Ealing Studios is greatest identified for the comedies made at its London services within the aftermath of World Warfare II. The cycle started with Hue and Cry (1947), which celebrates the road tradition of unsupervised youngsters taking part in in bombed-out buildings, and it continued for a decade. Many of those films mixed a comfortable group spirit with bitingly anti-authoritarian satire; they’re movies about individuals who belief their neighbors and household however are able to revolt towards any bigger establishment that begins encroaching on their lives. In Passport to Pimlico (1949), a London neighborhood discovers that it’s technically an impartial enclave and thus is freed from rationing and different restrictions. In Whisky Galore! (1949), a Scottish village conceals a freighter’s price of whiskey from the Residence Guard. In The Man within the White Swimsuit (1951), company and union bureaucrats unite to suppress a helpful invention as a result of it threatens their backside line. While you hear the phrase “Ealing comedy,” these are the kinds of tales the speaker means.
However the spirit behind these movement footage wasn’t restricted to Ealing. Elsewhere in England, different filmmakers have been ingesting from the identical effectively; their films might not have been pretty much as good as the very best Ealing efforts, however they have been nonetheless entertaining, they usually had the identical political edge. Listed here are two of them.
First up is Inexperienced Develop the Rushes (1951), based mostly on a novel by Howard Clewes, directed by Derek Twist and written by Twist and Clewes. Like Passport to Pimlico, this includes a semi-independent enclave (“Sadly, Fitchwick, these marsh folks refuse to acknowledge any authority—they declare to have some ridiculous constitution from some outdated king granting them independence”); like Whiskey Galore!, it culminates with a village conspiring to hide contraband liquor from the federal government. If James C. Scott had written gentle comedies as an alternative of political treatises, he might need made a film like this. My favourite line comes on the finish, when an official harrumphs: “These folks do not deserve to be ruled!”
The second half of our double function is The Blissful Household (1952), based mostly on a play by Michael Clayton Hutton; it was scripted by Muriel and Sydney Field, with Muriel doubling as director and Sydney as producer. On this one, the authorities plan to demolish a household’s dwelling and store so the federal government can construct an entrance to the upcoming Pageant of Britain. The household responds by barricading the property and hurling canned items on the invaders. (Aficionados of transpartisan politics will respect the anti-statist alliance between the old school dad and his daughter’s rabble-rousing radical fiancé.)
It is not a flawless image—the sudden decision feels a bit anticlimactic—however it’s a solidly good one; I am unable to embed it on this submit, however you possibly can watch it right here. If the film has a manifesto second, it is the road proper earlier than the 46-minute mark, when Stanley Holloway’s character gives a toast “to dwelling quietly and being left alone, and never being led about like sheep.”
(For previous editions of the Friday A/V Membership, go right here. Mark Doyle has described The Blissful Household as a precursor to Muswell Hillbillies, the Kinks’ idea album on the evils of eminent area; to learn my appreciation of that report, go right here.)