6 C
New York
Friday, March 29, 2024
Advertisement

The Ladykillers (60th Anniversary Collector’s Edition) [UK] Blu-ray Review

ladykillers-60th-anniversary-ukU.K. Release (Region B Locked)


The Film

[Rating:5/5]

Ladykillers-60th-Anniversary-UK-BD_02

The Ladykillers is often heralded as the greatest of the comedies to come out of that very British of British studios Ealing that also gave the world such classics as The Lavender Hill Mob, Kind Hearts and Coronets, and It Always Rains on Sunday. The film stars an all-star cast of lead actors from the day.


The Ladykillers is a typically dry, yet dark comedy set in London’s King’s Cross revolving around a group of small time gangsters who plot a bank robbery. Led by mastermind Professor Marcus (Alec Guinness), the mobsters go undercover as a string quartet in kindly elderly lady Mrs. Wilberforce’s (Katie Johnson) home at the end of a dead end street, renting a room there. But they don’t know what they’ve bargained for when the busybody old lady interferes in their affairs. Through a seemingly endless series of comical twists, mostly involving Mrs. Wilberforce, the crooks’ plans go awry. One such set piece involves the gang members trying to help the kindly lady retrieve her parrot and get him back into his cage – things don’t go too well for the men. Of course, the funny thing lies in the fact that poor Mrs. Wilberforce seems completely oblivious to the plots taking place under her roof, that is until she in fact discovers the money they’ve stolen, at which point their plots turn to murder of the elderly woman. Those plans are again disrupted by the interference of Mrs. Wilberforce’s own group of friends and other improbable comedic incidents that make for a rip roaring, brilliantly manipulated script.

Peter Sellers plays Harry AKA “Mr. Robinson,” Herbert Lom is Louis AKA “Mr. Harvey” and Danny Green plays One Round AKA “Mr. Lawson. The entire cast is remarkably restrained in their acting, no one here hams it up and the film is much the better for it. This is a refined and economically scripted comedy that relies more on the phrasing of sentences and looks between characters than it does on outright bombast and physical gags. In essence, it is the quintessential English comedy and one of the greatest ever made.

Video Quality

[Rating:4.5/5]

Ladykillers-60th-Anniversary-UK-BD_01

The Ladykillers looks beautiful in this new 60th anniversary restoration. While it has been cleaned up, noise and grain reduction is not excessive to the point that the image looks smooth, so we still see a thin, natural layer of grain and natural textures in clothing and skin in this AVC/MPEG-4 1080p encodement on Blu-ray from StudioCanal. The colors look vivid though not quite natural, although one cannot complain about things like red push or anything like that in the flesh tones.

Audio Quality

[Rating:4/5]

Ladykillers-60th-Anniversary-UK-BD_03

The monaural soundtrack is offered up in a clean, clear if somewhat boxy sounding LPCM 2.0 (48kHz/24-bit) track that gets the job done given the age of the recordings.

Supplemental Materials

[Rating:4/5]

Ladykillers-60th-Anniversary-UK-BD_04

There are a lot of interviews and the Forever Ealing documentary included, which offers up a good history on this thoroughly British studio.

  • Audio Commentary by Phillip Kemp
  • Intro by Terry Gilliam (1.33:1; SD; 00:02:58)
  • Forever Ealing Documentary (1.33:1; SD; 00:49:37)
  • Interview with Allan Scott (1.78:1; SD; 00:10:30)
  • Interview with Terence Davies (1.78:1; SD; 00:13:49)
  • Interview with Ronald Harwood (1.78:1; SD; 00:07:15)
  • Locations Featurette (1.78:1; 1080i/50; 00:09:27)
  • Audio Interview with Tom Pevsner (01:31:30)
  • Audio Interview with David Peers (01:32:35)
  • Cleaning up The Ladykillers (1.37:1; 1080p/24; 00:06:07)
  • Stills Gallery (1080p/24)
  • Trailer (1.37:1; 1080p/24; 00:02:34)


The Definitive Word

Overall:

[Rating4/5]

Ladykillers-60th-Anniversary-UK-BD_05

The Ladykillers is done a great service in this beautiful new 60th anniversary edition from StudioCanal. If you have not seen this film, you must see it now.

Additional Screen Captures

Ladykillers-60th-Anniversary-UK-BD_06

Ladykillers-60th-Anniversary-UK-BD_07

Ladykillers-60th-Anniversary-UK-BD_08

Ladykillers-60th-Anniversary-UK-BD_09

Ladykillers-60th-Anniversary-UK-BD_10

Ladykillers-60th-Anniversary-UK-BD_11

Ladykillers-60th-Anniversary-UK-BD_12

Ladykillers-60th-Anniversary-UK-BD_13

Ladykillers-60th-Anniversary-UK-BD_14

Ladykillers-60th-Anniversary-UK-BD_15

Ladykillers-60th-Anniversary-UK-BD_16

Ladykillers-60th-Anniversary-UK-BD_17

Ladykillers-60th-Anniversary-UK-BD_18

Ladykillers-60th-Anniversary-UK-BD_19

Ladykillers-60th-Anniversary-UK-BD_20

Advertisement

Related Articles

Join the Discussion on TheaterByte!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Stay Connected

301FansLike
0FollowersFollow
184FollowersFollow
1,710FollowersFollow
- Advertisement -

Notice of Compliance with FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 16 CFR Part 255

In accordance with the Federal Trade Commission 16 CFR part 255 guidelines, this website hereby states that it receives free discs and other theatrical or home entertainment "screeners" and access to screening links from studios and/or PR firms, and is provided with consumer electronics devices on loan from hardware manufacturers and/or PR firms respectively for the purposes of evaluating the products and its content for editorial reviews. We receive no compensation from these companies for our opinions or for the writing of reviews or editorials.
Permission is sometimes granted to companies to quote our work and editorial reviews free of charge. Our website may contain affiliate marketing links, which means we may get paid commission on sales of those products or the services we write about. Our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers or affiliate partnerships. This disclosure is provided in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR § 255.5: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Latest Articles