The Ladykillers

I'd watched the adaptation of the Coens ages ago. Clearly not their best film, hardly their worst. It did make me quite curious about the original, and so I finally got around to giving that one a go. It's an amusing little comedy that feels a little stuffier than needed, but still contains some enlightened moments.

A gang of five is planning a bank heist. To bring their plan to fruition, they rent a room from an old lady and pretend to be a classical music band. The lady is fooled by their ploy, the leader of the gang comes with a grand idea to involve the old lady in their heist plans. Not everyone is board, but they go through with it anyway.

Once you know the plot the film does lose some of its appeal. Not all performances are equally great either, but the film does have typical British charm and the pacing is decent, especially for an older film. I'd expected worse, what I got was a fairly amusing crime comedy. I do prefer the Coens version, though by a slimmer margin than expected.