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Imminently suitable for
business premises or a factory site,

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heart of busy training centre,
unlimited prospects.

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Full transport facilities to hand.

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Special appeal
to purchaser of vision.

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No obstruction
to future development.

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Thoroughly safe investment.

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One of the great British comedies,

8
00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:38,719
the plot of Passport To Pimlico
is gloriously absurd.

9
00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:42,039
The idea of this film,
not only was relevant at the time,

10
00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:44,039
it has continued and increased.

11
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It's a film that has got
a universal theme to it

12
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that will never,
never go out of date.

13
00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:52,839
I think it's combination
of fantasy and realism,

14
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making something serious
out of their comedy.

15
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And it was kind of smuggling
social commentary into their comedy.

16
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Of course, that existed
before Passport To Pimlico, too,

17
00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:04,599
but a lot of these Ealing comedies

18
00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:07,239
are very, very good
at making you laugh,

19
00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:10,559
and also going, "Actually,
but isn't this ridiculous?

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Isn't this something that we should
think about seriously?"

21
00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:15,639
So where do you think it stands

22
00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:17,999
in sort of the pantheon
of British comedy?

23
00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:20,359
Well, I think Passport To Pimlico

24
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is a remarkable film
as a British comedy.

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It... There may be,
have been funnier British comedies,

26
00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:28,879
you know, there may have been
more glamorous British comedies.

27
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There's lots of...
But what this is,

28
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is there is no other comedy I think,

29
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that's caught the nature
of Britishness,

30
00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:38,519
the question of Britishness,
the idea,

31
00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:42,079
the everyday struggle
and parallel existences.

32
00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:45,879
The idea that to be British is
to be many, many things

33
00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:49,159
all at the same time,
to contain those multitudes,

34
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and say, "Well, of course, because
I'm British. And Burgundian."

35
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When the good folk of
that London borough unearthed proof

36
00:01:56,640 --> 00:02:00,119
that they are in fact
an outpost of ancient Burgundy,

37
00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:03,239
they spot the chance to escape
the petty fogging rules

38
00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:06,879
of post-war austerity
and declare immediate independence.

39
00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:16,920
Over this way a bit.

40
00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:49,599
Miramont Place. Now come on,
step lively all you aliens.

41
00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:52,440
Belgrave Road?
No, lady, we're going to England.

42
00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:00,559
The irony is that their new identity,

43
00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:03,279
if anything,
makes them more patriotic.

44
00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:06,599
As grocer's wife Betty Warren
defiantly cries,

45
00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:08,359
"It is only because we're English

46
00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:11,639
that we're sticking
out for the right to be Burgundians."

47
00:03:11,640 --> 00:03:14,679
Every day in Britain,
housewives have to queue up

48
00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:17,000
to purchase
even the necessities of life.

49
00:03:18,920 --> 00:03:22,599
For most of us, meat in any form
is a very rare treat.

50
00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:26,839
Each person is permitted to buy
only 23 cents' worth a week,

51
00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:29,880
which is not exactly a banquet.

52
00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:34,839
The political mood
in Britain in 1948/49

53
00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:38,359
was very much one of flux.

54
00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:42,319
People were still hurting
from the war.

55
00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:44,879
Rationing was still in place,

56
00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:48,839
although it was about
to actually to be taken away.

57
00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:52,359
But there was still a sense
that they were in the final stages

58
00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:55,559
of the shadows
of impoverishment from war

59
00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:59,719
and they had yet to think that
they were going to come out of it.

60
00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:03,479
So the situation in 1949 in England

61
00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:06,399
was still very much one of privation

62
00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:09,119
in the years following
the Second World War.

63
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Rationing had actually increased,

64
00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:13,679
which must have been
a pretty bitter pill to swallow

65
00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:15,599
for a lot
of ordinary English people,

66
00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:17,919
given the difficulties
of the wartime period.

67
00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:19,679
You know, they have been triumphant,

68
00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:23,679
but still there was this kind
of slightly colourless existence

69
00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:26,279
of you know, needing to ration sugar

70
00:04:26,280 --> 00:04:29,039
and nylons and lipsticks
and sweets for children

71
00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:32,119
and all these various
important household items.

72
00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:35,079
And so there was
some frustration growing,

73
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I think, with this austerity.

