Ealing comedies
From Conservapedia
The Ealing comedies were a series of comedy films made by Ealing Studios in the west London suburb of the same name. They were perhaps unusual in being both very popular on release, and also receiving continuing critical acclaim, and are still frequently shown on television in the United Kingdom. They combined a gentle absurdism with satire on contemporary British life. Among the most prominent were:
- Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949): a dark comedy in which the 'poor relation' of an aristocratic family, angered by their slighting of his late mother, murders his way to the title (the 'coronet' of the film title). The actor Alec Guiness, in a tour de force, played all eight members of the ghastly d'Ascoygne family killed by the lead character.
- Passport to Pimlico (1949): residents of a London district declare themselves an independent state in this satire on state socialism and the consequent rationing and austerity measures in late 1940s Britain.
- The Lavender Hill Mob (1951): a group of Londoners plan 'the perfect crime'.
- The Man in the White Suit (1951): inventor Alec Guinness invents a stain-proof, everlasting fabric, but is done down by vested textile industry interests.
- The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953): villagers decide to run their own railway after their vital local line is closed down by British Railways, nationalised under the socialist government of Clement Attlee.
- The Ladykillers (1955): Mrs Wilberforce, a kindly old lady, rents a room in her inner city house to an orchestra for practice. They turn out to be robbers, whose plot is foiled inadvertently by the old lady's actions. This film was recently remade, in an American setting, starring Tom Hanks.
