To celebrate the 65th anniversary of Ealing Studios’ flawless The Ladykillers, Studiocanal is releasing the first ever 4k restoration of the 1955 black comedy from the original 3-strip Technicolor negative, showcasing director Alexander Mackendrick’s vision in its full glory.
Featuring all-star line-up of the finest comedy actors of the era: Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Danny Green, Frankie Howerd and Katie Johnson, The Ladykillers follows the hilarious capers of a group of small-time crooks, taking on more they can handle in the form of their sweet, but slightly dotty, elderly landlady Mrs Wilberforce. The gang pull off a robbery but none of them could have predicted that their greatest obstacle to escaping with the loot would be their tiny hostess.
Please note: This competition is open to UK residents only
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The Ladykillers is released as a 4K Uhd Blu-ray Collector’s Edition, Standard Blu-ray,...
Featuring all-star line-up of the finest comedy actors of the era: Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Danny Green, Frankie Howerd and Katie Johnson, The Ladykillers follows the hilarious capers of a group of small-time crooks, taking on more they can handle in the form of their sweet, but slightly dotty, elderly landlady Mrs Wilberforce. The gang pull off a robbery but none of them could have predicted that their greatest obstacle to escaping with the loot would be their tiny hostess.
Please note: This competition is open to UK residents only
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The Ladykillers is released as a 4K Uhd Blu-ray Collector’s Edition, Standard Blu-ray,...
- 11/8/2020
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Mubi's retrospective Ealing Comedies is showing May 31 - August 7, 2018 in the United States.Kind Hearts and CoronetsRe-reading his memoirs from his prison cell, Louis Mazzini (Dennis Price) narrates the story of his life in Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949). Disowned by his maternal family, the aristocratic D’Ascoynes, and thus condemned to a life of poverty, Louis decides that his only option is to swiftly murder his living relatives in order to obtain the dukedom which is rightfully his. As the guiding light of the film, being both narrator and protagonist, Louis takes up the greatest amount space. But it is Alec Guinness who has made Kind Hearts most memorable, by playing all eight members of the D’Ascoyne family that Louis encounters. With a broad range of characters—young and old, men and women, as caricatures or with honesty—Kind Hearts is perhaps the perfect example of Guinness’ work with the Ealing comedies,...
- 6/25/2018
- MUBI
Orlando's Lgbtq+ nightclub Pulse was the target of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history this month. While it's left many at a loss as to how to come to terms with such a tragedy, others have been looking toward something positive. A new petition is asking Bob Iger of Disney and Kathleen Kennedy of Lucasfilm to honor a fan who was lost in the attack by naming Star Wars' first canon Lgbt film character after him. "We are all heartbroken by the tragic and horrific events in Orlando, and offer our thoughts, prayers and support to everyone in our community affected by this senseless act," said Iger earlier this month. The Walt Disney Company followed up words with action by donating $1 million to the OneOrlando Fund. "We are heartbroken by this tragedy and hope our commitment will help those in the community affected by this senseless act,...
- 6/27/2016
- by Jill Pantozzi
- Hitfix
When fans pack into theaters next month for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, they'll be looking over every inch of the movie for Easter eggs. One of them has already been revealed, in part because it concerns a very heartwarming story. We're not sure where to find her in the movie, but an R2-series astromech droid with pink coloring instead of R2-D2's blue will appear on screen at some point. Her name (yes, she's programmed as female gender) is R2-kt, and she was originally designed as a life-size companion for a little girl diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. Katie Johnson passed away 10 years ago, but before she did, her father, Albin Johnson, commissioned the R2-kt droid special for her. Albin is well-known to many Star Wars geeks as the creator of...
Read More...
Read More...
- 12/1/2015
- by Christopher Campbell
- Movies.com
Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been known to make grown adults tear up at a moment's notice, so the story we're about to tell you could be considered par for the course. That is, until you realize that the story of R2-kt is a very real tearjerker involving Katie Johnson, the terminally ill girl that inspired the fandom to give her an Astromech protector for her final days. Prepare some tissues, folks. The founder of the 501st Legion, Albin Johnson, was delivered the sad news that his daughter, Katie, was suffering from an inoperable brain tumor in 2004. With only months to live, Katie's last wish was to have an R2 unit to watch over her, and thanks to R2 Builders' Club, Katie's wish was granted. Not only was a custom droid built for her, with pink accents instead of R2-D2's standard blue, it was designated R2 ...