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00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:40,319
And equally, England was trying to,
in a larger sense,

75
00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:42,559
figure out where it stood
in the post-war world

76
00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:44,919
in terms of diplomatic relations,

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00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:47,759
whether to be isolationist or to,
you know,

78
00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:50,799
foster a bigger sense
of internationalism.

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And so all of these things
are very much in the backdrop

80
00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:56,119
and at play in Passport To Pimlico.

81
00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:59,119
And do you think
the film in particular,

82
00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:01,519
was a response
to the ongoing rationing

83
00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:03,159
and the need for identity cards?

84
00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:06,519
The fact that four years after
the war, things hadn't changed.

85
00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:09,719
Yes, I think that the...
I mean, what was the war fought for?

86
00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:12,359
It was to, you know...
It was a war for freedom

87
00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:14,799
from the kind of petty tyranny

88
00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:18,759
and sort of the oversight of
uniformed masters

89
00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:21,719
who demanded identity papers
and limited what you could do.

90
00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:24,679
And suddenly you find that Britain,
the victor,

91
00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:27,719
was dealing with a situation
where bureaucrats had a say-so

92
00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:30,719
over every part of their lives,
where you had to queue up for food.

93
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Nothing really had changed.

94
00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:34,959
Nothing, no, it didn't feel
like anything had been won.

95
00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:38,559
So I think this idea
that you would be in a situation

96
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where you suddenly felt
the opportunity for liberty,

97
00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:45,319
you suddenly discovered
the potential to be free again,

98
00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:48,759
must have seemed exhilarating
as a concept in plot terms.

99
00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:52,079
Escalating into a stand-off
with supercilious Whitehall,

100
00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:54,439
this is a biting satire
on bureaucracy

101
00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:56,559
and a portrait of a community

102
00:05:56,560 --> 00:05:59,359
refusing to return
to the confines of class.

103
00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:01,559
All the idiosyncrasy, humour,

104
00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:03,399
and bloody-mindedness of the country

105
00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:07,439
are captured in the sense
of liberation let loose in Pimlico.

106
00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:10,679
..one to think of.
This one is me all right.

107
00:06:10,680 --> 00:06:12,799
Think it'll go with my taffeta?

108
00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:14,999
That check skirt I got up west.

109
00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:17,639
Lovely. Three guineas, dear.

110
00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:20,479
Oh.
Make it pounds, I'm easy.

111
00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:23,079
Ta, Edie.
I've got three coupons somewhere.

112
00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:24,959
Four, dear. Same as Bond Street.

113
00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:26,719
Oh, go on, be a pal.

114
00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:28,919
I wanted a Miss Pimlico Night
at the Palais.

115
00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:32,159
Oh, that.
Proper old fiddle, always was.

116
00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:34,679
OK, I'll put it by.

117
00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:38,239
Oh, no. Look, I'll tell you what.

118
00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:40,960
Oh, all right.

119
00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:46,719
I mean, the film is definitely
a response to the post-war austerity

120
00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:49,559
and certainly,
although it's set in 1947,

121
00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:52,799
and, I mean, just a year before
the film was actually being made.

122
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There is this sense that it's a...

123
00:06:55,760 --> 00:06:59,599
It's a kickback
against the austerity,

124
00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:01,999
the deprivation, the...

125
00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:04,439
And also, to a certain extent,
the government.

126
00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:08,679
I mean, the... the idea
that a community of people,

127
00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:10,599
a small community of people,

128
00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:12,719
could actually sort of rise up,

129
00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:16,719
and challenge, actually,
the sort of status quo

130
00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:20,359
as laid down
by the mandarins of Whitehall.

131
00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:24,679
But also, it was a class struggle
to a certain extent,

132
00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:26,759
as shown in the film,

133
00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:31,079
because all of these people are
very ordinary working-class people

134
00:07:31,080 --> 00:07:36,239
who live in supposedly Pimlico,
and they are the ones who -

135
00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:39,999
through this extraordinary
set of circumstances -

136
00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:45,360
find themselves actually able to
challenge Westminster and Whitehall.

137
00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:48,599
Yeah, there is a sense,
especially in 1949,

138
00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:51,479
again, Britain has come
through the war,

139
00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:56,159
and so it does feel like this kind
of great push of solidarity

140
00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:59,399
to not take anything
out of the army's pockets,

141
00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:01,359
to not hurt the war effort.

