Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #29646 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-09-02
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Formats: Black & White, Full Screen, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Running time: 346 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Four of the British film industry's best-loved comedies in one box set makes The Ealing Comedy Collection absolutely essential for anyone who has any passion at all for movies. The set contains Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), The Man in the White Suit (1951) and The Ladykillers (1955).

Ealing's greatest comedies captured the essence of post-war Britain, both in their evocation of a land once blighted by war but now rising doggedly and optimistically again from the ashes, and in their mordant yet graceful humour. They portray a country with an antiquated class system whose crumbling conventions are being undermined by a new spirit of individual opportunism. In the delightfully wicked Kind Hearts and Coronets, a serial killer politely murders his way into the peerage; in The Lavender Hill Mob a put-upon bank clerk schemes to rob his employers; The Man in the White Suit is a harshly satirical depiction of idealism crushed by the status quo; while The Ladykillers mocks both the criminals and the authorities with its unlikely octogenarian heroine Mrs "lop-sided" Wilberforce.

Many factors contribute to the success of these films--including fine music scores from composers such as Benjamin Frankel (Man in the White Suit) and Tristram Cary (The Ladykillers); positively symphonic sound effects (White Suit); marvellously evocative locations (the environs of King's Cross in Ladykillers, for example); and writing that always displays Ealing's unique perspective on British social mores ("All the exuberance of Chaucer without, happily, any of the concomitant crudities of his period")--yet arguably their greatest asset is Alec Guinness, whose multifaceted performances are the keystone upon which Ealing built its biting, often macabre, yet always elegant comedy.

On the DVD: The Ealing Comedy Collection presents the four discs in a fold-out package with postcards of the original poster artwork for each. Aside from theatrical trailers on each disc there are no extra features, which is a pity given the importance of these films. The Ladykillers is in muted Technicolor and presented in 1.66:1 ratio, the three earlier films are all black and white 1.33:1. Sound is perfectly adequate mono throughout. --Mark Walker

DVD Description
Featured titles:
The Ladykillers (1955)
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
The Man in the White Suit (1951)
The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)

Special Features:
Four artcards Theatrical trailers The Ladykillers -- ratio: 1.66:1; mono
Kind Hearts and Coronets -- ratio: 1.33:1; mono
The Man in the White Suit -- ratio: 1.33:1; mono
The Lavender Hill Mob -- ratio: 1.33:1; mono

Synopsis
The amazing talents of Sir Alec Guinness are on full display in this four-comedy collection that celebrates the 100th anniversary of Ealing Studios. The classic films included are THE LADYKILLERS, KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS, THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT, and THE LAVENDER HILL MOB.
THE LADYKILLERS, director Alexander Mackendrick's third Ealing farce, is the final comedy produced by the famous studio and one of its most celebrated. Alec Guinness stars as the superbly shifty, toothily threatening Professor Marcus, the leader of a crime ring planning a heist. Marcus rents rooms from a sweet, eccentric old lady, Mrs. Wilberforce (Katie Johnson), in her crooked London house. The professor and his co-conspirators, blowhard Major Courtney (Cecil Parker), creepily suave Louis (Herbert Lom), chubby Harry (Peter Sellers), and muscleman One-Round (Danny Green), pose as an unlikely string quartet using the rooms for rehearsal. Dodging Mrs. Wilberforce's constant interruptions, the hoods hit upon the idea to use her in the daring daylight robbery (filmed in and around London's King's Cross station). When the old girl discovers the truth, Marcus and company cannot persuade her to stay buttoned up about it and thus decide to do her in.
KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS is a deft and dark comedy with Guinness in superb form as he plays eight different members of the D'Ascoyne clan. Louis (Dennis Price), the black sheep of the wealthy family, must murder all the heirs in order to inherit the D'Ascoyne fortune. Watch as the brilliant Guinness disappears into his various eccentric roles.
Based on the play by Roger MacDougall, Alexander Mackendrick's THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT (the director's second film) is a winning comedy about the battles between labor, capitalists, and scientific dreamers. Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness) works quietly at the textile mill of Michael Corland (Michael Gough) until his mysterious, costly lab experiment is discovered. Fired by Corland, Stratton takes a menial job at Alan Birnley's (Cecil Parker) mill in order to continue his work on the sly. When Daphne (Joan Greenwood), Corland's fiancee and Birnley's daughter, discovers his secret, she threatens to expose Stratton. The desperate scientist reveals to Daphne that he has invented an indestructible cloth that never gets dirty. Close to realizing his vision, Stratton celebrates by having a white suit made of the fabric (because it repels dye). The trouble, however, is just beginning.
In THE LAVENDER HILL MOB, Mr. Holland (Alec Guinness) is a fussy and unnecessarily overprotective bank supervisor. However, unbeknowst to his employers, he is also Dutch, the leader of the titular crime organisation. So, on the day the bullion truck is robbed, Holland is the last person to be suspected. Guinness revels in his scheming character in this Ealing delight.