- 12/1/2015
- cinemablend.com
You were already going to start crying at some point during The Force Awakens. Now it'll be for an actual reason, rather than just loving J.J. Abrams too goddamn much. i09 has the tearjerking story of R2-kt, a pink R2-D2-style astromech droid built to cheer up terminally ill girl Katie Johnson in 2004. While Katie passed away in 2005, her father Albin and the R2 Builders Club got to see her droid on the animated The Clone Wars before wrangling it a cameo in The Force Awakens. Looks like R2-kt will be the droid you are looking for! After which you can bury your face in your popcorn to stifle your sobs. That's why it's the go-to movie food, I assume.Bleep. Bloop. Bleep!
- 11/30/2015
- by Halle Kiefer
- Vulture
The Ladykillers is Alexander Mackendrick’s classic Ealing comedy about an elderly lady who unwittingly rents her rooms out to a group of hardened criminals masquerading as a string quintet. In these opening minutes, the gang’s leader, ‘Professor’ Marcus (Alec Guinness) attempts to ingratiate himself with the tenacious Mrs Wilberforce (Katie Johnson). A digital restoration of The Ladykillers, which is 60 years old this year, is available now on DVD & Blu-ray
Continue reading...
Continue reading...
- 10/29/2015
- by Guardian Staff
- The Guardian - Film News
Maybe he should have thought this one through. Wisconsin governor and likely Republican presidential contender Scott Walker co-opted "Star Wars Day" via his official Twitter account, and the corny pandering did not go over well with most observers. First, the offending tweet: Hope for Republicans there still is. #MayTheFourthBeWithYou #StarWarsDay @StarWars -Tw pic.twitter.com/DEqTUQE5gA — Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) May 4, 2015 Responses ranged from the virtual throwing of tomatoes ("Booooooooooooooooo," stated one user succinctly) to taking aim at Wilson's clear lack of "Star Wars" knowledge ("You don't even realize that's a quote from two different characters,you giant jackass," wrote another) to the incongruity of his policies with those of the rebellion ("Yes, Luke Skywalker worked tirelessly to eliminate collective bargaining rights," sniped @branniganlynch). Here's a sampling of the Twitter outrage: @dklaming @ScottWalker @starwars this guy needs to be memed into every ill-fitting inspirational quote in films — nut industry fan...
- 5/4/2015
- by Chris Eggertsen
- Hitfix
You want funny? We got funny! From Airplane to Duck Soup, here are the Guardian and Observer critics' pick of the 10 best rib-ticklers
• Top 10 romantic movies
• Top 10 action movies
Peter Bradshaw on comedy
Notionally, one of the most loved of genres, comedy persistently finds that it is somehow ineligible for greatness. Comedies rarely get Oscars. Charlie Chaplin, the great comic, was one of cinema's first international superstars. Keaton, the Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy produced sublime gems of film-making, arguably cherished more now than at the time. Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot is one of the most loved films of all time, with a miraculously light touch and a glorious romantic chemistry between Curtis, Lemmon and Monroe. In Hollywood, the screwball tradition came to be supplanted in public taste by Woody Allen, whose DNA can be traced through the cerebral creations of Charlie Kaufman.
Recently, Hollywood comedy...
• Top 10 romantic movies
• Top 10 action movies
Peter Bradshaw on comedy
Notionally, one of the most loved of genres, comedy persistently finds that it is somehow ineligible for greatness. Comedies rarely get Oscars. Charlie Chaplin, the great comic, was one of cinema's first international superstars. Keaton, the Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy produced sublime gems of film-making, arguably cherished more now than at the time. Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot is one of the most loved films of all time, with a miraculously light touch and a glorious romantic chemistry between Curtis, Lemmon and Monroe. In Hollywood, the screwball tradition came to be supplanted in public taste by Woody Allen, whose DNA can be traced through the cerebral creations of Charlie Kaufman.
