Passport to Pimlico

This Ealing comedy, like so many others, has such an interesting and entertaining story that you don't always notice the clever and rather perceptive touches. It takes an unlikely, bizarre situation and makes it completely believable, just by drawing things out to their logical extremes. A solid cast and a good dose of British dry wit also help out.

Stanley Holloway heads the cast, as one of a small group of Londoners who, as the result of an offbeat chain of events, find themselves declared subjects of Burgundy. As things proceed, one wacky development after another follows, but each one is simply a perfectly logical (or perhaps perfectly illogical) extension of the previous one.

It's a fine satire on the whole structure of arbitrary procedures and policies that go along with governments, borders, and the like. It also focuses its share of attention on human nature in general, since the hapless but sympathetic 'Burgundians' also have their own foibles. It works by creating sympathy for them simply because they are normal, everyday people like the rest of us, caught up in an unprecedented situation.

The settings are the kind of straightforward, convincing sets that you usually expect from Ealing, and they help in creating the contrast between daily life and the unexpected disruptions that the characters now face. Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne also add quite a bit, as a pair of high-level bureaucrats who seem more interested in deflecting responsibility than in getting problems solved. Things fit together quite well to make a movie that is enjoyable and insightful at the same time.

When an unexploded bomb goes up in a street in the London area of Pimlico, it exposes a cave containing goblets, gold, art and other valuable artefacts. The gold is immediately claimed by the crown, but expert Professor Hatton-Jones comes forward with a royal charter that proves the area is legally Burgundy. With their newfound independence, the residents scrap rationing, opening hours and adopt an altogether more continental lifestyle. However Whitehall cuts them off, leaving Pimlico overrun by undesirables seeking refuge from England's laws. Things get harder as the political tensions between the two `countries' increase.

In true Ealing fashion, this is a gently comic satire on the British way of rule. In Pimlico, the residents are fast to turn their back on England in favour of a life outside of rationing and rules. Needless to say things don't go quite as they planned. As a satire, it doesn't totally work as not all it's points and digs are on target - in fact at times I wasn't sure what it was aiming at. However this is not to say that it isn't consistently amusing because it is. The basic plot is enjoyably slick and reminded me in essence of The Mouse That Roared. The laughs are rarely belly laughs but it produced a consistent chuckle in me as it was rather disarming and enjoyable. The more fanciful it becomes the more whimsical it feels - it never gets silly because the tone is so well pitched throughout to avoid it being daft at any point.

I nearly fell off my seat when I read another review on this page that said the cast were a bunch of unknowns! If you don't recognise at least six or seven faces with ease then this must be your first ever British comedy made pre-1960. Holloway, Huntley, Tafler and all the leads are all as good as ever and the bonus of Margaret Rutherford and some really memorable dialogue just makes things better. Even for those only familiar with the Carry On chapter of British comedy we have Charles Hawtrey in a young looking appearance here. Everyone handles the material very well and many of them are blessed with some sparky dialogue.

Overall this is an enjoyable little film that has digs at the British government and way of life but ultimately acknowledges England as the best place to be - for all it's rain, low temperatures and taxation, it's better than going it alone! A witty little film that will please any audience that is in the mood for a bit of Ealing whimsy (and who isn't?).

I saw this film as a boy living in Chelsea (next door to Pimlico) and found it utterly charming. Curious, isn't it, how a film that one appreciated so long ago should remain firmly embedded in the memory. Other critics and reviewers have discussed the plot and actors, so there is no point in repeating their revelations. I would say, though, that it reminds me, in retrospect, of THE MOUSE THAT ROARED in its approach to the, ahem, inconsistencies of life. And it brought Post WWII London to life with clarity and power, with cinematography and dialogue that were entirely to the point. My complaint, now that I live in the U.S., is why the **** we can't get this film on VHS or DVD for enjoyment here. Much like that other spectacular comedy of a few years later, GENEVIEVE.

A bustling and, it is implied, unscrupulous gaggle of Britons waddles its way into the freshly, sloppily partitioned nation of Burgundy. For the new Burgundians, opportunity knocks on one door, while confusion beats down another. The cacophonous Nazi explosion that created Burgundy (and buried Pimlico) is now rivaled by the vociferous crowd, swarming through the former British district like Bedouins over the dunes of Arabia.

T. E. B. Clarke's screenplay, "Passport to Pimlico," in its superior comedic handling of legal, logistical and practical civil nightmares, is one of best political parodies ever filmed. Like Clarke's later "The Lavender Hill Mob," "Passport" holds its knot to British underpinnings of dignity and grace under pressure; what remains so comedic about both stories, however, is the loss of such maintained hegemony. The direction, by veteran Henry Cornelius ("I Am a Camera," dramatic basis of "Cabaret"), is sure, confident in a way that resembles the careful work of a helmer filming a story of his own, which, in fact, he is (a conceptual collaboration with Clarke). It has been said that the two based their outline of "Passport to Pimlico" on the Canadian government's gift of a provincial `room' to the Netherlands.

"Passport" is a great, funny, touching film, well known to subject historians and critics, worthy of popular re-discovery.

They say that the Ealing era was the British film industry's finest hour. Today, they are certainly dated but in an inventive, often very funny way. Not quaint, nor sloppy, nor nostalgic. As such they are all very watchable (& enjoyable)

"Passport to..." to my mind, is the best that depicts the street level London directly after the War, with the close-knit community rallying round, but with that 'spirit' that saw them through the Blitz. So, there's wheeling and dealing, pushing their luck, practical jokes and a broad humour that's infectious.

The story is absolute mumbo-jumbo nonsense with the subliminal message mocking the bureaucratic minefield that was necessary in shaping a devastated Britain - and London. Job's worth petty rules fly in the face of common sense.

To my mind, this is the best Ealing that snapshots a time and a place - many of the scenes are shot out in the bombed-cleared areas rather than the studio. The cast are a ragbag of the well-knowns of the time and many, many extras from young ruffians to bowler-hatted officials. It's fun and can be watched many times over. This must be at least my sixth.

It must have seemed like a breath of fresh air at the time - years of the Ministries commanding everyone in that 'proper', clipped voice, about every little detail - which they all knew they had to dutifully do. And now, we can all have a 'right larf'! at their expense.