The Lady killers 1955

     Five criminals are planning a bank robbery and they need to rent some rooms in a certain area.  They stumble upon an octogenarian widow, Mrs. Wilberforce and she has a large room she can rent to them.  They say they are classical musicians and they do have instruments.  I knew right away that there was something very fishy about these men!!
     This one of Peter Sellers early roles and this was before Herbert Lin was in the Punk Panther films with Peter.  Katie Johnson steals the scenes since she is a very proper Englishwoman!!  Everything is right and good in the UK!!  She believes what the men say up to a certain point!!  This has a LOT of funny moments and I really wondered if the gang would be able to carry out their robbery?  I thought it was interesting that the scenes of the town and the scenes inside the home show them to be very plain and also quite dirty??  Must be the burning of coal??  As early as 1228, sea coal from the north-east was being taken to London.  In the 12th century, the trading of coal increased across Britain and by the end of the century most of the coalfields in England, Scotland and Wales were being worked on a small scale.  The burning of coal to generate electricity was first used in the 1880’s.  3 1/2* (I liked this movie) 
  
91 min, comedy direct ted by Alexander Mackendrick and written by William Rose with Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lim, Danny Green, Jack Warner, Katie Johnson, Philip Stainton, Frankie Howerd.

Note:  Imdb 7.7 out of 10 with 24,478 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 100% critic 87% audience, Metacritic 91 out of 100 with 7 critics (7 positive), The Independent Critic 3.5* and a grade B+, Richard Propes, Letterboxd 3.7* out of 5*, Amazon 4.3*out of 5* with 207 reviews.

Special Note:  Originally the producers reject ted director Alexander Mackendrick’s choice of Katie Johnson for the role of Mrs. Wilberforce.  At the age of 76 they thought she might be too frail for the project.  They cast a younger actress and she died b before filming began?  Maybe Katie Johnson was hale and hearty enough for the role after all!!  The birds belonging to Mrs. Wilberforce were voiced by Peter Sellers.  The parrot flies out of the living room and into the hallway.  The bird clearly says Alec Guinness as it lands!!  During pre-production writer William Rose and director Mackendrick quarreled violently and Rose stormed off leaving his screenplay not quite finished?  Mackendrick and a television comedy writer Larry Stevens provided the finishing touches.  Later, Rose apologized profusely to Mackendrick and praised his handling of the movie lavishly.  Critics have praised William Rose’s script as a first-rate example of British comedy and for doing an excellent job of capturing the world of British manners and tradition.  William Rose is an American and he decided to stay and work in Britain and he married a British woman.