Recently, Hollywood comedy...
- 10/11/2013
- The Guardian - Film News
M&C got up close and personal with Bet comedy award winner (2004, 2005) Kellita Smith, star of the political sitcom, First Family, on Centric TV, where she plays first lady, Katherine Johnson. Before starring as the most important woman in the White House, Kellita was best known as Wanda Mac, on Fox’s The Bernie Mac Show. She also co-starred in such films as The Crossing Guard and Kingdom come. Kellita opened up about playing such an iconic roll on television and the importance of being politically aware. Monsters & Critics: What is it like playing the first lady? Did you study Michelle Obama to come up with your character's nuances? Kellita Smith: It is an honor and a treat...
- 8/6/2013
- by Karen V. Stevens
- Monsters and Critics
Alec Guinness: Before Obi-Wan Kenobi, there were the eight D’Ascoyne family members (photo: Alec Guiness, Dennis Price in ‘Kind Hearts and Coronets’) (See previous post: “Alec Guinness Movies: Pre-Star Wars Career.”) TCM won’t be showing The Bridge on the River Kwai on Alec Guinness day, though obviously not because the cable network programmers believe that one four-hour David Lean epic per day should be enough. After all, prior to Lawrence of Arabia TCM will be presenting the three-and-a-half-hour-long Doctor Zhivago (1965), a great-looking but never-ending romantic drama in which Guinness — quite poorly — plays a Kgb official. He’s slightly less miscast as a mere Englishman — one much too young for the then 32-year-old actor — in Lean’s Great Expectations (1946), a movie that fully belongs to boy-loving (in a chaste, fatherly manner) fugitive Finlay Currie. And finally, make sure to watch Robert Hamer’s dark comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets...
- 8/3/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Feature Aliya Whiteley 20 Jun 2013 - 10:11
The films of post-war Britain are fascinating; Aliya picks 10 of the best British thrillers from the 1940s
The 1940s was a heck of a decade for the British. We started it at war with Nazi Germany, with the threat of Ira collaboration with the enemy looming large. By the end of it we had seen Independence achieved by India, lived through strikes and rationing, and held the fourteenth Olympic Games in London at a time of great austerity. The welfare state was under formation, and in the space of ten years we had become a very different country.
The British film industry reflected those changes, particularly in the thrillers that were made. The lines between good and evil, safety and danger, were the stuff of entertainment that tapped into the concerns of the public. It was a period of vivid, ambitious, and surprising films.
The films of post-war Britain are fascinating; Aliya picks 10 of the best British thrillers from the 1940s
The 1940s was a heck of a decade for the British. We started it at war with Nazi Germany, with the threat of Ira collaboration with the enemy looming large. By the end of it we had seen Independence achieved by India, lived through strikes and rationing, and held the fourteenth Olympic Games in London at a time of great austerity. The welfare state was under formation, and in the space of ten years we had become a very different country.
The British film industry reflected those changes, particularly in the thrillers that were made. The lines between good and evil, safety and danger, were the stuff of entertainment that tapped into the concerns of the public. It was a period of vivid, ambitious, and surprising films.
- 6/18/2013
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
April 4, 2013—Bet Networks announced today it has licensed over 100 episodes each of two hit sitcoms, The First Family and Mr. Box Office, from Entertainment Studios to air on Centric starting April, 2013. Both first-run original series feature recognized and award-winning actors such as Bill Bellamy, Gary Busey, Gladys Knight, Christopher B. Duncan, Kellita Smith, Jackée, Marla Gibbs, John Witherspoon, Jon Lovitz, Rick Fox, Tim Meadows, Essence Atkins and Vivica A. Fox, and are scheduled to premiere in primetime on Centric weeknights beginning Friday April 19, 2013. “We’re thrilled to partner with Entertainment Studios and add these two incredible series to our growing comedy programming slate on Centric,” said Paxton K. Baker, Evp and General Manager of Centric. “The First Family and Mr. Box Office star African American talent that resonate with our audience.” “This is an historic deal,” said Byron Allen, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Entertainment Studios. “We have...