142
00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:03,359
That feeling has slightly subsided,

143
00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:07,119
and so there's a huge rise
in the black market,

144
00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:11,839
and black marketeering and people
pooling resources together,

145
00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:14,239
and just trying
to get those little extras.

146
00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:17,559
You're on the cusp of the 1950s,
so you're looking at this era

147
00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:20,479
which was going to become
one of huge consumerism,

148
00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:24,439
and much bigger free market
capitalism, certainly in America,

149
00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:27,599
and England would eventually want
to follow suit in many ways.

150
00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:30,799
And so, yeah,
people are a bit fed up,

151
00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:35,639
and they're interested in probably
finding ways to game the system.

152
00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:38,239
Desperately sick
of threadbare existence,

153
00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:40,240
tempers were growing short.

154
00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:44,439
Exasperation flared up
among British housewives

155
00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:48,120
when the world food situation
made new restrictions necessary.

156
00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:53,559
How would you describe
the political climate in Britain

157
00:08:53,560 --> 00:08:57,079
in 1949
when Passport To Pimlico came out?

158
00:08:57,080 --> 00:08:59,359
Well, the British people
were very disillusioned

159
00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:01,359
with their political leaders
at that point.

160
00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:03,279
The following year,
there'd be an election

161
00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:05,439
at which no party would win
a majority,

162
00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:07,599
so the electorate were not impressed

163
00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:10,199
with anyone
who was standing for leadership.

164
00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:13,839
The energy that
the Labour government had inherited

165
00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:16,599
at the end of the Second World War
had not produced the change,

166
00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:19,359
I think, that people had hoped,
in the way that they had hoped.

167
00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:23,119
There were still bomb sites, there
had been austerity and rationing,

168
00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:26,799
people didn't feel that
they were being well looked after.

169
00:09:26,800 --> 00:09:30,599
And at the same time, you'd had
this working-class population

170
00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:32,959
who had been given
enormous responsibility

171
00:09:32,960 --> 00:09:35,959
and control over their own destiny
during the Second World War,

172
00:09:35,960 --> 00:09:39,599
who were now being expected
to return to the status quo,

173
00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:41,919
that there was a feeling
that we're going back

174
00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:44,719
to everything that we'd rejected
and we hadn't wanted.

175
00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:47,039
This was the beginning of the period

176
00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:50,439
where the Australians would offer
the £10 Pom scheme,

177
00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:52,399
where you could go to Australia
for just £10,

178
00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:55,079
and millions of Britons were
preparing to leave the country.

179
00:09:55,080 --> 00:09:56,639
There was just this feeling

180
00:09:56,640 --> 00:09:58,799
that this is not the country
that we fought for.

181
00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:00,479
It-It's a mess.

182
00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:03,479
So there was a lot of doubt,

183
00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:07,239
and, you know, disillusionment,
quite febrile, I would say.

184
00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:09,039
Led by such comic marvels

185
00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:11,719
as Stanley Holloway
and Margaret Rutherford,

186
00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:14,759
Passport To Pimlico is
a deeply passionate film

187
00:10:14,760 --> 00:10:17,040
about what binds society together.

188
00:10:17,880 --> 00:10:21,679
I reckon two pounds will cover this.
Hey! How many in your litter?

189
00:10:21,680 --> 00:10:23,479
You need 40 ration books
for that lot!

190
00:10:23,480 --> 00:10:25,000
Ration books? This is Burgundy.

191
00:10:27,760 --> 00:10:29,799
Burgundy!

192
00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:50,800
Cor! Someone's been saving up
for a rainy day.

193
00:10:51,640 --> 00:10:53,840
Look at all this lot.

194
00:10:55,400 --> 00:10:58,039
Look, there's a coat of arms.

195
00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:01,840
Look at this.
Must be hundreds of years old.

196
00:11:11,240 --> 00:11:13,079
Inspiration came from real life.

197
00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:16,079
A newspaper story
about Princess Juliana of Holland,

198
00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:19,799
who while exiled in Canada
during the war, became pregnant.

199
00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:21,799
This had major repercussions.

