Fake

Fake 

I remember watching a documentary on the great Ealing comedy, The Ladykillers. It was some time ago and as usually I was more listening than watching, so many details escape me, but for the first time I realised that Mrs Wilberforce's lopsided house wasn't real. In fact, most locations were distorted to fit the story. This occurs in many films: we see some actor turn a corner, then there is a cut and we see the actor in another street. We naturally assume that it's the street around the corner but in reality it's a different street, one that's more suitable to the film. In The Ladykillers they did that  apparently a lot but they also actually built the lopsided house at the end of a street, using no right angles to achieve the desired comedic effects. I don't know how realistically they built it because there are scenes on the roof and several shots from a distance but the house appears quite real to me - exactly what one would expect from the home of the delightful Mrs Wilberforce. The combination of decay, disrepair, memories of a better life and proud acceptance of reduced circumstances makes the house and its owner quite believable in a comedy full of wonderful caricatures and lots of interaction with the environment. The Ladykillers has been one of my favourite films ever since I watched a rather poor copy on black-and-white television and every time I have the opportunity to watch it again my appreciation of it increases. It's also interesting from an architectural viewpoint, both for the way architecture contributes to the comedy and for the way they faked the built environment. In a sense, this is exactly what often happens in architectural design: what matters is the impression one gives to clients, users, juries etc. If the design can exist in reality, that's a different matter.