Alec Guinness

The Man In The White Suit is the peak of Alec Guinness's career - and a warning about the power of vested interests

This Ealing comedy is pure pleasure - but its gags about Britain's failings are also cold truths.

Review: Put on your crooked smiles for The Ladykillers

Whether or not The Ladykillers star Alec Guinness was fully aware of how horrifically funny his grotesque false teeth would come across when projected on massive movie screens after this last great Ealing Studios comedy reached theaters in 1955, the illustrious British actor's choice of choppers was nevertheless one for the ages.

Ladykillers: Nostalgic for era of great English films?

The Ladykillers is often overlooked, but Alec Guinness's 1955 black comedy has intelligence, morals and social critique.

DVD/Blu-ray review: The Ladykillers

The last great Ealing Comedy, in a pristine restored print.

On the set of The Ladykillers - in pictures

The much-loved British caper starring Alec Guinness is being reissued, 65 years on, fully restored from the original negative. It was shot at Ealing Studios and around King's Cross in London, where photographers captured the stars relaxing on set.

The Ladykillers review - comic crime caper still kills

Sixty-five years later the classic from Ealing Studios is still subversive, hilarious and distinctly English.

Why Ealing's murderous comedy is the greatest UK film

For as long as I can remember, I have considered Kind Hearts and Coronets to be the greatest film in the history of British cinema.

On the set of Kind Hearts and Coronets - in pictures

Released in 1949, Kind Hearts and Coronets remains one of the all time classics of British cinema. As a 4k restoration is released for its 70th anniversary, we see actors Dennis Price, Alec Guinness and Joan Greenwood and director Robert Hamer at work.

This last of the Ealing comedies is an exceptionally black specimen, with Alec Guinness as the sinister Professor Marcus, a fanged master-crook lodging at the home of sweet old Mrs Wilberforce (Katie Johnson). When his gang - including Peter Sellers's dim teddy boy and Herbert Lom's wannabe American gangster - swipe £60,000 in a raid, they decide the landlady has to go; but they are, of course, in the Ealing equivalent of the Bates motel and stand no chance against the dotty old girl. It's all vastly superior to the Coen brothers' misguided remake.