200
00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:25,599
According to Dutch law,
if the baby was born on foreign soil,

201
00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:28,039
it was no longer eligible
for the throne.

202
00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:31,439
So an obliging Canadian parliament
passed a decree

203
00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:35,960
that a delivery room in Ottawa
was to be Dutch territory.

204
00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:39,959
In Canada,
Queen Wilhelmina of The Netherlands

205
00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:42,839
sees Princess Juliana
and her granddaughters

206
00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:46,279
for the first time since
the Nazis invaded their homeland.

207
00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:48,239
For the 62-year-old Queen,

208
00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:50,399
the trans-Atlantic crossing
was her first,

209
00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:53,319
and incidentally,
her first time in a plane.

210
00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:55,719
A Queen for more than 50 years,

211
00:11:55,720 --> 00:11:58,560
Wilhelmina ruled an Empire
of 75 million subjects.

212
00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:03,000
Now she lives for the day
the House of Orange will rise again.

213
00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:10,559
There's this slightly nutty story

214
00:12:10,560 --> 00:12:13,119
which almost feels
too ridiculous to be true,

215
00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:15,079
but in fact was true.

216
00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:17,319
That during the Second World War,

217
00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:22,319
a Dutch princess was in Ottawa
in Canada, and was pregnant,

218
00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:25,679
and began to give birth on
the maternity ward there in Canada.

219
00:12:25,680 --> 00:12:29,279
And there was some issue around
the idea of wanting this infant,

220
00:12:29,280 --> 00:12:33,119
this heir to the throne,
to be born on Dutch soil.

221
00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:35,279
It was a very,
very interesting story.

222
00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:36,839
It all worked, it was fine,

223
00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:40,839
it was done through sort
of a bureaucratic sort of system

224
00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:44,999
that gave them temporary leave
to actually call it The Netherlands,

225
00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:46,879
right in the middle of Ottawa.

226
00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:49,680
It was peculiar,
it was a very singular situation.

227
00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:54,959
Under a contract at Ealing Studios,
the writer, TEB Clarke,

228
00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:58,279
known to all as Tibby Clarke,
was a great talent.

229
00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:01,999
He had a gift for what might be
called logical absurdity -

230
00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:06,999
taking a ridiculous concept
and figuring out the logical outcome.

231
00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:10,639
His Oscar-nominated screenplay
for Passport To Pimlico

232
00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:12,319
was a true original.

233
00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:14,319
Indeed, it is a foundational text

234
00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:18,639
for the what-if school
of situational comedy, the sitcom.

235
00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:21,919
This is the skill of the writer,
TEB Clarke, isn't it?

236
00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:25,479
You know,
he described it as logical absurdity.

237
00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:28,759
You take
a frankly ludicrous concept,

238
00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:32,199
a country within a country,
but you follow it logically.

239
00:13:32,200 --> 00:13:36,439
So everything you apply from then on,
you know, is politically sound,

240
00:13:36,440 --> 00:13:38,759
is sort of sound
in terms of character,

241
00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:41,479
that has a kind of basis in reality.

242
00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:46,799
Yes. And by the nature of the
logical series of steps you take,

243
00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:49,999
things become
ever more impossibly absurd,

244
00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:51,959
and ever more, you know, farcical.

245
00:13:51,960 --> 00:13:56,919
So once you... Once people take
an absurd situation at face value

246
00:13:56,920 --> 00:13:59,839
as being 100% serious
and have to react to it,

247
00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:02,319
logically within the rules
of society,

248
00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:05,319
they go further and further
away from the rational and the sane,

249
00:14:05,320 --> 00:14:09,159
and into these kind of
entirely fantastical worlds,

250
00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:10,959
which are referenced by a series

251
00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:12,959
of extremely recognisable
everyday rules.

252
00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:16,679
And that's the beauty
of a particular kind of surrealism,

253
00:14:16,680 --> 00:14:18,999
which British comedy has
played with, you know.

254
00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:21,559
In a sense,
it's slightly Swiftian, you know,

255
00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:24,159
this idea of something
that you recognise,

256
00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:26,879
and something that you can see
where it's connected.

257
00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:30,919
But it has just moved into
this place where it's clearly mad.

258
00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:32,959
And...
But that's what he was able to do,

259
00:14:32,960 --> 00:14:36,039
take this idea of okay, what happens
if we just twist a tiny thing

260
00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:38,959
and then see
how everyone continues to behave.

