The Ladykillers (1955, Alexander Mackendrick) (Patreon)

59/100

Spoilers ahoy.

Let me first say that I was not prepared for Guinness' teeth. That's a choice and a half all by itself, and so contrary to my perception of him as an actor that I spent a good 15 or 20 minutes mentally adjusting. Which may have gotten in the way of some laughs...though Mackendrick also introduces the Professor via formal language straight out of film noir, making him initially seem almost too sinister to be funny. That's the joke, admittedly: that these ostensibly dangerous criminals prove unable first to deceive and finally to murder a sweet little old lady. Apart from inspiring protective affection in One Round, however, Mrs. Wilberforce remains dottily oblivious throughout, serving the same obstructive function that, say, a tree trunk blocking the road might have done. The gang's brilliant plan gets undone by simple bad luck (facilitated by their having nonsensically transferred the money from the trunk to the cello case, a small cheat that bugs me more than it probably should; still, just take the loot out the same way it came in, for fuck's sake!), and their gradually bumping one another off winds up having little (or, in the Professor's case, literally nothing) to do with Mrs. Lopsided. It's just a comic variation on standard post-robbery greed and paranoia. In a sense, the entire movie plays like an elaborate setup for its magnificent epilogue, which sees the old woman attempt to turn in the money and be gently shooed away by the police, who think she's batty. (This is quite deftly set up at the beginning. Running umbrella gag also nicely handled.) The body of the film, however, could perhaps have been more ably plotted. 

And just generally funnier, though that's obviously quite subjective. On the one hand, this is considered a classic, and who am I to say otherwise? On the other hand, it seems significant that two geniuses with a stellar track record in comedy turned it into what virtually everyone agrees is their weakest film. There's nothing here that I dislike as much as the whole business with J.K. Simmons' irritable bowel syndrome...but there's also nothing I enjoy as much as Hanks' plummy performance (which I see now is paying homage to Guinness while not in any respect imitating him—it's just comparably goofy). One thing I'll assert without fear of contradiction is that the film seems tragically unaware that it has Peter Gotdamn Sellers in its ensemble, providing him with almost no opportunities to cut loose. It's not a bit part, either—just a nothing role. That really should be actionable. Guinness' uncharacteristic mugging did grow on me once I got past the initial shock, and Lom gets an amusing head start on what would eventually become his signature perpetual peevishness. (I grew up with his Chief Inspector Dreyfus, opposite Sellers' Clouseau.) Only when Mrs. Wilberforce discovers the truth, however, does The Ladykillers shift out of low gear, actually utilizing her as a foil. I'd have liked more bits like the criminals providing her with responses to any uncomfortable questions that a policeman at the door might ask, only to panic as she suspiciously blurts those responses out in the absence of any such questions. Were the movie consistently that clever, its lofty reputation would make more sense. I didn't love The Man in the White Suit, either, though, so perhaps Mackendrick's sense of humor only works for me when it's liberally tinged with acid. A cookie full of arsenic, one might say.