贼博士

Technically, how difficult can it be for 5 hardened criminals (posed as a string quintet with the whole combo of its instruments) to liquidate a petite old lady like Mrs. Wiberforce (Johnson), who lives alone in her lopsided manse in the vicinity of London’s Kings Cross railway station, a perfect locality for planning their well-organized robbery of a security van loaded with cash?

Surely it looks like a cinch, but in Alexander Mackendrick’s cracking Ealing black comedy THE LADYKILLERS (later would be remade by the Coen Brothers in 2004), this ill-sorted cohort will eventually be hoisted by their own petard, because Mrs. W is protected by an armor of her ironclad integrity, she is good-natured, hospitable, righteous (even to a fault), albeit slightly loopy and garrulous, but not without a keen judgement of right and wrong. Her new lodger is Professor Marcus (a fake-teeth-sporting Guinness, flawlessly mimicking Alastair Sim with pitch-perfect gesticulations and nuances), the ringleader of the quintet, which also includes the gentlemanlike Major Courtney (Parker), a surly killer Louis Harvey (Lom, likened to a more malevolent-looking Yul Brynner, is a spot-on villain), the gormless muscle “One-round” Lawson (Green) and a mousy sidekick Harry Robinson (a corn-fed Sellers in his major celluloid introduction), so as per the descriptions, it is pretty obvious who is the aptest candidate for that particular dirty deed, after they succeed in their heist but is stuck with Ms. W, who is bent on tackling the issue in the straight and narrow.

Nope, they must do it in a democratic way, ergo, the unfortunate, soft-centered Major takes the shortest stick, and from that moment on, their racket has slumped on a slippery slope until each of them ending up a stiff lying on the passing railway wagons, is it a thinly veiled joke on the impracticality of democracy? Meritocracy could have solved the matter in a heartbeat!

On the strength of William Rose’s BAFTA-winning and Oscar-nominated script, the criminals’ downfall principally is caused by their internal disintegration, which makes sense that they must deal with each other first, before getting shot of the defenseless Ms. W, yet, serendipity is on her side this time, not only she finds out in the morning all the men have vanishingly disappeared without a trace, but also, thanks to her predisposition of frequently hobnobbing with the police department, her tall tale is habitually dismissed and she even gets to keep the swag!

Character actress Katie Johnson is bestowed a precious leading role in her seventies, which she runs away with copious alacrity and amity while obliviously maundering smack in harm’s way, for which she wins a BAFTA! A handsomely made jewel that never goes beyond the pale in juggling with materials both macabre and jocose, and reaches that sought-after equilibrium which points up its filmmakers’ all-around comedic facility.

referential entries: Mackendrick’s THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT (1951, 7.6/10); Henry Cornelius’ GENEVIEVE (1953, 6.9/10).

这部片子是经友人严重推荐下看的，说好过科恩兄弟的改编版本远矣。美国电影这种臭名卓著的“借鉴”手法确是把许多经典翻地不那么经典了，往好了说打上了美国（恶俗）印记，往坏了说往往买椟还珠。至少我看过的几部片子，都比原来的差强人意，虽然有些居然火过原来的经典。

但是说回这部原版老妇杀手，也可能之前的预期太高了，所以看起来倒觉得有点不如人意。首先整体设计是有问题的，为什么抢了钱一定要转手到车站再由一个老太太送过来才安全？找个背静地方一分了事不是更好？这似乎不是一个聪明贼想出来的最佳办法。再次，既然被老太太发现了，那么贼们的做法无非是：狠心贼会不管三七二十一迅速做掉老太太灭口完事，温柔贼则应该干脆一逃了事，想一个老太太白口去向警察描述5个人也不是那么容易，待警察画影图形几人早已逃之夭夭了，何至于又回去苦口婆心的劝老太太呢。（另外还有一个小bug就是，既然钞票满大街的随风飘散，那么老太太看见了，别的人难道不能在窗户里看到吗？这些贼人居然还敢带着钱，注意，带着钱，回老太太家真也是胆大而笨的要死）。好吧，我们就算是在英国的和谐社会里，即便是贼也是温柔如斯，他们用了最绅士的办法去解决问题，几个人谁都菩萨心肠，不肯对陌生的老太太施以重手，但何则伙伴之间却忽然你死我活了呢？有这狠劲，何不动手做掉老太太岂不更省事？总之，单从故事线来说，这部片子是有许多逻辑缺陷的，科恩兄弟可能也是发现了这些逻辑缺陷，所以改成要在老太太地下室挖坑，比较合理地解决了他们为什么要用音乐家的名义，为什么要滞留以及为什么要一定想办法干掉这个老太太的一系列因果关系。

我一直觉得，一部片子的好坏，首先是故事的好坏，其他一切诸如演技，音乐、摄影等等都是为这个故事本身服务的。一个编剧无比混乱的片子是没法夸奖里面的演技多传神，画面多精彩或者音乐多么美妙的（音乐及风光片当然除外）。你无论用多么高级的调味品也没办法把一个臭鸡蛋炒成美味佳肴的。那么既然片子里有这样许多的逻辑问题，我很疑惑还有什么别的地方可以为他添分喝彩了。