- 4/4/2013
- by THE DEADLINE TEAM
- Deadline TV
The 2013 TCM Classic Film Festival continues to expand, with newly added appearances by legendary stars at screenings of some of their most memorable films, including Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Winters, Marvin Kaplan, Barrie Chase, Polly Bergen,Coleen Gray, Theodore Bikel and Norman Lloyd, as well as producer Stanley Rubin, Clara Bow biographer David Stenn, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) film collections manager Katie Trainor and director Nicholas Ray’s widow, Susan Ray. In addition, TCM’s Essentials Jr. host and Saturday Night Live star Bill Hader will present screenings of Shane (1953) and The Ladykillers(1955).
And The Film Forum’s Bruce Goldstein will present a special screening of Frank Capra’s The Donovan Affair (1929), complete with live voice actors and sound effects to replace the film’s long-lost soundtrack.Mel Brooks is slated to talk about his comedy The Twelve Chairs (1970). Carl Reiner, Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Winters, Marvin Kaplan...
And The Film Forum’s Bruce Goldstein will present a special screening of Frank Capra’s The Donovan Affair (1929), complete with live voice actors and sound effects to replace the film’s long-lost soundtrack.Mel Brooks is slated to talk about his comedy The Twelve Chairs (1970). Carl Reiner, Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Winters, Marvin Kaplan...
- 3/13/2013
- by Melissa Thompson
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
(Alexander Mackendrick, 1951, Studiocanal, U)
Last September marked the centenary of the birth of Alexander Mackendrick (1912-93). Born in the States, raised in Scotland, he was, with Richard Hamer, one of the two truly great products of Ealing Studios. Their output was small (each made made five movies under Michael Balcon's aegis), but distinguished and distinctive and always digging beneath Ealing's cosy Little England ethos. Oscar-nominated for its screenplay (by Mackendrick, his brother-in-law the playwright Roger MacDougall and John Dighton, Hamer's collaborator on Kind Hearts and Coronets), The Man in the White Suit is arguably Mackendrick's most trenchant comedy.
It stars Alec Guinness as Sidney Stratton, a dreamily eccentric inventor who develops an artificial fibre that's indestructible and resistant to dirt. Apparently a boon to humanity, this fabric spreads alarm in a Lancashire mill town whose prosperity the invention threatens. Management and workers unite against the starry-eyed idealist Stratton, who...
Last September marked the centenary of the birth of Alexander Mackendrick (1912-93). Born in the States, raised in Scotland, he was, with Richard Hamer, one of the two truly great products of Ealing Studios. Their output was small (each made made five movies under Michael Balcon's aegis), but distinguished and distinctive and always digging beneath Ealing's cosy Little England ethos. Oscar-nominated for its screenplay (by Mackendrick, his brother-in-law the playwright Roger MacDougall and John Dighton, Hamer's collaborator on Kind Hearts and Coronets), The Man in the White Suit is arguably Mackendrick's most trenchant comedy.
It stars Alec Guinness as Sidney Stratton, a dreamily eccentric inventor who develops an artificial fibre that's indestructible and resistant to dirt. Apparently a boon to humanity, this fabric spreads alarm in a Lancashire mill town whose prosperity the invention threatens. Management and workers unite against the starry-eyed idealist Stratton, who...
- 12/16/2012
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
French actor known for her role as the cantankerous widow in Tatie Danielle, the 1990 film directed by Étienne Chatiliez
With her remarkable portrayal of the cantankerous, mean-spirited and selfish widow in Tatie Danielle (1990), Tsilla Chelton joined the ranks of those elderly female performers who, after a long career in show business, suddenly find themselves as film stars. Like Katie Johnson in The Ladykillers (1955) and Ruth Gordon in Harold and Maude (1972), Chelton, who has died aged 93, finally moved into the limelight in her 70s.
In this second feature directed by Étienne Chatiliez, Auntie Danielle manipulates everyone around her, including her great-nephew, his family and a housekeeper whom she regularly abuses, until she meets her match in a young woman paid to look after her. Not pathetic or twinkly-eyed, as older people are generally depicted in the movies, Chelton, in the antipathetic title role, is on screen most of the time, not seeking understanding,...
