Why do our spies keep telling us everything? | David Mitchell <p>The alarming news that MI6 plans to recruit 1,000 more staff makes me hanker for the days when they just kept things to themselves</p><p>Despite being an enthusiastic consumer of spy films and novels, I’ve never much fancied being an actual spy. Physical cowardice is part of the reason – I don’t like the sound of all the piranha tanks, gun fights, torture by sleep deprivation or polonium-laced sushi (depending on <a href="">genre</a>) – but that’s not the main deterrent. After all, popular culture makes it clear there are plenty of espionage jobs that don’t involve anything more challenging than ducking under some police tape in a cashmere overcoat. That’s the sort of spy I’d dream of being, if I dreamed of being a spy which I’m surprised to find I don’t.

The suit-and-tie, office-with-a-rooftop-view, “How can we stop them realising we’ve realised that they’ve realised we realise?” kind.</p><p>Which isn’t to say I don’t want to be <a href="">George Smiley</a>: I absolutely do want to be George Smiley. I just don’t want to be any of the people he’s based on. I’d be thrilled to pretend to be a spy, with lots of people watching and applause at the end. What I’m not tempted by is the long career, wrestling with terrible secrets, mind-bending complications and soul-crushing compromises, while not being able to get credit when it went well, sympathy when it went horribly or a huge pile of money if I happened to be good at it.</p><p>Maybe this time it was a belt shampoo bomb?

A mace made out of plastic cutlery embedded in a Frederick Forsyth novel?</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="">MI6 to recruit hundreds more staff in response to digital technology</a> </p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> MI6 Oscar Isaac surprises audience at Letters Live event in London <p>The actor made a guest appearance to read aloud correspondence from his Star Wars forebear Sir Alec Guinness</p><p>The actor Oscar Isaac made a surprise appearance at a Letters Live event on Sunday to read out correspondence written by his Star Wars forebear Alec Guinness, in which he called his co-star Harrison Ford a “languid young man”.</p><p>Guinness, who played Obi-Wan Kenobi, wrote that he was not enjoying the production of the 1977 film, Star Wars: A New Hope – the first of the films to be made.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Letters Live Doctor Zhivago review – vehement storytelling still conjures great romance <p>With real contemporary relevance, this 50th anniversary rerelease reminds us it’s impossible not be swept along by David Lean’s epic film</p><p>

David Lean’s epic and yet daintily detailed movie version of Boris Pasternak’s forbidden novel, adapted by Robert Bolt, is now on rerelease for the 50th anniversary.

Zhivago conjures grand romance and a gigantic, almost panoptic vision of the Russian landscape; Lean and Bolt pay tribute to a Tolstoyan ambition in Pasternak’s samizdat novel, and also to a real contemporary relevance: the story of a suppressed writer.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="">Loved but not lost: David Lean’s Brief Encounter and Dr Zhivago</a> </p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Drama The Ladykillers review – the greatest comedy caper <p>(Alexander Mackendrick, 1955; StudioCanal, U, DVD/Blu-ray)</p><p>Ealing Studio’s two greatest directors, <a href="">Robert Hamer</a> and <a href="">Alexander Mackendrick</a>, both made near flawless black comedies on the state of the nation starring <a href="">Alec Guinness</a> and involving multiple murders, and there is little to choose between the former’s <a href=""><em>Kind Hearts and Coronets</em></a> and the latter’s <em>The Ladykillers</em>, a <a href="">special edition</a> of which is being

 released this week to mark its 60th anniversary.</p><p>The heist (or caper) movie began with <a href=""><em>The Great Train Robbery</em></a><em> </em>in 1903, and enjoyed its classic decade in America and Europe between John Huston’s <em>The Asphalt Jungle </em>(1950) and Basil Dearden’s <em><a href="">The League of Gentlemen</a></em> (1960).

The greatest comic example is <em>The Ladykillers</em>.</p><p>The cluttered house, standing alone at the end of the cul-de-sac, symbolises decrepit England, waiting to collapse</p><p>Mackendrick saw the innocence as represented by Mrs Wilberforce as a dangerously destructive social force</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> The Ladykillers From Norbit to Adaptation: the best and worst double roles <p>Tom Hardy’s portrayal of the Kray twins in Legend isn’t the first time an actor has starred alongside himself in a movie. For some it worked a treat – others should look in the mirror (or at their CGI twin) and think twice about what they’ve done</p><p>By playing both Ronnie and Reggie Kray in <a href="">Legend, Tom Hardy</a> has joined a select group of actors. A group of actors who thrive on high-wire showboating, with too much talent to contain within the confines of a single part. A group of actors who, at some point in their careers, wanted nothing more than to be their own co-star.</p><p>This is, however, rife with danger.

