Blu-ray debut for two Ealing Studios' classic comedies, THE TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT and PASSPORT TO PIMLICO

Britain's Ealing Studios has had, at this point in time, one of the longest runs in motion picture history -- bested, TrustMovies believes, only by that of France's Gaumont Film Company. Granted, that run has been somewhat stop-and-start and under various monikers; nevertheless, Ealing has given movie lovers, down the decades, some terrific and memorable films (consult this list for a quick reminder). This week one of its finest comedies (along with another good one) comes to Blu-ray. Both are in fine transfers -- but shockingly enough in this day and age, without English subtitles. Considering the British dialects on hand, this seems near-criminal. (We circumvented the problem by using TV Ears but would have preferred those SDH subtitles.)

The best of the two films, and the best Ealing comedy I can recall, is PASSPORT TO PIMLICO, from 1949 and full of wonderful British character actors (that's Margaret Rutherford, at left, above; Stanley Holloway, center, and Canada's Paul Dupuis, right), many from the Ealing stable, and using a simply splendid situation with which to bring out the fine British humor, irony and overall delight.

That situation begins when an as-yet-unexploded bomb left over from WWII goes off (hurting no one; the area has been cordoned off), revealing far underground not just some hundreds-year-old literal buried treasure but a charter revealing that this particular small area of London is actually and legitimately a part of Burgundy, France. (That's the always-in-fine-form Hermione Baddeley, below.)

What happens next (and then continues throughout the film) is handled so expertly and wittily by noted screenwriter T.E.B. Clarke and directed equally well by Henry Cornelius (his only Ealing stint as director; watch the fine Bonus Features to learn why) that the movie manages to cover everything from post-war British rationing and coupons to the pomposity of government and the banking industry and both the hypocrisy and splendid indomanability of the British populace. (That's the stalwart John Slater, below, center, who plays the "other man" with such strength, compassion, sadness and intelligence that he ends up making his character not merely decent but rather sexy, to boot.)

How the film cleverly entwines all its plot elements so that situations and jokes consistently bounce off each other -- growing in size and amusement as this new "little Burgundy" stretches its wings and decides to depart from merrie old England, with results both expected and not so -- makes for a near-perfect example of British comedy, social, political, and very humane. Though I don't envision a remake of Passport to Pimlico in the cards, I can imagine, a few years down the road, a comedy about Brexit (or maybe about what could have happened, had Brexit never occurred -- if ever it finally does occur) that might bring some of the old Ealing spirit to modern British cinema. Who knows: Maybe Armando Iannucci is working on something like this, even as I write....) Meanwhile, this little classic -- from Film Movement and running just 85 minutes -- hits the street on Blu-ray this Tuesday, December 31, for purchase and (I hope somewhere) rental.

The other Ealing release -- THE TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT from 1953 and the first of the studio's films to be shot in Technicolor -- may not reach the glorious Pimlico heights, but it's a perfectly respectable and quite entertaining comedy in its own right.

With a color palette that makes use of everything from pastels to jewel tones to the verdant British countryside, this movie about an old and long-in-storage titular British train (shown in drawing, above, and at bottom) offers up a pleasant and mildly satiric look at British small-town life, mid-twentieth-century.

Stanley Holloway, above, again makes a major appearance in the fine ensemble cast, here playing one of the town's leading citizens, a wealthy alcoholic who, when the government announces the closure of its Titfield-to-Mallingford branch line, is persuaded by the townspeople to bankroll their own takeover of that line so that they can run the train themselves and thus keep the line in operation. Their ploy: They'll provide him a "club car" in which liquor will always be served.

Most of the townspeople (that's Edie Martin, above, as one of the fine folk), have no experience running a train line, mind you. But -- ah, yes -- they've British pluck to spare! (Hugh Griffith, shown at left, plays the line's fireman, whose drunken excesses serve to escalate the problems.)

A competing bus line tries every dirty trick in the book to prevent the train from succeeding, but, hey, you know how often British pluck can win the day, especially in movies, so don't bet against it here, please.

Popular leading men of the day, John Gregson (above), plays the movie's sort-of hero figure, while its screenplay was written by, once again, T.E.B. Clarke, and directed by Charles Crichton (of The Lavender Hill Mob). It's hard to fault The Titfield Thunderbolt in any major way because it moves like clockwork -- unlike the train itself -- if, finally, just about everything here seems rather expected. But that, of course, is part of its charm.

From Film Movement, running 84 minutes, and like Passport to Pimlico, featuring a total lack of English subtitles (which would have been helpful considering the British accents), the movie makes its Blu-ray debut this Tuesday, December 31 -- for purchase and (I hope, somewhere) for rental.