MOVIE · 1955

The Ladykillers

ComedyCrime97 min

Five crooks planning a bank robbery hole up in a boarding house on a cul-de-sac, posing as a string quintet to fool their elderly landlady. Alec Guinness is Professor Marcus, the gang’s sly ringleader, with Peter Sellers among the mismatched crew renting rooms from Katie Johnson’s Mrs. Wilberforce, an octogenarian widow whose politeness hides a stubborn streak. As the thieves try to keep their scheme under wraps, the house itself becomes part of the joke: a cluttered home, a watchful parrot, and steam trains thundering past while a very British criminal plan starts to wobble.