261
00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:41,559
The plot in detail goes like this.

262
00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:43,319
In the heart of London,

263
00:14:43,320 --> 00:14:46,839
a 15th-century document is discovered
in a bomb site.

264
00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:50,839
This royal decree reveals
that a square mile of Pimlico

265
00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:53,199
belongs to the Duchy of Burgundy.

266
00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:57,759
It dawns on the salt-of-the-earth
locals that as Burgundians,

267
00:14:57,760 --> 00:15:00,639
they are no longer beholden
to the stringent rules

268
00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:02,879
of rationing in 1949.

269
00:15:02,880 --> 00:15:04,759
Now it has always been known

270
00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:07,959
that Miramont House was occupied
by a Burgundian nobleman,

271
00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:10,199
styling himself
the Count Maurice de Charolais.

272
00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:14,559
With the help of this document,
I now intend to prove

273
00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:17,159
that Maurice de Charolais
and the Duke of Burgundy

274
00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:19,199
were one and the same person.

275
00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:23,439
For it is a royal charter,
signed by King Edward IV,

276
00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:26,319
making the Duke
not only a grant of Miramont House,

277
00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:29,479
but decreeing that the entire estate

278
00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:32,399
shall be recognised henceforth
as Burgundian soil.

279
00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:36,079
Now, Edward IV would never have made
such a grant-

280
00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:37,439
One moment, Professor.

281
00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:40,119
Are you implying that this treasure
does not belong to the Crown?

282
00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:44,879
Oh no, it belongs to the people in
the area covered by the old estate,

283
00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:49,319
since this charter specifically
makes them natives of Burgundy.

284
00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:52,279
Do you mean that these Londoners
are technically Burgundians?

285
00:15:52,280 --> 00:15:56,919
Indubitably. This royal charter
has never been repealed.

286
00:15:56,920 --> 00:16:00,679
It is as valid today
as on the day it was signed

287
00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:02,679
by the founder of the House of York.

288
00:16:02,680 --> 00:16:06,399
Blimey. I'm a foreigner.

289
00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:09,279
So Tibby Clarke had been working
at Ealing Studios

290
00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:11,719
as a writer for some time,
and would go on to.

291
00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:13,679
He made over a dozen films
with them.

292
00:16:13,680 --> 00:16:16,799
Not all of them were comedies,
there were some dramas as well.

293
00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:22,799
And he had a real taste for
kind of a combination of absurdity

294
00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:27,079
and a real kind of
governing intellect and logic to it.

295
00:16:27,080 --> 00:16:30,119
He sort of takes
very serious situations

296
00:16:30,120 --> 00:16:33,159
and makes them flippant,
or takes, you know,

297
00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:36,439
the silliness of a situation and
tries to treat it with seriousness.

298
00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:38,999
So there is a really interesting
tonal thing that goes on

299
00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:41,639
in a lot of his writing
for the screen.

300
00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:43,319
With Passport To Pimlico,

301
00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:48,239
he takes that inspiration
from the Dutch monarchy

302
00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:51,079
to new extremes.

303
00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:55,599
TEB Clarke wanted to sort of
spin it out of this original idea

304
00:16:55,600 --> 00:16:58,279
into something
that was very London-based,

305
00:16:58,280 --> 00:17:03,439
very interesting, and actually would
grab the attention of the audience.

306
00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:06,919
And he came up
with this absolutely fabulous idea.

307
00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:09,679
The Duke of Burgundy claimed

308
00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:14,319
that particular part of London
as his own. Obviously, I mean,

309
00:17:14,320 --> 00:17:17,759
he was Charles the Rash,
as he was then known,

310
00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:20,279
and it is something
that has never been rescinded.

311
00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:23,159
Now of course they come up,
they don't know anything about this,

312
00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:27,279
they call in an historian
to sort of verify the document,

313
00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:30,239
the historian played
by Margaret Rutherford

314
00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:32,559
absolutely brilliantly,
totally eccentric,

315
00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:35,239
dotty as anything,
but knows her history.

316
00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:38,480
Goes through the documents
and says, "It's absolutely true."

317
00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:42,439
This area of Pimlico is not London,

318
00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:45,319
it's not Great Britain,
it belongs to Burgundy.