With her remarkable portrayal of the cantankerous, mean-spirited and selfish widow in Tatie Danielle (1990), Tsilla Chelton joined the ranks of those elderly female performers who, after a long career in show business, suddenly find themselves as film stars. Like Katie Johnson in The Ladykillers (1955) and Ruth Gordon in Harold and Maude (1972), Chelton, who has died aged 93, finally moved into the limelight in her 70s.
In this second feature directed by Étienne Chatiliez, Auntie Danielle manipulates everyone around her, including her great-nephew, his family and a housekeeper whom she regularly abuses, until she meets her match in a young woman paid to look after her. Not pathetic or twinkly-eyed, as older people are generally depicted in the movies, Chelton, in the antipathetic title role, is on screen most of the time, not seeking understanding,...
- 7/22/2012
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios has ordered 104 episodes of the new comedy The First Family, about an African-American family living in the White House. Their name is not Obama. Christopher P. Duncan (Veronica Mars) plays President William Johnson. He’s joined by singer Gladys Knight as his mother, Marla Gibbs (The Jeffersons) as the First Lady’s mother, comedian Paul Rodriguez as Dictator Rafael, Jackee Harry (Sister, Sister) as the First Lady’s sister and Kellita Smith (The Bernie Mac Show) as First Lady Katherine Johnson. The series pilot was just completed. The First Family is set to debut this fall on broadcast syndication, cable and digital media.
- 3/29/2012
- by THE DEADLINE TEAM
- Deadline TV
In the latest instalment of our writers' favourite film series, and ahead of the opening night of Graham Linehan's stage version, Catherine Shoard falls for the warm wit of Ealing Studios' 1955 comedy about dark deeds and a not-so-doddery old dear
Is this a miscarriage of justice? Write your own review here – or target your reforming zeal below the line
Three Christmases ago, the Guardian moved from Farringdon Road to a patch of regenerating edgeland north-east of Kings Cross. And, ever since, there's been an unbeatable new boon to working here: you're never more than a hop or a skip from where they shot The Ladykillers.
Alexander Mackendrick's 1955 comedy is Ealing's neatest, and its trippiest; the product of lurid new colour stock (including some alarming back-projection) and a hallucinatory premise. The plot – five faintly spivvy crims, headed up by a bafflingly dastardly Alec Guinness, get an old lady...
Is this a miscarriage of justice? Write your own review here – or target your reforming zeal below the line
Three Christmases ago, the Guardian moved from Farringdon Road to a patch of regenerating edgeland north-east of Kings Cross. And, ever since, there's been an unbeatable new boon to working here: you're never more than a hop or a skip from where they shot The Ladykillers.
Alexander Mackendrick's 1955 comedy is Ealing's neatest, and its trippiest; the product of lurid new colour stock (including some alarming back-projection) and a hallucinatory premise. The plot – five faintly spivvy crims, headed up by a bafflingly dastardly Alec Guinness, get an old lady...
- 12/8/2011
- by Catherine Shoard
- The Guardian - Film News
With the much anticipated release of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy in theatres today, WhatCulture! were challenged with coming up with our 10 best British ensemble casts. With Tinker’s all star British cast – including the likes of Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, John Hurt, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong and Benedict Cumberbatch – it was a bloody hard challenge to come up with ten that could even come close to rivalling such a solid cast!
Read on to discover what we came up with!
10. Gosford Park (2001)
The murder mystery genre is always one that employs a vast and impressive ensemble cast and Gosford Park is a prime example of how effective a film can be when this is done proficiently. A range of talented British stars fill the screen, disclosing the everyday workings of a 1930s mansion house from the privileged inhabitants and their wealthy guests, right down to the most invisible of servants.
Read on to discover what we came up with!
10. Gosford Park (2001)
The murder mystery genre is always one that employs a vast and impressive ensemble cast and Gosford Park is a prime example of how effective a film can be when this is done proficiently. A range of talented British stars fill the screen, disclosing the everyday workings of a 1930s mansion house from the privileged inhabitants and their wealthy guests, right down to the most invisible of servants.