Customer Reviews

Wonderful Ealing Boxed Set - A Must Buy!

This is a wonderful Ealing collection with four favourites to enjoy:

The Ladykillers (1955) - It never really got any better than this at Ealing - a comedy masterpiece. Loads of entertainment value here, from the gang of crooks posing as a string quartet, to the wonderfully dotty little old lady with a vivid imagination and a noisy parrot. Lots of nice little cameos here too (including Frankie Howerd as a frustrated barrow-boy). The casting is just perfect, including an outrageously disguised Alec Guinness as "The Professor", a "wide boy" Peter Sellers and a gangsterish Herbert Lom. The story is excellent and it's all in colour.

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) - A highly entertaining black comedy about an illegitimate heir (Dennis Price) who tries to bump off eight relatives (all played by Alec Guinness) who stand in the way of him becoming a Duke. It's a very clever story with an imaginative twist at the end. Guinness is brilliant in his galaxy of roles.

The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) - This film is one of the masterpieces of British Comedy. Alec Guinness and Stanley Holloway are an unlikely pair of "crooks". The inverted commas are there because neither the viewer nor the characters quite believe it themselves. The pair just want a bit of adventure and a taste of the high life. Guinness is brilliant as the timid bank clerk who despises the trust he is given because he knows he is seen by his superiors as too weak an individual to be a threat. That gives him the power to succeed in his daring plan. The catalyst is Stanley Holloway, a businessman with an eye for the main chance. However, he does not believe he can succeed until he meets Guinness, and Guinness does not believe that his little fantasy about robbing the bank can become a reality until he meets Holloway. When the pair meet up with a couple of real (but inept) crooks, the job is on! It's a wonderful cast and we like them so much that we hope they get away with it. It's a great story and highly entertaining.

The Man in the White Suit (1951) - A classic Ealing comedy about a scientist in a textile mill who invents a wonder fabric that won't stain, tear or wear out. The scientist becomes a target when a worried clothes company feel threatened. It nearly causes an industry-wide panic.

I highly recommend this boxed set.

The devious doings of desperate men
These four Ealing Comedies are some of the funniest and most entertaining films I've watched for quite a while. All involve desperate men pursuing their obsessions in various illegal ways. In The Ladykillers, The Man in the White Suit and The Lavender Hill Mob, the main desperado is played by Alec Guinness and in Kind Hearts and Coronets Alec Guinness plays just about the entire family (both male and female members) being targeted for termination by the desperate man (played by Dennis Price). Alec Guinness is a wonderful actor - just as suited to serious parts as comedy. There's no clue from his roles in various dramas, thrillers and historical epics, just how well he can do comedy. He's pretty much the epitome of a versatile actor. It's hard to decide which of the films I liked the best. I think The Ladykillers is my favourite, with a dear old widow lady (Katie Johnson) and her husband's parrots causing Professor Marcus and his gang of robbers every kind of inconvenience and foiling all their careful plans. The Lavender Hill Mob comes a close second. I so wanted Mr Holland (Guinness) and Mr Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway) to succeed in their hair-brained scheme. The other two films are also sparkling and funny. Joan Greenwood puts in fine performances in Kind Hearts and Coronets as a gold-digger and temptress, and The Man In the White Suit as a factory owner's spoilt daughter who proves to be brighter, kinder and more resourceful than anyone guessed. These films deserve 5*s each, but they must make do with 5*s between them. An excellent collection.

The next miserable wet weekend I'm going to watch them all again.

A hugely enjoyable collection
Each of these films is a must view in it's own right but together they make an essential collection. Each retains the unique charm of the films of the era and each features a memorable performance from the late great Sir Alec Guinness.
This is a particularly interesting view for my generation who thinks of Alec Guinness and only sees Obi Wan. Likewise those well versed with his dramatic performances in Lawrence Of Arabia, A Passage to India or Bridge Over the River Kwai will be able to really appreciate the great thesp's range and eptitude for comedy.
Indeed it is a testament to the longevity of the films that I can enjoy them at the age of 21 (as I was when I bought this set) since they were made around 30 years before I was born.
The obvious classics such as the Ladykillers and the wonderful Lavender Hill Mob are here. Also present is The Man in The White Suit, a mixture of the scientific optimism of the atmic age and the boundless depths of good old British cynicism.
The star of the show in my opinion has to be kind Hearts and Coronets, a darkly humourous revenge story set in the Edwardian era which offers a cutting critique of British elitism while the great Sir Alec delights by playing a staggering eight roles.