Alec Guinness, as Professor Marcus, dupes elderly Mrs. Wilberforce, played by Katie Johnson, into believing he and his friends are musicians who must rent one of her rooms. The “band” of criminals plan out all the details of their robbery but run into many problems. Just as the thieves think they can taste success, it turns sour.
Before they played Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus and Inspector Jacques Clouseau in the Pink Panther series of movies, Herbert Lom and Peter Sellers played two of the musician-criminals in The Ladykillers. Peter Sellers added to the comedy of the film by doing voice-overs for Mrs. Wilberforce’s birds, according to imdb.com.
The tagline for the film made me laugh: Meet “The Unholy Five” …The Most Befuddled Set of Assorted Thugs That Ever Fouled Up a Million Dollar Bank Robbery!!
The film was incredibly funny. William Rose was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing/Best Screenplay – Original.