- 9/16/2011
- by Stuart Cummins
- Obsessed with Film
Alec Guinness classic crime caper re-cast as stage play in Liverpool by Father Ted and It Crowd writer Graham Linehan
It might be about criminals exploiting a sweet old lady so they can rob a bank, but The Ladykillers is regularly named as one of the nation's favourite comedy films. Now the Ealing classic is to be brought to the stage in a new version written by Father Ted and The It Crowd writer Graham Linehan.
Producers will announce that the memorably dark and stylish 1955 film is being adapted for the stage, with Peter Capaldi in the role of the charming but sinister gang leader Professor Marcus, played first by Alec Guinness.
The stage play will be very much Linehan's version. "I wanted the film to haunt the play rather than it be a transcription," he said.
There will also be more laughs. Linehan had been asked by producers if...
It might be about criminals exploiting a sweet old lady so they can rob a bank, but The Ladykillers is regularly named as one of the nation's favourite comedy films. Now the Ealing classic is to be brought to the stage in a new version written by Father Ted and The It Crowd writer Graham Linehan.
Producers will announce that the memorably dark and stylish 1955 film is being adapted for the stage, with Peter Capaldi in the role of the charming but sinister gang leader Professor Marcus, played first by Alec Guinness.
The stage play will be very much Linehan's version. "I wanted the film to haunt the play rather than it be a transcription," he said.
There will also be more laughs. Linehan had been asked by producers if...
- 6/7/2011
- by Mark Brown
- The Guardian - Film News
Alec Guinness seedy gang classic to become stage play, written by Father Ted author Graham Linehan
It might be about gangsters exploiting a sweet old lady to commit an ugly armed robbery, but The Ladykillers is regularly named as one of the nation's favourite comedy films. Now the Ealing classic is to be brought to the stage for the first time in a new version written by Father Ted and The It Crowd writer Graham Linehan.
Producers will announce that the memorably dark and stylish 1955 film is being adapted for the stage, with Peter Capaldi taking on the role of the charming but utterly sinister gang leader Professor Marcus, played originally by Alec Guinness.
The stage play will be very much Linehan's version. "I wanted the film to haunt the play rather than it be a transcription," he said.
There will also be more laughs. He had been asked by...
It might be about gangsters exploiting a sweet old lady to commit an ugly armed robbery, but The Ladykillers is regularly named as one of the nation's favourite comedy films. Now the Ealing classic is to be brought to the stage for the first time in a new version written by Father Ted and The It Crowd writer Graham Linehan.
Producers will announce that the memorably dark and stylish 1955 film is being adapted for the stage, with Peter Capaldi taking on the role of the charming but utterly sinister gang leader Professor Marcus, played originally by Alec Guinness.
The stage play will be very much Linehan's version. "I wanted the film to haunt the play rather than it be a transcription," he said.
There will also be more laughs. He had been asked by...
- 6/5/2011
- by Mark Brown
- The Guardian - Film News
Alexander Mackendrick, 1955
The Ladykillers was the last of the great Ealing comedies and, almost by default, the dying gasp of a vanishing London; still rationed and rubble-strewn, with steam trains on the tracks and carthorses on the streets.
Shot in 1955 by Alexander Mackendrick, from a script that purportedly came to writer William Rose in a dream, this film charts the misadventures of a gang of thieves who hole up in the home of a guileless widow. Mrs Wilberforce (Katie Johnson) lives in a lopsided house up a King's Cross cul-de-sac, a place that rings to the din of steam whistles and parrot squawks. It becomes the base for a bullion robbery hatched by the oily Professor Marcus (Alec Guinness), who convinces the owner that he and his associates (Peter Sellers and Herbert Lom among them) are actually members of a string quartet. The musicians need a rehearsal space and Mrs...
The Ladykillers was the last of the great Ealing comedies and, almost by default, the dying gasp of a vanishing London; still rationed and rubble-strewn, with steam trains on the tracks and carthorses on the streets.
Shot in 1955 by Alexander Mackendrick, from a script that purportedly came to writer William Rose in a dream, this film charts the misadventures of a gang of thieves who hole up in the home of a guileless widow. Mrs Wilberforce (Katie Johnson) lives in a lopsided house up a King's Cross cul-de-sac, a place that rings to the din of steam whistles and parrot squawks. It becomes the base for a bullion robbery hatched by the oily Professor Marcus (Alec Guinness), who convinces the owner that he and his associates (Peter Sellers and Herbert Lom among them) are actually members of a string quartet. The musicians need a rehearsal space and Mrs...
