This Spring, we’re celebrating the golden age of Ealing Studios – the legendary studio in West London which, under the stewardship of producer Michael Balcon, created some of the great works of British cinema in the 1940s and 1950s.
Whilst Ealing is now best remembered for its comedy output, the studio made films with an extraordinary range of theme and tone. Their films, regardless of genre, were often characterised by a quintessentially British combination of whimsy and scepticism. And the studio was unafraid of exploring overlooked aspects of British life and the complexity of society in the post-War period.
Once More With Ealing begins with a presentation of a new 4K restoration of Ealing’s sweetest comedy crime caper, The Lavender Hill Mob. Elsewhere, the season takes in more classic comedy, important representations of racial and gender politics in 1950s Britain, and genre prototypes for British Noir and anthology horror.
In this season
Cinema
The Lavender Hill Mob – 4K Restoration
One of Ealing Studio’s most good-natured comedies, The Lavender Hill Mob tells the story of a motley crew’s plan to rob the Bank of England…
Cinema
The Man in the White Suit
Sidney Stratton, a genius inventor, develops a fabric that never gets dirty or wears out. In true Ealing style, Mackendrick’s films often followed a naive…
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Pool of London
London’s Docklands, the 1950s: two seamen step ashore from The Dunbar and into the Pool of London. Dan MacDonald is a self-assured ladies’ man with…
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It Always Rains on Sunday
Based on the novel by Arthur La Bern (adapted elsewhere in Hitchcock’s Frenzy), the film is a gritty drama that plays out in the rain-drenched…
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Dance Hall
Once unfairly dismissed as a mere “women’s picture,” Dance Hall is a rare but refreshing entry in the Ealing Studio oeuvre which foregrounds the experiences…
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Passport to Pimlico
When an unexploded WWII bomb is accidentally detonated in Pimlico, Arthur Pemberton and his daughter Shirley investigate the crater made by the explosion. There, they…
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Cult/ Dead of Night
Ground-breaking both as a 1940s British horror film (production was paused during WWII) and as the blueprint for the horror anthology genre, Dead of Night…