When it works, it can be a thrilling demonstration of an actor’s talent. But when it doesn’t – and it quite often doesn’t – it’s an overcomplicated mishmash of thwarted hubris and unconvincing body doubles. Here are the five best, and five worst, actors who’ve taken multiple roles in the same film.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Film The Ealing Studios Collection Vol 1 review – Philip French on three immaculately restored Ealing classics (StudioCanal, 1949-51; Blu-ray)<p>Michael Balcon ran Ealing Studios from 1938 until the studio closed down 19 years later. Although in his early days there were numerous comedies featuring established music hall stars, the anarchic, character-driven, "tight little island" films dubbed Ealing comedies really began in 1947 with Charles Crichton's <em>Hue and Cry</em>, after the patriotic second world war pictures that made the studio's reputation.

The series, a reflection of the anxieties attending the 1940s age of austerity and the difficult birth of the welfare state, ended with a whimper when Alec Guinness played all the members of the same English family in <em>Barnacle Bill</em>, a long forgotten disaster that brought Ealing to a sad end in 1957. Not to be confused with the protean Guinness's dazzling 1949 Ealing debut in <em>Kind Hearts and Coronets</em>.</p><p>In fact you could count the genuine classic Ealing comedies on six or seven fingers, four starring Guinness, and three of them in this box – Robert Hamer's <em>Kind Hearts and Coronets</em>, Charles Crichton's <em>The Lavender Hill Mob </em>(1951) and Alexander Mackendrick's <em>The Man in the White Suit</em> (1951), all immaculately restored in Blu-ray that does justice to the crisp black-and-white images of the versatile cinematographer <a href="" title="">Douglas Slocombe</a>, still alive at 102.

All are subtly subversive in different ways, with Guinness in each case given a great supporting cast, as indeed he was in his even bleaker Ealing triumph, Mackendrick's <em>The Ladykillers</em>, the studio's last great comedy (1955), another "state of the nation" allegory.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> DVD and video reviews Top 10 sci-fi movies A long time ago, in a land far away... there were no space movies. Luckily, we have lots and the Guardian and Observer's critics have picked the 10 best ever<br /><br /><br /><a href="">• Top 10 romantic movies</a><br /><a href="">• Top 10 action movies</a><br /><a href="">• Top 10 comedy movies</a><br /><a href="">• Top 10 horror movies</a><p>Science fiction has produced some of cinema's boldest and most glorious flights – in every sense.

Sometimes patronised as kids' stuff, the genre seeks to look beyond the parochialism of most realist drama: to see other worlds and other existences, and therefore to look with a new, radically alienated eye at our own. Maybe something in the limitless possibilities of cinema itself spawned sci-fi.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Science fiction and fantasy Top 10 comedy movies 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<br /><br /><a href="">• Top 10 romantic movies</a><br /><a href="">• Top 10 action movies</a><p>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.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Comedy Alec Guinness's acerbic remarks about Laurence Olivier don't amount to a feud | Michael Billington Despite acting rivalries, it's striking how few genuine feuds there have been in the tribe of British actors over the last 100 years<p>The news that Alec Guinness felt a personal distaste for Laurence Olivier, <a href="" title="">reported in this morning's papers</a>, didn't exactly come as a bolt from the blue. I recall reading in one theatrical biography that Guinness was deeply offended when, while both men were playing at the Old Vic in 1937, Olivier made caustic enquiries as to what may or may not have happened when Guinness paid a weekend visit to Gielgud's country cottage.

The two men, both as actors and as people, were as different as chalk and cheese: Guinness a fastidious miniaturist, Olivier a strange mix of the earthy and the exalted.</p><p>Olivier was a king among actors, and, like many Shakespearean monarchs, jealously guarded his throne. That's a polite way of saying that he wasn't always generous to potential rivals. During his directorship of the National Theatre from 1963 to 1973, Olivier was unfailingly encouraging to young actors. He wasn't, however, quite so open-handed to his peers: he sacked a patently ill Michael Redgrave, miscast Gielgud in Tartuffe, and never employed his old friend Ralph Richardson or indeed Alec Guinness.

The charitable view is that he and his fellow-directors were trying to create a new ensemble: the less favourable one is that Olivier was like an old lion guarding his territory.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Alec Guinness Alec Guinness personal letters and diaries acquired by British Library Archive of theatre knight, famed for Ealing comedies, reveal Pooterish moments and brickbats for Sir Laurence<p>On July 12 1989, one of the greatest actors of his generation was reflecting in his diary on the death of another. If Sir Alec Guinness's thoughtswords of praise for Sir Laurence Olivier were extracted, as theatre promoters routinely do with critics' write-ups, it could read as a rave review.</p><p>The full text, revealed for the first time in the actor's personal archive just acquired by the British Library, tells a different story.