319
00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:49,320
And having established
the facts of this...

320
00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:54,159
...they then decide
as a sort of collective around them,

321
00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:56,239
that if it's Burgundian,

322
00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:59,039
then they are not subject
to the laws

323
00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:01,919
that are applying to the rest
of the British Isles,

324
00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:04,399
especially
they don't have to have rationing,

325
00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:06,119
they don't have to have policing,

326
00:18:06,120 --> 00:18:08,519
they can actually call
their own shots,

327
00:18:08,520 --> 00:18:11,919
and create
their own sort of identity.

328
00:18:11,920 --> 00:18:15,639
When Whitehall resists, the situation
grows more and more bizarre,

329
00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:17,759
as if the whole story is
a fever dream

330
00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:19,839
brought on by the unnatural heat.

331
00:18:19,840 --> 00:18:22,359
You can't throw me
out of my own country.

332
00:18:22,360 --> 00:18:24,159
Don't be absurd, man.

333
00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:26,599
If you seriously think
that an obscure point of the law-

334
00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:29,159
Obscure or not,
legally, this is Burgundy.

335
00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:31,880
Head office no longer has
any jurisdiction over this bank.

336
00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:35,600
This is my bank.

337
00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:45,639
So tell me a bit about
what are the consequences of these...

338
00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:48,759
these Pimlicans suddenly wanting
to be Burgundians,

339
00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:51,799
and how does it affect Britain,
the outside world?

340
00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:53,759
Well, this I think is
where the magic comes in,

341
00:18:53,760 --> 00:18:56,519
because you know, actually,
if you were to be genuinely logical,

342
00:18:56,520 --> 00:18:59,159
there are these places in lots
of countries where there are,

343
00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:01,879
you know, effectively tax shelters
or something like that.

344
00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:03,999
You could have
a very rational response to this.

345
00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:07,519
But what they do is they decide
to build quite a utopian society.

346
00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:09,679
They decide
that they will rule themselves,

347
00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:12,639
and that they will act in
the best interests of the community,

348
00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:15,399
to give themselves the freedoms
that they've been missing.

349
00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:18,120
Looks like a fine weekend.
Yes, sir.

350
00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:26,959
You'll be back.

351
00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:29,679
The unusual thing
about Passport To Pimlico

352
00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:32,719
is that it was
one of the first films

353
00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:34,879
that dealt
with working-class people,

354
00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:37,799
working-class society.
There had been very, very few.

355
00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:41,159
The Stars Look Down,
Carol Reed's film in 1940,

356
00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:43,359
was considered
a working-class piece.

357
00:19:43,360 --> 00:19:45,039
But generally speaking,

358
00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:47,679
if they were films that were dealing
with the working-class,

359
00:19:47,680 --> 00:19:49,679
they were usually crime films.

360
00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:52,239
It Always Rains on a Sunday,
things like that.

361
00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:54,999
But this was not about sort of
working-class gangsters

362
00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:58,399
or criminals,
this was about a real community.

363
00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:01,399
And the films
about the working class of Britain

364
00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:04,359
didn't really come into their own
until the very late '50s

365
00:20:04,360 --> 00:20:07,159
and the early '60s, and that's
when they sort of, they start...

366
00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:09,439
Well, it came in with
the Angry Young Men playwrights.

367
00:20:09,440 --> 00:20:11,399
That's when those kind of films,

368
00:20:11,400 --> 00:20:14,239
that... that was the sea change
in the culture.

369
00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:19,199
So this was pretty unusual,
it was pretty unusual to actually...

370
00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:21,399
for Londoners, especially,

371
00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:25,559
to see themselves
represented on film.

372
00:20:25,560 --> 00:20:28,399
So Clarke's screenplay
actually went on to be nominated

373
00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:31,959
for an Academy award, which is
interesting in 1949 as well,

374
00:20:31,960 --> 00:20:33,839
because I think
Americans were looking,

375
00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:36,879
and Hollywood,
was looking to England,

376
00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:41,439
who was so much closer
to the actual site of war

377
00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:45,879
and understood that the suffering
the English people had been through

378
00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:48,999
was much different
than the American,

379
00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:51,279
in terms of it
actually being in London.

