating: very good) "
“Alexander Mackendrick's film was just as famous as Frank Capra's horror comedy Arsenic and Lace Cap , which is not entirely understandable. While Capra's film has lost none of its liveliness even decades later, the British film appears to be quite antiquated. Mackendrick failed to ironically break the variety of the " caper movie " and concentrated more on the (worth seeing) game of Alec Guinness and the old, Victorian Katie Johnson. "
“Five gangsters disguised as a string quintet argue over which of them has to kill their landlady, an old trusting lady. Crime game of the best British kind, with macabre wit, cleverly and imaginatively staged and brilliantly played: a milestone in British entertainment film. "
"(...) of macabre wit, persistently witty and imaginative, good colors, brilliantly played."
“Detective comedy of extraordinary wit, played and filmed with taste and that shot of 'whimsy' that we appreciate so much about the British. A good conversation. "
Later adaptations
There are several theater adaptations of the film. In 1983, the crime comedy Ladykillers by Elke Körver and Maria Caleita premiered for the theater. The play has since been re-enacted on many stages. The rights are held by the theater publisher Whale Songs . In the meantime, the piece has also been published in a Low German version, translated by Arnold Preuss . There is also an opera and a radio version of the film.
A remake by the Coen brothers with Tom Hanks as Professor Marcus was released in the summer of 2004 . The action will be moved to the southern states of the USA in 2004. There are also changes to the characters, so Mrs. Wimmerforce is a godly African American . However, the film had to be reproached by critics for not being nearly as good as the original.
Soundtrack
- Tristram Cary : The Ladykillers. Suite . On: The Ladykillers - Music from Those Glorious Ealing Films . Silva Screen Records, London 1997, sound carrier no. FILMCD 177 - digital re-recording of excerpts from the film music by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia under the direction of Kenneth Alwyn
literature
- George Perry : Forever Ealing. A Celebration of the Great British Film Studio . Pavilion, London 1985, ISBN 0-907516-60-2 ( inter alia pp. 132-135)
- Charles Barr: Ealing Studios. A movie book . University of California Press, Berkeley 1998, ISBN 0-520-21554-0 (et al. Pp. 131-133 and 170-177)
Web links
- Ladykillers in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Ladykillers at rotten tomatoes (English)
- Information about the location in London
- Representation of the locations in photos and on cards (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for ladykillers . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , January 2010 (PDF; test number: 12 718 V).
- ↑ Manuel Gurtner: The Ladykillers. In: eisenbahn-im-film.de. November 20, 2010, accessed October 22, 2019 .
- ↑ Martin Underwood: “The Ladykillers” (Ealing Studios, 1955) - locations, then and now. In: martinunderwood.f9.co.uk. January 14, 2014, accessed October 22, 2019 .
- ↑ Ladykillers , Illustrierte Film-Bühne No. 3631, Munich undated
- ↑ Der Spiegel of November 16, 1970
- ↑ a b c Ladykillers at Rotten Tomatoes (English), accessed on October 22, 2019
- ↑ a b Ladykillers in the Internet Movie Database (English) , accessed on October 22, 2019
- ^ Adolf Heinzlmeier, Berndt Schulz in Lexicon "Films on TV" (extended new edition). Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 , p. 478.
- ^ Meinolf Zurhorst: "Lexikon des Kriminalfilms", Munich 1985, p. 192
- ↑ Ladykillers. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed October 10, 2016 .
- ↑ 6000 films. Critical notes from the cinema years 1945 to 1958 . Handbook V of the Catholic film criticism, 3rd edition, Verlag Haus Altenberg, Düsseldorf 1963, p. 252