In his impeccably neat tiny script, Guinness wrote of Olivier: "I greatly admired his extraordinary courage … as a comedian he was superb … technically brilliant … he was a great actor."</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Alec Guinness The Man in the White Suit (Alexander Mackendrick, 1951, Studiocanal, U)<p>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 <em>Kind Hearts and Coronets</em>), <em>The Man in the White Suit </em>is arguably Mackendrick's most trenchant comedy.</p><p>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 represents a theme running through Mackendrick's work, identified by his acute biographer Philip Kemp as "lethal innocence", variously embodied by Katie Johnson's little old lady in <em>The Ladykillers</em>, and the children who send the pirates to the gallows in <em>A&nbsp;High Wind in Jamaica</em>.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> DVD and video reviews Lawrence of Arabia – review <p>It's astonishing to think that Lean's stately masterpiece was made half a century ago, a mere 27 years after the death of TE Lawrence, and that following the initial showing in 1962 the film was cut, making it necessary for the restorers to have Charles Gray dub the voice of the late Jack Hawkins. There are no intelligent epics like this today and, because of computer-generated effects, it's unlikely that there ever will be again. To appreciate the film fully, <em>Lawrence</em> must be seen in a cinema, in 70mm on the widescreen and in stereophonic sound, and the present theatrical revival is not to be missed.

I spent a year in the desert doing my national service and read <em>The Seven Pillars of Wisdom</em> there, but when I think of sand it's Freddie Young's images from <em>Lawrence</em> that I remember.</p><p>I'll never forget seeing the film for the first time at the Odeon, Leicester Square, a few weeks before Christmas 1962, and meeting my old university friend, Christopher Lambert, during the interval. Kit was a flamboyant gay, later co-manager of the Who before going to an early grave.

"This is the first queer epic," he proclaimed to anyone in the foyer within hearing distance, and rhapsodised over the romantic encounters of a dune kind between Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Action and adventure Ealing Comedy Collection [DVD]: Amazon.co.uk: Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker, Michael Gough, Ernest Thesiger, Howard Marion Crawford, Patric Doonan, Harold Goodwin, George Relph, Godfrey Tearle, Reginald Beckwith, Gabrielle Brune, Herbert Lom, Harry Fowler, Alastair Sim, Jack Warner, Jack Lambert, Douglas Barr, Vida Hope, Frederick Piper, Valerie White, Dennis Price, Valerie Hobson, Joan Greenwood, Stanley Holloway, Basil Radford, Hermione Baddeley, Paul Dupuis, John Slater, Charles Hawtrey, James Hayter, Jane Hylton, Kay Walsh, Stephen Murray, Meredith Edwards, Thora Hird, Gladys Henson, Michael Brooke Jr, Sid James, Colin Gordon, Peter Sellers, Stanley Escane, Clive Morton, Barbara Murray, Wylie Watson, Joan Harben, Jack MacGowran, Danny Green, Ian Dawson, Miles

 Malleson, Margaret Rutherford, William Fox, Alfie Bass, Katie Johnson, Gerald Fox, John Penrose, Sidney Tafler, Marjorie Fielding, Duncan Lamont, Nancy O'Neil, Hugh Griffith, Audrey Fildes, Cecil Rampage, Betty Warren, John Gregson, Ewan Roberts, Philip Stainton, Joan Dowling, Arthur Lowe, Naunton Wayne, Edie Martin, John Rudling, Michael Trubshawe, Frankie Howerd, Fred Griffiths, Joey Carr, Kenneth Connor, Grace Arnold, Paul Demel, Ronald Adam, Robin Hughes, Jacques Brunius, Eugene Deckers, Audrey Hepburn, Charles Crichton, Robert Hamer, Henry Cornelius, Charles Frend, Alexander MacKendrick, Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker, Michael Balcon, Sidney Cole: DVD & Blu-ray Ealing Comedy Collection [DVD] 1 new from Â£99.99 2 used from Â£49.99 See all buying options Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe.

Read more about DVD formats. ) Number of discs: 1 DVD Release Date: 8 Nov. 2004 Run Time: 710 minutes Product Description Product Description A collection of eight classic comedies made by Ealing Studios. In the first of the Ealing comedies, 'Hue and Cry' (1947), a bunch of crooks use a comic paper featuring stories penned by Felix H. Wilkinson (Alastair Sim) to pass on coded messages for robberies. When the comic's readership - a bunch of East End boys - discover what's going on, they go to the police. The local constabulary, however, are no help, so the plucky lads set out to foil the robbers themselves. 'Kind Hearts and Coronets' (1949) is a comedy set in the early 20th century. Young Louis Mazzini (Dennis Price) vows to take revenge on his family, the D'Ascoynes, when he learns how they disinherited his mother.