380
00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:53,759
So people were interested,
I think, in seeing depictions

381
00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:58,119
of what was happening there
in that immediate post-war period.

382
00:20:58,120 --> 00:21:00,239
The power of Passport To Pimlico

383
00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:03,479
lies in the contrast
between the flights of fancy

384
00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:05,439
and the humdrum surroundings.

385
00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:08,999
The film teems
with era-specific references.

386
00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:12,999
Beneath the hilarious shenanigans
of grocers, fishmongers,

387
00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:16,879
and a bumbling bobby, who finds
himself a one-man police force,

388
00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:20,759
lies a picture of the growing
disillusionment within British life.

389
00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:24,799
Come to think of it,
I shan't need this any more, either!

390
00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:29,519
That's the stuff! Scrap them all!

391
00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:31,999
Oi, stop it, you idiots!

392
00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:34,679
Mr Wix, you're a responsible man.
Can't you do something?

393
00:21:34,680 --> 00:21:36,759
Certainly.

394
00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:38,679
This is a job for Scotland Yard.

395
00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:41,359
Whitehall one two, one two.

396
00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:46,039
♪ Knees up, knees up
Get those knees up

397
00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:48,040
♪ Knees up, Mother Brown ♪

398
00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:58,200
♪ A world on fire

399
00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:03,079
♪ I just want to start

400
00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:07,440
♪ A little flame in your heart

401
00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:12,039
♪ In my heart

402
00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:16,720
♪ I have but one desire... ♪

403
00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:23,399
The nature of the story called
for a large ensemble.

404
00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:27,039
The film effectively stars
an entire London community

405
00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:29,119
hemmed in by railway lines.

406
00:22:29,120 --> 00:22:31,039
Yet a soap opera of lives

407
00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:35,759
emerges from the quirky precision
of actors such as Barbara Murray

408
00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:37,959
as the grocer's
forward-thinking daughter,

409
00:22:37,960 --> 00:22:40,879
Raymond Huntley
as the down-trodden bank manager,

410
00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:44,079
Carry On's Charles Hawtry
as a local scamp.

411
00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:47,039
And the great Hermione Baddeley
from Brighton Rock

412
00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:49,119
as a crafty dressmaker.

413
00:22:49,120 --> 00:22:53,919
And it had an extraordinary cast
of British talent,

414
00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:57,039
even, you know, even sort of
down to the small roles.

415
00:22:57,040 --> 00:23:00,319
And everybody could sort of
recognise something of themselves

416
00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:03,999
if they were say,
lower middle class,

417
00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:07,799
or even working class, because
there they were on the screen.

418
00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:11,759
It's a really vivid and textured
ensemble cast in this film,

419
00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:15,839
and that kind of very much reflects
the theme of Passport To Pimlico,

420
00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:19,479
which is about individualism
versus community spirit.

421
00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:23,439
So it doesn't completely focus...
You have your protagonists,

422
00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:26,799
but it wasn't completely focused
in on singular characters

423
00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:28,719
who are only concerned
with themselves.

424
00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:30,639
It is very much
about the wider community.

425
00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:34,079
And a lot of those roles were
also filled by musical entertainers,

426
00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:36,239
or-or, you know, popular figures

427
00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:38,159
and character actors
in England at the time.

428
00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:40,479
So these would've been familiar
to the audience as well,

429
00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:42,199
and there's that sense of
familiarity

430
00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:44,199
that tides you through that...
you know,

431
00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:46,639
it gives you a sense of something
when you watch the film.

432
00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:50,639
If there is a protagonist, then it is
Stanley Holloway's Arthur Pemberton,

433
00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:54,159
the grocer who is duly elected
prime minister of Burgundy,

434
00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:57,559
and thrills at the chance
for a little polite anarchy.

435
00:23:57,560 --> 00:24:00,879
Holloway had done Shakespeare
and Dickens,

436
00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:02,999
and would go on to be nominated

437
00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:06,079
for another big-hearted cockney
in My Fair lady.

438
00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:09,959
Few actors represented
the mischievous working-class spirit

439
00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:11,559
better than him.

440
00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:14,239
He really is
the thread through this.

441
00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:15,599
He is the community leader.

442
00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:18,599
We see him at the beginning
arguing for his community.

