San Dimitrio London (1943) is engaging not just because it is a war film, based upon a true story about the merchant navy, but also because it demonstrates to audiences an alternative way of making decisions to that of the officer-men variety. We clearly witness men in a lifeboat coming to a decision by a show of hands. This collaborative process of course to some extent reflects the way that films were being made at Ealing studios under the leadership of Sir MICHAEL BALCON. Everyone was involved and everyone's opinions were respcted. The rushes/dailes were open to anyone to wander in and express an opinion.
Whilst Cavalcanti in 1942 was depicting the perfect English village being invaded by German soldiers dressed as British ones (Went the Day Well?), the king of the issue-film Basil Deaden (Sapphire, Victim) in 1947 had a similar village receiving in different ways the German wife of David Farrar (Frieda). Only 2 years after the end of the war British audiences were being asked to challenge their quite understandable antipathy to their former enermy.
In 1946 the woman the country loved to hate, Googie Withers, with the help of Gordon Jackson, can you believe, was poisoning her drunkard husband in respectable Brighton (Pink String & Sealing Wax). Ealing was capable of pushing the boundaries even further showing a less than healthy interest in the occult (Halfway House1944, Dead of Night 1945 & The Night my Number Came up, 1955).
All this and more when you attend Soho House @ 7pm on Tues 4th Oct.
Look forward to seeing you there.
Vincent
Ealing Comedies – 11 October 2011
British Film historian/ lecturer and friend of FilmNite, Richard Dacre, will give a presentation on Ealing comedies on 11 October 2011 7-9pm at Sohohouse.
Some of Britain’s best loved film comedies were made at Ealing Studios – no other studio is so associated with the genre. Richard’s presentation will focus on the following points:
· How did this come about?
· What unites the films?
· What, indeed, is an Ealing comedy?
It’s not simply films made at Ealing studios– they’ve been making films there since 1902 and are still making films there. The genre of Ealing comedies refers to a much more limited period. Most people consider the first Ealing comedy in the popular sense to be the 1947 HUE AND CRY. In the next 10 years, 12 more comedies emerged from the studios that are generally talked about as Ealing comedies:
o ANOTHER SHORE
o PASSPORT TO PIMLICO
o WHISKY GALORE!
o KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS
o A RUN FOR YOUR MONEY
o THE MAGNET
o THE LAVENDER HILL MOB
o THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT
o THE TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT
o THE MAGGIE
o THE LADYKILLERS
o BARNACLE BILL
· What sets these films apart? Not just from other comedies of the day, but also from other comedies made at Ealing studios during the period.
Join us at FilmNite when all these questions will be answered.
Discover the forerunners, see the legacy, and understand why we still talk about Ealingesque comedy.
It has been 60 years since Alec Guinness, Sid James, Stanley Holloway and Alfie Bass shot the Ealing comedy, The Lavender Hill Mob. To celebrate, Optimum has re-released the film. Watch Richard Dacre saddle up with Tally Ho Cycle Tours to show fans the film’s London locations. http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/video/2011/jul/27/lavender-hill-mob-cycle-tour-video