Working his way into their trust, Louis begins to bump off his distant relatives (all played by Alec Guinness) one by one - but complications set in when Edith D'Ascoyne (Valerie Hobson), the widow of his first victim, falls in love with him. In 'Passport to Pimlico' (1949), a hitherto unexploded bomb goes off in Pimlico, uncovering documents revealing that this part of London in fact belongs to Burgundy in France. An automonous state is set up in a spirit of optimism, but the petty squabbles of everyday life soon shatter the Utopian vision of a non-restrictive nation. 'The Magnet' (1950) is a gentle comedy about childhood, guilt and half-truths starring a young James Fox (then known by his real name, William Fox) as Johnny Brent, a mischievous boy who tricks a younger boy (Keith Robinson) into giving him his magnet in return for an 'invisible' clock. Having successfully obtained the magnet, Johnny immediately starts to feel guilty about his swindling behaviour.

His guilt sparks a chain of misplaced assumptions that lead to a search being mounted for the boy, who has run away after becoming convinced that he is wanted for murder. In 'The Lavender Hill Mob' (1951), which features an early cameo by Audrey Hepburn, nobody would ever suspect gold bullion delivery man Henry Holland (Guinness) of anything other than total devotion to his job. However, with the aid of fellow lodger Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway), he gathers together a gang to carry out a heist, intending to smuggle the gold out of the country by melting it down into miniature models of the Eiffel Tower. All goes well until the consignment of models becomes muddled up with another, non-golden batch... In 'The Man in the White Suit' (1951), eccentric Sidney Stratton (Guiness) is a laboratory cleaner in a textile factory who invents a material that will neither wear out nor become dirty. Initially hailed as a great discovery, Sidney's astonishing invention is suffocated by the management when they realise that if it never wears out, people will only ever have to purchase one suit of clothing.

'The Titfield Thunderbolt' (1952) tells the story of a group of villagers who, angered by British Rail's decision to close down their local branch line, make a bid to run the service themselves, making use of an antique locomotive liberated from a local museum. Finally, in 'The Ladykillers' (1955), the last of the Ealing comedies, eccentric landlady Mrs Wilberforce (Katie Johnson) believes her new lodger, Professor Marcus (Guinness), and his associates the Major (Cecil Parker), Louis (Herbert Lom), Harry (Peter Sellers) and One-Round (Danny Green) to be amateur musicians. However, they are in fact the perpetrators of a bank heist, looking to whisk their ill-gotten gains out of London. All goes well until Mrs Wilberforce is persuaded by Marcus to claim his 'trunk' from the station; it is only then that the criminal genius's carefully laid plans begin to go awry... The set also includes the documentary tribute 'Forever Ealing' narrated by Daniel Day-Lewis, featuring contributions from Stephen Frears and Terry Gilliam among others.

Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1 This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading. DVD Â£17.95 Optimum Releasing: Definitive Ealing Collection, The Definitive Ealing Collection, The THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT THE MAGNET HUE AND CRY IT ALWAYS RAINS ON A SUNDAY The re-release is launched on August 7th 2002 with a very special Gala Screening of The Ladykillers, hosted by the Evening Standard, UGC Cinemas and Optimum Releasing, and introduced by veteran star of the movie Herbert Lom with author of the acclaimed book Forever Ealing George Perry. Made in the 1940s and 1950s, the films feature the best of British comedy actors such as Alec Guinness, Sid James, Dennis Price, Herbert Lom, Peter Sellers, Cecil Parker, Frankie Howard and Joan Greenwood. These English comedy classics have hugely influenced filmmaking in the UK and around the world and have become an important part of world celluloid history.

KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS (1949) Louis Mazzini's mother belongs to the aristocratic family D'Ascoyne, but she ran away with an opera singer. Therefore, the Dï¿½Ascoynes rejected her and Louis. Once adult, Louis (Dennis Price) decides to avenge his mother and him, by becoming the next Duke of the family. Murdering every potential successor ï¿½ all famously played by Alec Guinness - is clearly the safest way to achieve his goal. Running time: 106 mins THE LADYKILLERS (1955) Starring Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom. A gang planning a 'job' find themselves living with a little old lady, who thinks they are musicians. When the gang set out to kill Mrs Wilberforce, they run into one problem after another, and they get what they deserve. The film won two BAFTAS and was nominated for Best British Film. Running time: 97 mins THE LAVENDER HILL MOB (1951) Holland (Alec Guiness), a shy retiring man dreams of being rich and living the good life.

Faithfully, for 20 years, he has worked as a bank transfer agent for the delivery of gold bullion. One day he befriends Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway), a maker of souvenirs. Holland remarks that, with Pendlebury's smelting equipment, one could forge the gold into harmless-looking toy Eiffel Towers and smuggle the gold from England into France. Soon after, the two plant a story to gain the services of professional criminals Lackery (Sid James) and Shorty (Alfie Bass). Together, the four plot their crime, leading to unexpected twists and turns. Running time: 81 mins THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT (1951) Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness), a humble inventor, develops a fabric, which never gets dirty or wears out. This would seem to be a boon for mankind, but the established garment manufacturers don't see it that way; they try to suppress it. Nevertheless, Sidney is determined to put his invention on the market, forcing the clothing factory bigwigs to resort to more desperate measures...

