IT was the smash-hit Brit flick of its era, an Ealing Studio comedy that told of a gang of ruthless robbers meeting their match at the hands of a gentle old lady living in King’s Cross.

And now, on the 60th anniversary of its release, the New Journal can share the extraordinary behind-the-scenes images taken during the making of the classic movie, The Ladykillers. 

The photographs, which have been gathering dust in the vaults of Pinewood Studios, show a King’s Cross from a different era, much of which has long since disappeared.

And the pictures also reveal a rare peek of actors Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Cecil Parker, Katie Johnson and director Alexander MacKendrick as the relax off-set, chatting to youngsters in the neighbourhood. The starstruck faces show what a big deal it was for King’s Cross residents when the movie-makers arrived.

The 'Ladykillers Tea Party' begins

Actors Herbert Lom and Alec Guinness playing cards in between shooting The Ladykillers scenes

Katie Johnson, who starred as Mrs Wilberforce, meets King's Cross residents

The pictures show the area’s gas holders in their original locations, steam trains and a heavily industrialised neighbour­hood that provided thousands of homes for people working there. It also includes shots of a post-filming tea party that the studio hosted in Frederica Street, where lead character Mrs Wilberforce’s house was built by the set designers. It was located off Caledonian Road and no longer exists, making the pictures even more poignant.

Historian Alan Dein worked on a project called King’s Cross Voices between 2004 and 2008, recording the stories of people who had grown up in the neighbourhood from the 1920s onwards. 

He said: “People think of King’s Cross as a place of railways, of gas holders, of the canal. But it was, and still is, is a residential area. 

“King’s Cross was used throughout the film and you can still recognise so much. You can see from these pictures how it was during a particularly interesting time, being just 10 years after the war. It was a period where the area’s industry was under­going a slow decline.”

King's Cross station, as it used to look, was used for some scenes

Herbert Lom meets local nurses

The iconic Gasholders provided the perfect background

Alec Guinness gets ready for the cameras to roll

Mr Dein said the neighbourhood was more than just a location – it became an integral character in the film’s plot.

He added: “King’s Cross is a vital part of The Ladykillers. It is seen as the quintessential English film, but it was directed by an American. MacKendrick wanted to show London having a dark side and he choose King’s Cross to represent this. He wanted a place that reflected industry and an old-fashioned London. Mrs Wilberforce lives in an old, wonky house, and she was a lady who represented Victorian values – much like the backdrop to the film.”

Camden Town-based author Phil Kemp, who wrote a book about director Mr McKendrick called Lethal Innocence, said the film has stood the test of time.

“It captured the time very well,” he added. “Mrs Wilberforce is still dressing how she did when she was in her 20s, the same as the Edwardian, or even Victorian, era. She was a survivor of Imperial Britain. McKendrick was a political film-maker and he subtly put political comment in his films. He was saying there was a wonderfully nostalgic Britain, but was it fit now for the new, post-war world?”

Frankie Howerd appeared in The Ladykillers

So would Alec Guinness and his co-stars recognise King’s Cross today?

“It depends where you left him,” said Mr Dein.

“If it was in Argyle Street, with his back to Mrs Wilberforce’s house looking north to St Pancras, he’d recognise it. It hasn’t changed much. But if you put him by Battlebridge Road, where the robbery takes place, with the gas-holders and Stanley buildings, with all the smoke and grime – he’d not know where he was. He’d think he was in some kind of future metropolis, with all the new glass and steel.”

l The Ladykillers is available to buy on digitally remastered DVD