Passport to Pimlico (1949)

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1949
Running Times: 84 mins
Format: black and white 35mm
Ratio: 1.37:1
Sound: mono

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Ealing Studios
Producer: Michael Balcon
Associate Producer: E.V.H. Emmett
Unit Production Manager: Ralph D. Hogg
Production Supervisor: Hal Mason

SCRIPT
Script: T.E.B. Clarke

DIRECTION
Director: Henry Cornelius
Assistant Director: Gordon Scott

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Lionel Banes
Camera Operator: Cecil R. Cooney

EDITING AND POST PRODUCTION
Editor: Michael Truman

MUSIC
Music: Georges Auric
Conductor: Ernest Irving

SOUND
Sound Recordist: Arthur Bradburn
Sound: Stephen Dalby

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Ernest Taylor
Hair: Barbara Barnard
Costume Designer: Anthony Mendleson

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Director: Roy Oxley

MISCELLANEOUS
Continuity: Jean Graham

LOCATIONS
Locations: Hercules Road, Lambeth, London, England, UK; Holborn Viaduct, London, England, UK; Lambeth, London, England, UK; Piccadilly, London, England, UK; Vauxhall, London, England, UK; Westminster Bridge, London, England, UK; Whitehall, London, England, UK
Studio: Ealing Studios, London, England, UK

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Dedicated to the memory of Clothing Coupons and Ration cards.

CAST
Stanley Holloway (Arthur Pemberton)
Betty Warren (Connie Pemberton)
Barbara Murray (Shirley Pemberton)
Paul Dupuis (Duke of Burgundy)
John Slater (Frank Huggins)
Jane Hylton (Molly)
Raymond Huntley (Wix)
Philip Stainton (PC Spiller)
Roy Carr (Benny Spiller)
Sydney Tafler (Fred Cowan)
Nancy Gabrielle (Mrs Cowan)
Michael Knight (Monty Cowan)
Hermione Baddeley (Edie Randall)
Roy Gladdish (Charlie Randall)
Frederick Piper (Garland)
Charles Hawtrey (Bert Fitch)
Margaret Rutherford (Professor Hatton-Jones)
Stuart Lindsell (coroner)
Naunton Wayne (Straker)
Basil Radford (Gregg)
Gilbert Davis (Bagshawe)
Michael Hordern (Inspector Bashford)
Arthur Howard (Bassett)
Bill Shine (captain)
Harry Locke (sergeant)
Sam Kydd (sapper)
Joe E. Carr (Dave Parsons)
Lloyd Pearson (Fawcett)
Arthur Denton (customs official)
Tommy Godfrey (bus conductor)
James Hayter (commissionaire)
Masoni (conjurer)
Fred Griffiths (Spiv)
Grace Arnold (woman in underground)
Paul Demel (Central European)
E.V.H. Emmett (voice of newsreel commentator)
Michael Craig (uncredited)
Bernard Farrel (uncredited)

The detonation of an unexploded World War II bomb in the Pimlico district of London unearths ancient documents that reveal a strange truth about the area - it is, in fact, part of Burgundy in France and doesn't belong to Britain at all. The locals declare their independence and the British government retaliate by establishing border controls and isolating the new Burgundians - but they have different ideas...

Classic Ealing satire, painting an incisive portrait of post-war London that remains by turns witty, moving and rewarding even now. It picks away at long cherished British beliefs and both glories in them and gently mocks them. The cast is simply wonderful and the script is sharp and funny while still retaining its serious undercurrent. Another example of that rarest breed - the ones that they don't make like this any more.

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Eagle-Lion Films Inc; Classic Pictures Inc (1952 reissue)

Finland
Rating: S

AWARDS

1950
Academy Awards, USA
Best Writing, Story and Screenplay (T.E.B. Clarke) - nominated

British Academy Awards, UK
Best British Film - nominated

1949
April
Day Unknown: UK - theatrical release

1950
March
20: Sweden - theatrical release

1951
June
16: West Germany - theatrical release

October
23: Austria - theatrical release

1969
November
9: West Germany - theatrical re-release

Blockade in London
Passport nach Pimlico - Austrian title
Paß nach Pimlico - German title
Biljett till Burgund - Swedish title

london; bombs; explosions

Last Updated: 15 October, 2008