Running time: 85 mins THE MAGNET (1950) The Magnet stars a very young James Fox as a small boy who cons a magnet off a smaller boy and then feels guilty after wrongly believing this has led to the other boyï¿½s death. A wonderfully evocative portrait of the trials and tribulations of youth in post-War Liverpool. Running time: 79 mins PASSPORT TO PIMLICO (1949) When an unexploded WWII bomb is accidentally detonated in Pimlico, an area of London, it reveals a treasure trove and documents proving that the region is, in fact part of Burgundy, France and thus foreign territory. The British Government attempts to regain control by setting up border controls and cutting off services to the area. The film was nominated for both an Oscar and a BAFTA. Running time: 84 mins THE TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT (1953) When British Railways announce the closure of the Titfield to Mallingford branch line, a group of local village residents make a bid to run it themselves, backed by a monied member of the community who is attracted by the complete lack of licensing hours on trains.

Unfortunately this puts them into direct competition with the local bus company... Running time: 84 mins WHISKY GALORE! (1949) Based on a true story. The name of the real ship, which sunk Feb 5 1941 - during WWII - was S/S Politician. Having left Liverpool two days earlier, heading for Jamaica, it sank outside Eriskay, The Outer Hebrides, Scotland, in bad weather, containing 250,000 bottles of whisky. The locals gathered as many bottles as they could, before the proper authorities arrived, and even today, bottles are found in the sand or in the sea every other year. Running Time: 82 mins CHAMPAGNE CHARLIE (1944) Champagne Charlie is an affectionate behind the scenes look at the colourful life and characters in the music halls of 1860s Victorian England directed by Ealing regular Alberto Cavalcanti (Nicholas Nickleby, Went the Day Well?). When word leaks out that the music halls are going to be closed down because of their boisterous and unruly reputation, two rivals join forces in a desperate attempt to save the hall from closure.

Running Time: 107 mins DEAD OF NIGHT (1945) Starring Mervyn Johns, Michael Redgrave and Googie Withers, Dead of Night represented a departure for Ealing from the classic comedy mould and is instead a spooky psychological thriller made up of 5 chilling ghost stories. An architect visits a country house only to get trapped in recurring nightmare involving tales of the occult told by fellow guests at the manor. Dead of Night preyed masterfully upon the traumatized countryï¿½s post war paranoia. Running Time: 102 mins THE MAGGIE (1953) Also directed by Alexander Mackendrick is the well-crafted and heart warming comedy The Maggie. Beautifully photographed on location in Scotland, the film tells the story of a skipper who tricks a wealthy American into entrusting him to ship valuable cargo on a dilapidated old puffer boat called The Maggie. The American tycoon realises his mistake and tries to straighten it out, but he is up against the scheming crew of the Maggie who are determined to outwit the American and keep the contract.

A thoroughly delightful comedy about the clash of the modern world with antiquated ways of life, The Maggie is one of Ealing Studioï¿½s forgotten treasures and a must-see for fans of the genre. Running time: 92 mins SCOTT OF THE ANTARCTIC (1948) John Mills stars as Captain Robert Scott in this film of the explorerï¿½s ill-fated expedition to be the first man to discover the South Pole. Directed by Charles Frend who went on to direct The Magnet, the film was nominated for both the Golden Lion in Venice and the BAFTA for Best British Film. NICHOLAS NICKLEBY (1947) Based on Charles Dickensï¿½ novel, Nicholas Nickleby tells the story of the eponymous hero and his attempts to escape the clutches of his greedy moneylender Uncle Ralph by joining a troope of actors. Staying true to the dark mood of the book, Ealing stalwart Alberto Cavalcanti conjures up a triumphantly atmospheric adaptation of the literary classic featuring great performances from Cedric Hardwicke and Derek Bond, who went on to star in several other Ealing classics. WENT THE DAY WELL?

(1942) Based on a story by Graham Greene, Went The Day Well tells the story of an English village occupied by disguised German paratroopers setting up an advance post for the planned invasion. Running time: 92 mins HUE AND CRY (1947) Hue and Cry has since become known as the first of the Ealing comedies proper, and was also the first to make brilliant use of post-war London outside locations. The story follows a boy who becomes convinced that a major heist is being planned and executed through the pages of boysï¿½ weekly serial The Trump. Having been laughed out of the police station, he and the rest of his friends set about entrapping the culprits and exposing the plot. Running time: 82 mins IT ALWAYS RAINS ON SUNDAY (1947) Another break away from Ealingï¿½s predominantly comedic output, It Always Rains on Sunday moves into the terrain of serious drama.

