If when you think of Alec Guinness, you think only of Star Wars, boy, are you in for a treat tomorrow night. Guinness, as the rest of you know, was actually one of the foremost comedic actors of the 1940s and 1950s and Turner Classic Movies is showing four of his best, The Lavender Hill Mob, The Man In The White Suit, The Ladykillers and Kind Hearts And Coronets.There's also a documentary about the Ealing Studios where so many of these great British comedies were made.
Here's the schedule for December 29, 2010, from TCM's website. All times are Eastern Standard Time. Check it out. These carry Katie-Bar-The-Door's highest recommendation and she wouldn't steer you wrong.
8:00pm [Crime] Lavender Hill Mob, The (1951)
An overlooked gold transporter with twenty years service plots to steal a million pounds of gold.
Cast: Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway, Sidney James, Alfie Bass Dir: Charles Crichton BW-81 mins
9:30pm [Documentary] Forever Ealing (2002)
A documentary that explores the history and influence of England's Ealing Studios.
Cast: Jill Balcon, Googie Withers, Derek Bond I, Rupert Everett Dir: Andrew Snell BW-50 mins
10:30pm [Comedy] Man in the White Suit, The (1951)
A young inventor threatens the business world when he creates a cloth that can't tear or wear out.
Cast: Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker, Michael Gough Dir: Alexander Mackendrick BW-85 mins
12:00am [Crime] Ladykillers, The (1955)
An eccentric bandit gang moves into a little old lady's boardinghouse to plot a major heist.
Cast: Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Peter Sellers Dir: Alexander Mackendrick BW-91 mins
1:45am [Comedy] Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
An ambitious young man sets out to kill everyone who stands between him and a fortune.
Cast: Alec Guinness, Dennis Price, Joan Greenwood, Valerie Hobson Dir: Robert Hamer BW-106 mins
As a kid, I simply loved Star Wars.
ReplyDeleteAs an adult film fanatic, one of the things I decided I loved about Star Wars was that it combined two of the best things in British film history - the Ealing Comedies (Alec Guinness) and Hammer Horror (Peter Cushing).
Every single one of those Ealing Comedies is a must see, but at the top of the list is The Ladykillers.
I think I knew Guinness first from Star Wars, then Bridge On the River Kwai (or possibly the other way around), but as good as he was in those movies, it wasn't until I saw the Ealing Studio comedies that he became part of my movie-watching psyche. Now I think of him primarily as a comic actor who slummed in drama when he couldn't get anything better.
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