The Ladykillers - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of The Ladykillers or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to The Ladykillers

[bernice]

As the parrot flies out of the living room and into the hallway, it clearly says "Alec Guinness" as it lands.

[ella]

The Packard motor car used by the thieves as a getaway vehicle belonged to producer Michael Balcon.

[edgar]

The role of Professor Marcus was written with Alastair Sim in mind. Sim was unable to take the role so Alec Guinness was cast instead but the uncanny likeness to Sim was not accidental as Guinness was aware that the character had originally been written for Sim. Therefore he decided to play the role in the humorous but sinister manner that Sim was known for.

[wallace]

Opening credits: The events and characters portrayed in this film are fictitious.

[elmer]

The film contains early roles for Frankie Howerd and Kenneth Connor. Both actors would appear in Carry on Up the Jungle (1970).

[russell]

Tommy Cooper was suggested for the role of One-Round, but stage commitments prevented him from auditioning.

[ava]

The piece of music that the gang pretends to rehearse is the Minuet from Luigi Boccherini's "Quintet in E major, Opus 11, Number 5". Some imagine that each time one of the gang members is killed, the arrangement of the music changes from quintet to quartet to trio et cetera, as if it is being played only by the surviving members of the gang, but this is incorrect. Boccherini's quintet is no longer heard once Louis Harvey smashes the record.

[ray]

At a special 50th anniversary screening of this film in 2005, Herbert Lom humorously recalled how a nervous and insecure Peter Sellers thought he was going to struggle to find work and asked him to recommend him to any casting directors who were looking for bit part players in films Lom was cast in.

[christina]

Professor Marcus and Mrs. Wilberforce talk about the proverb "The eyes are the windows on the soul" and wonder who first said it. In fact, several people have expressed this thought over the centuries, including Cicero and Shakespeare, and it can be found in the Bible (Matthew, chapter 6, verses 22 to 23).

[kyle]

Mrs Wilberforce laments the fact that her 21st birthday party was curtailed by the arrival of the news that "The old Queen had died." Queen Victoria died in the evening of January 22, 1901. Allowing for the fact that most people in Britain would have heard the news the next day, this means that Mrs Wilberforce was born on January 23, 1880, and was seventy-five (two years younger than Katie Johnson) at the time the movie portrays.

[chad]

The tunnel mouth is the south end of Copenhagen Tunnel, the second tunnel on the main line out of King's Cross station. There are real houses in the area, but the rear exterior of Mrs. Wilberforce's house is a set built in front of a blank wall. Exterior scenes at the front of the house were shot on Argyle Street, about 3/4 mile south. The interiors are a studio set.

[javier]

This marked director Alexander Mackendrick's last movie for Ealing Studios.

[stephanie]

When Sir Alec Guinness was offered the part of Professor Marcus, he wrote to the producers to say "but this is meant for Alastair Sim surely".

[duane]

In 1999, it was ranked #13 on the British Film Institute's 100 Greatest British Films of the 20th Century.

[kristen]

According to director Alexander Mackendrick and Sir Alec Guinness, Mrs. Wilberforce's birds in this movie were voiced by Peter Sellers.