Directed by Robert Hamer (Kind Hearts and Coronets), It Always Rains on Sunday stars Googie Withers as Rose Sandigate, a Bethnal Green housewife whose Sunday is turned upside down by the re-appearance of an old flame who is now an escaped convict seeking protection from the police. A detailed glimpse into life in Londonï¿½s East End post WWII, It Always Rains on Sunday was Googie Witherï¿½s last film for Ealing Studios and, due to her wonderful performance as a woman trapped in a claustrophobic domesticity, it remains one of her best. Running time: 92 mins Released in the decade spanning 1945 ï¿½ 1955, these titles truly define the Golden Age of the world renowned Ealing Studios. Together for the first time in this box-set the films feature the cream of British acting talent and have a universal appeal that will simply never be surpassed.

FILM DETAIL Comedy Films COMEDY FILMS Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Examples Abbott and Costello: Another popular comedy film team of the 40s to the early/mid 50s, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, were a variation on the Laurel and Hardy team. Tall, slim, fast-talking, self-important con man Bud Abbott played the straight man to the short, stubby, cowardly, stupid and childish Lou Costello. They made a number of witty, humorous pictures - their first, successful feature film was set in an Army base, Buck Privates (1941). Other earlier films were Hold That Ghost (1941) and In Society (1944). Their most well-remembered comedy sketch is entitled " Who's On First? " - a scene originally from their radio act that was reprised in their film, The Naughty Nineties (1945).

The silly locales of their situation-style, formulaic comedies were reflected in some of their film titles: Universal's Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) - they appeared as baggage clerks delivering packages to a haunted house, with Bela Lugosi's Dracula, Lon Chaney Jr.'s Wolfman, the Frankenstein monster, and other ghouls, Africa Screams (1949), Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953), and Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955). They also had their own TV show titled The Abbott and Costello Show (1952-1953). The Comic Duo - Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin: Abbott and Costello were succeeded by wacky, childlike comic Jerry Lewis with his crooning, handsome, straight-man partner Dean Martin. While they had both failed as single performers, they were much more successful as a team. The film debut of the comic duo of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis was in My Friend Irma (1949), followed the next year by the team's only sequel, My Friend Irma Goes West (1950).

They made a total of sixteen movies together between 1949 and 1956, breaking up after their last teaming in the comedy/musical Hollywood or Bust (1956). Their films included Sailor Beware (1951) and Scared Stiff (1953) - one of their better films was Artists and Models (1955) with Martin as a comic book cartoon artist and Lewis as his idiotic room-mate with imaginative dreams. Jerry Lewis made his first solo film, The Delicate Delinquent (1957), and was able to create a successful career for himself. In the early 1960s, Lewis' unique brand of humor was exhibited in his directorial debut film titled The Bellboy (1960) about a bellboy at Miami's Fountainbleau Hotel. Although often detested for his over-the-top style of comedy, Lewis' best film was The Nutty Professor (1963) with Lewis as a chemistry professor named Julius Ferris Kelp whose Jekyll/Hyde potion converts him into swinging extrovert Buddy Love (resembling Rat Packers Frank Sinatra and/or Dean Martin) - loveably irresistible to Stella Stevens.

Lewis also starred in the 'fractured fairy tale' Cinderfella (1960) as a male 'Cinderella.' In the slapstick-ish The Disorderly Orderly (1964), the zany comic starred as a hospital orderly employed in a nursing home. And in The Family Jewels (1965), he portrayed seven characters (mostly named Peyton). [Lewis actually played a straight man business rival to newspaper correspondent Tony Curtis in Boeing Boeing (1965).

In another rare serious role, Lewis starred as late-night show host Jerry Langford opposite Robert DeNiro as an obsessive, aspiring comedian in Martin Scorsese's satirical black comedy The King of Comedy (1983).] British, Italian and French Comedy: European Entries Some of the most celebrated, intelligent comedies from Britain after World War II were produced by Michael Balcon's anti-authoritarian Ealing Studios - termed "Ealing comedies." They included the following four films that starred Alec Guinness: the black-hearted comedy about inheritance, Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) featured the versatile Guinness (in his third film) playing the parts of all eight D'Ascoyne family victims (including Lady Agatha!) The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) again starred Alec Guinness as an unsuspecting bank clerk who masterminded a scheme to melt down gold bank bars into miniature Eiffel Towers The Man in the White Suit (1952), about an idealistic, humble inventor named Sidney Stratton (Guinness) who quickly develops enemies after discovering a new fiber that cannot wear out or get dirty the droll and farcical comedy The Ladykillers (1955), with Guinness as bumbling

 criminal mastermind Professor Marcus in the midst of a planned train robbery Similar to The Ladykillers, Italian writer/director Mario Monicelli's fast-paced caper spoof Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958) starred Vittorio Gassman, Marcello Mastroianni and a young Claudia Cardinale, with its story of misfit criminals orchestrating a jewelry heist of a pawn shop on Madonna Street.