- 10/18/2010
- by Xan Brooks
- The Guardian - Film News
FilmBookdotcom has a Blu-ray contest out there: Alexander Mackendrick’s black comedy The Ladykillers, Jean-Luc Godard’s Le Mepris / Contempt, and Akira Kurosawa’s Ran have been released by StudioCanal on Blu-ray and are up for grabs. The Ladykillers, remade a few years ago with Tom Hanks, stars Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers, and the outstanding Katie Johnson. Godard’s Contempt is a visually sumptuous drama starring Brigitte Bardot and featuring none other than veteran filmmaker Fritz Lang as himself. Ran won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design (1985) and earned Kurosawa his only Best Director Academy Award nomination. Each film will be accompanied by a 20-page collectible booklet. Here are the rules: One (1) winner will receive: (1) The Ladykillers Blu-ray One (1) winner will receive: (1) [...]...
- 5/11/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Chicago – I have to admit to a bit of trepidation every time a studio outside of the widely acknowledged masters tries their hand at catalog releases but the Lionsgate/StudioCanal Blu-ray releases of “Contempt,” “The Ladykillers,” and “Ran” are spectacular. Not only do the films look amazing in HD but they’ve been given copious special features. Don’t miss them.
Blu-Ray Rating: 4.5/5.0
What do Jean-Luc Godard’s “Contempt,” Akira Kurosawa’s “Ran,” and Alexander Mackendrick’s “The Ladykillers” have in common? Basically nothing other than loyal followings and, apparently, the same production company that allows them to be released on Blu-ray on the same day. They’re all films well worth adding to any collection of classic titles, especially in packages this lavish and lovingly produced.
Contempt was released on Blu-ray on February 16th, 2010.
Photo credit: Lionsgate Home Video
Four words - “Brigitte Bardot in HD”. For movie lovers who know their classics,...
Blu-Ray Rating: 4.5/5.0
What do Jean-Luc Godard’s “Contempt,” Akira Kurosawa’s “Ran,” and Alexander Mackendrick’s “The Ladykillers” have in common? Basically nothing other than loyal followings and, apparently, the same production company that allows them to be released on Blu-ray on the same day. They’re all films well worth adding to any collection of classic titles, especially in packages this lavish and lovingly produced.
Contempt was released on Blu-ray on February 16th, 2010.
Photo credit: Lionsgate Home Video
Four words - “Brigitte Bardot in HD”. For movie lovers who know their classics,...
- 2/19/2010
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Hilarity is the name of the game in the Ladykillers. Ealing Studios fantastic comedy makes the leap to high definition and the laughs keep on rolling in. Add in some great special features and you.ve got a sting quartet of comedy. Play on. Mrs. Louisa Wilberforce (Katie Johnson) is the neighborhood busybody nosy-old-lady. She lives in her uneven, sloping house with the memories of her late husband and her parrot. She does however have some rooms for rent. Her door is darkened by Professor Marcus (the divine Alec Guinness) who rents the aforementioned room and tells Mrs. Wilberforce that he is part of an amateur string quartet and that they.ll be practicing in his rooms. His partners...
- 2/17/2010
- by Jeff Swindoll
- Monsters and Critics
A new W Hotel has just opened, this one is our nation’s capitol, Washington D.C. And stars like John Legend and Emmy Rossum showed up for the opening weekend’s festivities. John Legend performed his biggest hits to celebrities like Emmy Rossum, Tatyana Ali, and Anthony Mackie, in addition to Washington’s elite, including Presidential Aide Reggie Love, Katie Johnson - the president’s personal secretary, Luke Russert (son of the late Time Russert and Capitol Hill news correspondent), Betsy Fischer of Meet The Press, Fox News’ Bret Baier, uber-lobbyist Jack Quinn, Ed Henry (CNN White House correspondent),...
- 10/13/2009
- Hollyscoop.com
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.