The Ladykillers

Alexander Mackendrick, 1955

Alec Guinness delivers yet another brilliant comic performance, and shows the breadth of his talent by being an utterly complete character yet unlike any others he played.

And I love it for showing that real Britain, the shonky working class housng where you have a hammer hanging by the sink for banging the pipe to make the water work. This would get on to the screen later in the kitchen-sink dramas of the late 50s and early 60s, but the Ealings are the earliest British films I've seen where life seems real. And their approach to community and authority rings true as well. That is my Britain.

The Ladykillers is another urban Ealing comedy, so, once more, there's no place for cattle. There is consolation to be had in - as with Whisky Galore! - there's some non-plot related random horse action. This particular high quality gratuitous equine scene features Dennis the horse eating a load of apples off Frankie Howerd's cart.

No cows.