Italian director Vittorio De Sica's Marriage, Italian Style (1964) (an imitation of Pietro Germi's black comedy, Divorce--Italian Style (1962)) was a farcical and sexy romantic comedy about modern marriage featuring womanizer Marcello Mastroianni and his busty, statuesque mistress/wife Sophia Loren (her fourth film with De Sica). British comedies usually combined deft wordplay, sophisticated wit, character impersonations, and high-low brow contributions to the genre. Cartoonist Ronald Searle's work inspired director Frank Launder's rollicking British comedy The Belles of St. Trinian's (1954) - a slapstick story about devilish students with get-rich-quick schemes at a British all-girl's school, and Alastair Sim (in a dual role as the school's headmistress and as her twin brother bookie Clarence). Peter Sellers impersonated three different individuals (one of his trademarks) - a prime minister, a grand duchess, and a military officer of the small European Duchy of Grand Fenwick in The Mouse That Roared (1959).

And The League of Gentleman (1959) was another classic British caper film with Jack Hawkins as the disgruntled leader of a group of disgraced ex-soldiers plotting a complex raid on a bank. The Best Picture winner from director Tony Richardson, Tom Jones (1963) was a bawdy comedy and rambunctious adaptation of Henry Fielding's novel about an 18th century womanizing playboy (Albert Finney) and his ribald adventures. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) skewered the medieval King Arthur legends with graphic violence and quirky, manic comedy. Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) irreverently attacked all forms of religious hypocrisy and zealotry. The high-grossing British, adult romantic comedy Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) featured Hugh Grant as an uncommitted, confirmed bachelor at the weddings of his single friends. The widely-popular British comedy The Full Monty (1996) exhibited the strip-tease talents of a group of unemployed, middle-aged and overweight Yorkshire mill workers.

Zany comedies also emerged from France, especially the works of comic actor/director Jacques Tati, such as Jour de Fete (1949) - his debut film about a bicycle postman named Francois, and his Monsieur Hulot films including the virtually-silent cinematic gem Mr. Hulot's Holiday (1953), about the tall Frenchman on a seaside resort holiday in Brittany, and the comedy satire Mon Oncle (1958) with numerous sight gags - the recipient of the Best Foreign-Language Film Academy Award. The Series of Carry On Films: A highly successful, saucy and interminable series of almost 30 British comedy films were popular over a period of 20 years, from 1958-1978, from Carry On Sergeant (1958) to Carry On Emmanuelle (1978). They were mostly crude slapstick farces composed of double entendres and larger-than-life characters that became increasingly sexier as time progressed. The naughty films full of sexual innuendo were set in various locales to target various institutions - the Army, a hospital, a British school, a police station, an employment agency, and more.

Since there wasn't one major star, the performers were more like a repertory group of actors, and included names such as Kenneth Williams, Sid James and Charles Hawtrey. In the early 90s, there was a disastrous attempt to revive the series with Carry On Columbus (1992). 50s Comedy: There were 50s comedies as well - usually squeaky-clean, formulaic, courtship romantic comedies exemplified by the Rock Hudson/Doris Day films. Their best classic, witty and light-hearted 50's sex comedy was Pillow Talk (1959). Other memorable romantic comedies of the 1950s include George Cukor's Born Yesterday (1950) about the tutoring of a racketeer's uneducated girlfriend (Judy Holliday), and director Vincente Minnelli's family wedding comedy Father of the Bride (1950) starring Spencer Tracy as the "father of bride" Elizabeth Taylor. And a tippling James Stewart was the only one able to see an invisible six-foot rabbit in Harvey (1950).

Stanley Donen's classic comedy/musical Singin' in the Rain (1952) told about the end of the silent film era, with Gene Kelly and squeaky-voiced Jean Hagen as film stars, Debbie Reynolds as an ingenue, and spotlighted by Donald O'Connor's incredible "Make 'Em Laugh" number. Sexual comedies were successively enhanced by the appearance of Marilyn Monroe at her prime in The Seven Year Itch (1955) as a Manhattan apartment dweller, and as the lead singer in an all-girls band in director/co-writer Billy Wilder's hilarious and subversive adult comedy The Ladykillers (1955) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error Five diverse oddball criminal types planning a bank robbery rent rooms on a cul-de-sac from an octogenarian widow under the pretext that they are classical musicians.

Director: William Rose (story and screenplay) Stars: From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON DISC a list of 25 titles created 18 Sep 2011 a list of 25 titles created 03 Feb 2012 a list of 35 titles created 29 Jan 2014 a list of 41 titles created 23 Mar 2015 a list of 38 titles created 7 months ago Search for " The Ladykillers " on Amazon.com Connect with IMDb Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 2 nominations. See more awards » Photos A meek bank clerk who oversees the shipment of bullion joins with an eccentric neighbor to steal gold bars and smuggle them out of the country as miniature Eiffel Towers. Director: Charles Crichton An altruistic chemist invents a fabric which resists wear and stain as a boon to humanity, but both big business and labor realize it must be suppressed for economic reasons.

