thumb|upright=1.30|right|The [[Ealing Studios logo as it appears in the opening credits of The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953)]]

The Ealing comedies is an informal name for a series of comedy films produced by the London-based Ealing Studios during a ten-year period from 1947 to 1957. Often considered to reflect Britain's post-war spirit, the most celebrated films in the sequence include Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), Whisky Galore! (1949), The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), The Man in the White Suit (1951) and The Ladykillers (1955). Hue and Cry (1947) is generally considered to be the earliest of the cycle, and Barnacle Bill (1957) the last, although some sources list Davy (1958) as the final Ealing comedy. Many of the Ealing comedies are ranked among the greatest British films, and they also received international acclaim.

Relatively few comedy films were made at Ealing Studios until several years after World War II. The 1939 film Cheer Boys Cheer, featuring the rivalry between two brewing companies, one big and modernist, the other small and traditional, has been characterised as a prototype of later films. One of the few other films that can be seen as a direct precursor to the Ealing comedies is Saloon Bar (1940), in which the regulars of a public house join forces to clear the name of the barmaid's boyfriend who has been accused of murder. Other wartime comedies featuring actors such as Tommy Trinder, Will Hay and George Formby were generally in a broader music hall tradition and had little in common with the later Ealing comedy films. Ealing made no comedy films at all in 1945 and 1946.

Comedies

T. E. B. Clarke wrote the screenplay for Hue and Cry (1947), about a group of schoolboys who confront a criminal gang, which proved to be a critical and commercial success.

Two final comedies were released under the Ealing banner, but made at Elstree Studios. Barnacle Bill (1957) follows Captain Ambrose who, after leaving the navy, buys a run-down pier on the English seaside. Ambrose tries to revive the pier crossing swords with the local council who have a scheme to redevelop the entire seafront, personally enriching themselves while ruining him. Ambrose battles them by severing his connection with the shore, registering his pier as a ship under a foreign flag, and marketing it as a tourist destination for those too seasick to go on cruises. In Davy (1958) a promising entertainer tries to decide whether to strike out on his own, or stay with his family's struggling music hall act. No further comedies were made by Ealing, and after the thriller Siege of Pinchgut (1959), the brand was absorbed into the wider Rank Organisation.

The previous year Rank had released Rockets Galore!, a sequel to Whisky Galore!, but its production was unconnected with Ealing.

Personnel

Many of the films were built around a repertory group of actors, screenwriters, directors and technicians. Directors were Alexander Mackendrick, Charles Crichton, Robert Hamer, Charles Frend, Michael Relph and Henry Cornelius. Composers included Ernest Irving and Georges Auric. Notable actors who became prolific in these films included Stanley Holloway, Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker, Moira Lister and Peggy Cummins. A number of actors also appeared frequently in smaller roles such as Edie Martin and Philip Stainton.

In what was his first major film role, Peter Sellers starred opposite Alec Guinness in The Ladykillers. In Kind Hearts and Coronets Guinness had played multiple roles (which Sellers would later emulate). Sellers stated that during filming he "used to watch Alec Guinness do everything, his rehearsals, his scenes, everything. He is my ideal... and my idol."

Legacy

thumb|upright|[[The Ladykillers (play)|Stage adaptation of The Ladykillers playing at the Gielgud Theatre in London's West End, 2011]]

Though Ealing Studios has come to be remembered for its comedies, they were only a tenth of its productions. Conversely, Gainsborough Pictures is associated with the Gainsborough melodramas though it also produced many comedies.

Many of the Ealing comedies are ranked among the greatest British films, with Kind Hearts and Coronets ranked number 6, The Ladykillers ranked number 13 and The Lavender Hill Mob ranked number 17 (all three featuring Alec Guinness) in the BFI Top 100 British films. These films were also an international success and received acclaim in the US. In 2005, Kind Hearts and Coronets was included in Times list of the top 100 films since 1923. The Ladykillers won the BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The Lavender Hill Mob won the Academy Award for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay, the BAFTA Award for Best British Film, and Guinness was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role (his first Oscar nomination). Former North Korea leader Kim Jong Il was also said to have been a fan of Ealing comedies, inspired by their emphasis on team spirit and a mobilised proletariat.

The Ealing Comedies, a documentary examining the films and featuring interviews with many key players, was screened as part of BBC1's Tuesday Documentary strand in April 1971.

Ealing comedies were adapted for radio and broadcast over BBC Radio 4, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in 1990 starring Robert Powell and Timothy Bateson and in 2007 starring Michael Kitchen and Harry Enfield.

List of Ealing comedy films

References

Bibliography

  • Burton, Alan & O'Sullivan, Tim. The Cinema of Basil Dearden and Michael Relph. Edinburgh University Press, 2009.
  • Murphy, Robert. Realism and Tinsel: Cinema and Society in Britain 1939–48. Routledge, 1992.
  • Sweet, Matthew. Shepperton Babylon: The Lost Worlds of British Cinema. Faber and Faber, 2005.