FM2: British and American Film – Ealing Studios

The Ladykillers - Alexander MacKendrick, 1955 Considered the last great Ealing comedy

Objective: To explore the ways in which The Ladykillers can be interpreted as an ‘ironic joke about the condition of post-war Britain’ To link the film to the overall Ealing style and ideology To directly compare and contrast with both the Clarke films and the Hamer films

Typical Ealing?

The Ladykillers’ director, Alexander MacKendrick said: "The fable of The Ladykillers is a comic and ironic joke about the condition of postwar England. After the war, the country was going through a kind of quiet, typically British but nevertheless historically fundamental revolution… Read the extended statement by MacKendrick. Draw comparisons and contrasts between what he says and what we have identified so far in the other Ealing films.

How do each of them represent British society in the 1950s? - the characters Harry Robinson Major Courtney Louis Harvey ‘One Round’ Lawson Prof. Marcus Mrs Wilberforce How do each of them represent British society in the 1950s?

Allegory for the end of Empire Mrs Wilberforce has not moved on from the past – she recalls the deaths of Queen Victoria and her late husband Her house is lopsided but still standing – a comic image of Britain’s reduced international standing Each of the criminal characters represents one of MacKendrick’s ‘threats to the national character’.

Characteristic The Blue Lamp/The Lavender Hill Mob/Passport to Pimlico The Ladykillers Kind Hearts and Coronets ‘Mild Chaos’? Yes: police chases, race down the Eiffel tower, etc Yes: the brawl between the barrow boys No: Louis is methodical and controlled

Is The Ladykillers closer in tone to The Lavender Hill Mob or Kind hearts and Coronets? Explain your answer.