#105 The Ladykillers

This is the darkest of the Ealing Comedies -- a group of excellent films made during the studio's successful run in the late '40s and early '50s. The plot follows a gang of robbers who lodge in a nice, old lady's Victorian home while planning and executing a heist. Alec Guinness stars as the team's oddly dentured mastermind and a young Peter Sellers plays one of the crooks. Things become complicated when the aged Mrs. Wilberforce finally catches on to their plot. The gangsters, though thoroughly sick of the elderly woman's constant offerings of tea, have a tough time getting up the gumption to knock her off.

The Coen Brothers are currently shooting a remake of the film with Tom Hanks.