The Man in the White Suit was directed in 1951 by Alexander Mackendrick and starred Alec Guinness.
Best known for a series of comedies made in the post world war years. Ealing Studios has been making films since 1902 when Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902. The original stages were built with particularly high glass walls and roofs to take advantage of any available light while at the same time keeping out the typical English inclement weather. By 1912 this had become the largest film studio in Britain and possibly Europe and 110 years later it is the oldest continuously working studio facility for film production in the world.
From 1929 the studios were bought by theatre producer Basil Dean and within two years Ealing Studios had been built. Dean left in 1938 and was replaced by Michael Balcon who had been at MGM-British. Under Balcon’s control, Ealing became the one of the most important British film studios of the day. In 1944, the company was taken over by the Rank Organisation.
In the 1930s and 1940s, the facility as ATP and then Ealing Studios produced many comedies with stars such as Gracie Fields, George Formby, Stanley Holloway and Will Hay, who had established their reputations in other spheres of entertainment. The company was also instrumental in the use of documentary film-makers to make more realistic war films which included the brilliant Went the Day Well? (1942), The Foreman Went to France (1942), Undercover (1943), and San Demetrio London (1943). In 1945, the studio made its chiller compendium Dead of Night.
In the post-war period, the company embarked on a series of comedies which became the studio’s hallmark. These were often lightly satirical and were seen to reflect aspects of British character and society. The first was Hue and Cry (1947) and the last Barnacle Bill (1956). In 1955, financial pressures meant producer Sir Michael had to sell off the studios. He moved the operation to Borehamwood before finally closing it entirely.
The best remembered Ealing films were produced between 1948 and 1955: Whisky Galore! (1949), Passport to Pimlico (1949), Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), The Man in the White Suit (1951), The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953), The Cruel Sea (1953) and The Ladykillers (1955) – movies now seen as some of the best British cinema has ever produced.
We made films at Ealing that were good, bad and indifferent, but that were indisputably British. They were rooted in the soil of the country.“ – Michael Balcon
The Lavender Hill Mob was made in 1951 and directed by Charles Crichton, starring Alec Guinness and Stanley Holloway and featuring Sid James and Alfie Bass.
The Gentle Gunman is a 1952 British drama film directed by Basil Dearden and starring John Mills, Dirk Bogarde and Elizabeth Sellars. The film is based on a 1950 play of the same title by Roger MacDougall.
Kind Hearts and Coronets is a 1949 British crime black comedy film. It features Dennis Price, Joan Greenwood, Valerie Hobson and Alec Guinness; Guinness plays nine characters. The plot is loosely based on the novel Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal (1907) by Roy Horniman.
Whisky Galore! was made in 1949 and starred Basil Radford, Bruce Seton, Joan Greenwood and Gordon Jackson. It was the directorial debut of Alexander Mackendrick; the screenplay was by Compton Mackenzie, an adaptation of his 1947 novel Whisky Galore, and Angus MacPhail.
It Always Rains on Sunday made in 1947 was based on Arthur La Bern’s novel by the same name, directed by Robert Hamer.
The Ladykillers was directed by Alexander Mackendrick in 1955. It stars Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Peter Sellers, Danny Green, Jack Warner, and Katie Johnson as the old lady, Mrs. Wilberforce.
THE CRUEL SEA Poster for 1953 Ealing Studios film with Jack Hawkins
The Titfield Thunderbolt was directed by Charles Crichton in 1953 and starred Stanley Holloway, Naunton Wayne, George Relph and John Gregson.
The Bells Go Down is a 1943 black-and-white wartime film. The reference in the title is to the alarm bells in the fire station that “go down” when a call to respond is made.
Out of the Clouds was directed by Basil Dearden in 1955 and starring Anthony Steel, Robert Beatty and James Robertson Justice. An Ealing Studios production, the film is composed of small stories dealing with the passengers and crew on a day at London Airport (the name of Heathrow Airport 1946–1966).
The Divided Heart is a 1954 British black-and-white drama film directed by Charles Crichton and starring Cornell Borchers, Yvonne Mitchell and Armin Dahlen. The film is based on a true story[1][2] of a child, whose father was a member of Slovenian Partisans executed by Nazis and whose mother was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Davy is a 1958 British comedy-drama film directed by Michael Relph and starring Harry Secombe, Alexander Knox and Ron Randell. It was the last comedy to be made by Ealing Studios and had the distinction of being the first British film in Technicolor
His Excellency is a 1952 British comedy drama film directed by Robert Hamer and starring Eric Portman, Cecil Parker, Helen Cherry and Susan Stephen. It follows a blunt Yorkshireman and former trade union leader, who is sent to take over as Governor of a British-ruled island in the Mediterranean.
The Magnet is a 1950 British comedy film featuring Stephen Murray, Kay Walsh and in his first starring role James Fox (then billed as William Fox).
Train of Events is a 1949 British portmanteau film made by Ealing Studios and directed by Sidney Cole, Charles Crichton and Basil Dearden. It begins with a train that is heading for a crash into a stalled petrol tanker at a level crossing and then flashes back and tells four different stories about some of the passengers.
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (also known simply as Nicholas Nickleby) is a 1947 British drama film directed by Alberto Cavalcanti and starring Cedric Hardwicke.
Dead of Night is a 1945 black and white British anthology horror film, made by Ealing Studios. The individual segments were directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer. It stars Mervyn Johns, Googie Withers, Sally Ann Howes and Michael Redgrave. The film is best remembered for the concluding story featuring Redgrave and an insane ventriloquist’s malevolent dummy.
Hue and Cry is a 1947 British film directed by Charles Crichton and starring Alastair Sim, Harry Fowler and Joan Dowling. It is generally considered to be the first of the Ealing comedies, although it is better characterised as a thriller for children.
Painted Boats (US titles The Girl on the Canal or The Girl of the Canal) is a black-and-white British film directed by Charles Crichton and released by Ealing Studios in 1945. Painted Boats, one of the lesser-known Ealing films of the period, is brief (63 minutes long), uses a little-known cast and has a slight storyline
Passport to Pimlico is a 1949 British comedy film made by Ealing Studios and starring Stanley Holloway, Margaret Rutherford and Hermione Baddeley. It was directed by Henry Cornelius and written by T. E. B. Clarke. The story concerns the unearthing of treasure and documents that lead to a small part of Pimlico to be declared a legal part of the House of Burgundy, and therefore exempt from the post-war rationing or other bureaucratic restrictions active in Britain at the time.
Meet Mr. Lucifer is a black-and-white British comedy satire film released in 1953 starring Stanley Holloway. It was filmed at Ealing Studios, London, and is one of the Ealing comedies. The film is based on the play Beggar My Neighbour by Arnold Ridley (who later played Private Godfrey in the BBC television comedy series Dad’s Army).
The Love Lottery is a 1954 British comedy film directed by Charles Crichton and starring David Niven, Peggy Cummins, Anne Vernon and Herbert Lom. Produced by Ealing Studios it was one of several Ealing Comedies that veered away from the standard formula. The film examines celebrity and fan worship with an international setting including Lake Como, ambitious dream sequences, and an uncredited cameo appearance at the end by Humphrey Bogart as himself.
Movie information courtesy of wikipedia
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