Director: Alexander Mackendrick A distant poor relative of the Duke of D'Ascoyne plots to inherit the title by murdering the eight other heirs who stand ahead of him in the line of succession. Director: Robert Hamer An eccentric, if not charming Southern professor and his crew pose as a classical ensemble in order to rob a casino, all under the nose of his unsuspecting but sharp old landlady. Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen Stars: Tom Hanks, Marlon Wayans, Irma P. Hall Residents of a part of London declare independence, when they discover an old treaty. This leads to the need for a 'Passport to Pimlico'. Director: Henry Cornelius Scottish islanders try to plunder 50,000 cases of whisky from a stranded ship. Director: Alexander Mackendrick Powerful but unethical Broadway columnist J.J. Hunsecker coerces unscrupulous press agent Sidney Falco into breaking up his sister's romance with a jazz musician. Director: Alexander Mackendrick A humble orphan suddenly becomes a gentleman with the help of an unknown benefactor.

Director: David Lean Edit Storyline A gang planning a 'job' find themselves living with a little old lady, who thinks they are musicians. When the gang set out to kill Mrs Wilberforce, they run into one problem after another, and they get what they deserve. Written by Rob Hartill See All (72) » Taglines: Meet "The Unholy Five"...The Most Befuddled Set of Assorted Thugs That Ever Fouled Up a Million Dollar Bank Robbery!! See more » Genres: 24 February 1956 (Belgium) See more » Also Known As: The Lady Killers See more » Filming Locations: This marked director Alexander Mackendrick 's last film for Ealing Studios. See more » Goofs Some of the background images of the streets are obviously back-projection. The matte work is clearly a different shade from the actors in the foreground. See more » Quotes Mrs. Louisa Wilberforce : ...May I ask you where you studied? One-Round : ...Well, I didn't really study any place, Lady... I just sort of... picked it up. Mrs.

Louisa Wilberforce : You know, I was so surprised when I heard what you were playing. It brought back something that, really, I'd completely forgotten all about: my 21st birthday party. You see, my father had engaged a string quintet to come in and play in the evening; and while they were playing Boccherini, someone came in and said the old queen had passed away. And everyone went home. And that was... [...] See more » Crazy Credits During the opening credits, roses are shown, to highlight the fact that William Rose wrote the screenplay. See more » Connections Silver Threads Among The Gold (1873) Lyrics by Eben E. Rexford (played and sung in the parlour of Mrs. Wilberforce's house) (Luoyang, China) – See all my reviews The humor in this movie is not only British, which is notoriously misunderstood by American audiences (and vice versa), which is odd because both the writer and director were American, but it is also now five decades old.

Only the best American comedies have lasted anywhere near that long (consider, for example, the sad fate of many of the movies that people thought were really funny in the 80s  Police Academy, anyone?). The reason The Ladykillers has not only survived but has now been remade is because the comedy in it is not only effective, but it is intelligent, and it is very difficult not to be impressed by a comedy with a brain. Alec Guinness is in top form as the leader of the gang, whose members reflects criminals of all walks of life. The ingenious plan is to rent out a room from a sweet old lady while they pull off a heist. The comedy, for me, lies in the difference between what is planned and what is played out, particularly in the difficulties that the gang of criminals have in outsmarting a sweet old lady who acts like a grandmother supervising a group of unruly grandchildren. The problem that the movie has is that the pace is very slow and much of the comedy has faded over the years, but structurally and intellectually it remains a respectable film, even more now in comparison to its disastrous remake. What went wrong in the remake is that they did not maintain who the character of Mrs.

Wilberforce was, because it was the juxtaposition of her as a frail old woman surrounded by toughened criminals that made it funny when things kept going wrong in their plan. In the remake she is replaced by Mrs. Munson, a tough-talking woman who was to be feared from the outset. There is no irony in being overpowered by someone more powerful than yourself from the outset, which I imagine is why the remake also featured Marlon Wayans and a case of irritable bowel syndrome, which I have never seen used in an even remotely amusing way. While the original film may be a bit too slow for modern audiences, it is indeed charming the way 87-year-old Mrs. Wilberforce continually foils their carefully thought out plans, many times inadvertently. Alec Guinness is wonderful as the band's leader, wearing outrageous false teeth, nearly rivaling Lon Chaney as the man of a thousand faces, and Peter Sellers is one of the criminals as well. I'm no expert about British comedies or Alec Guinness' early works, but I can certainly tell enough from watching this movie that the Coen Brothers' remake did nothing to impress the British about Hollywood's respect for the classics.

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Question: Alec Guinness played Sid Stratton in The Man in the White Suit' in a film made as part of which famous studio's comedy classics.
Answer: Ealing