443
00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:20,879
And he becomes prime minister
of Burgundy, doesn't he?

444
00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:22,959
Yes, yes, and he is the one
who discovers the gold.

445
00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:26,359
So he is very much the sort of,
if you like, the spirit of Burgundy.

446
00:24:26,360 --> 00:24:28,639
But then Margaret Rutherford
plays the historian,

447
00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:31,359
and she is essential
to justify the plot.

448
00:24:31,360 --> 00:24:34,879
If she doesn't arrive
and say all of this is true,

449
00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:37,319
then all it is
is a discovery of a piece of paper.

450
00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:39,639
She has to be the person
who is constantly arriving,

451
00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:42,799
constantly validating when
the Duke of Burgundy does turn up,

452
00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:44,759
she validates this, validates the-

453
00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:46,439
She is just a joy, isn't she?
Yeah.

454
00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:48,919
Good morning, sir,
I hope you'll pardon us for-

455
00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:50,439
I am the culprit.

456
00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:53,399
This is Professor Hatton-Jones
of the London University.

457
00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:55,759
The moment
our good friend told me the news,

458
00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:58,399
I was Arion, I was Zephyrus!

459
00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:01,119
Nothing could detain me
from instant communion

460
00:25:01,120 --> 00:25:04,239
with a living survivor
of the House of Charolais.

461
00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:07,919
The pivotal part of dotty historian
Professor Hatton-Jones

462
00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:09,879
was written for Alastair Sim.

463
00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:11,599
When he dropped out,

464
00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:14,999
Margaret Rutherford stepped into
his place without changing a line.

465
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:18,679
She was, frankly,
born to play dotty professors.

466
00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:23,559
The diminutive academic is there
for pivotal historical exposition.

467
00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:29,359
The joke is Rutherford's enthusiastic
ramblings are mostly unintelligible.

468
00:25:29,360 --> 00:25:32,679
Forgive me, are you a bleeder?
I beg your pardon?

469
00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:35,119
Do you suffer from haemophilia?

470
00:25:35,120 --> 00:25:40,199
When you cut yourself,
do you bleed interminably?

471
00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:44,519
No, I don't think so.
Oh, pity. It's in the family.

472
00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:48,199
Definitely in the family.
Oh, I am very sorry.

473
00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:49,959
She also talks about sort of,
you know,

474
00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:52,399
very, very obscure moments
in history at high speed.

475
00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:54,879
"Well everyone fought
on the battlefield of so and so...

476
00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:56,479
no, not true at all.

477
00:25:56,480 --> 00:25:59,039
And everyone's
sort of staring at her madly.

478
00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:00,679
"Wait, what do you mean?
Do you mean..."

479
00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:02,439
and off she goes like that.
So she's...

480
00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:04,199
But also what's great about her

481
00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:06,799
is that she's clearly
enormously enthused by the project,

482
00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:08,559
so she keeps turning up. She's...

483
00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:11,559
You know, she's a professor
from miles away, but she can't be...

484
00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:13,919
She can't leave this place alone,
she's like, you know,

485
00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:16,919
effectively, she becomes part of
the community as the film goes on.

486
00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:19,279
Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne

487
00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:21,759
offer the confounded face
of officialdom.

488
00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:25,159
This is knowing casting -
the actors were famous

489
00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:28,039
as the double act
Charters and Caldicott in thrillers

490
00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:31,399
such as The Lady Vanishes
and Night Train To Munich.

491
00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:35,039
They defined a breed of upper-class
befuddlement.

492
00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:38,199
Clutching
incessantly ringing telephones

493
00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:40,959
and nursing tumblers of Alka-Seltzer,

494
00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:42,959
they expend most of their energy

495
00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:45,679
fobbing off the problem
to other departments.

496
00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:47,880
Soap.

497
00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:50,959
Were you issued with this?

498
00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:52,879
No, I pinched it
from the French embassy.

499
00:26:52,880 --> 00:26:54,759
Oh.

500
00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:58,559
This situation though,
it's an absolute deadlock.

501
00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:00,839
Oh, no, not quite.

502
00:27:00,840 --> 00:27:03,679
Now that this Duke has been
officially recognised,

503
00:27:03,680 --> 00:27:06,119
we can at least talk to them. Towel?

504
00:27:06,120 --> 00:27:07,639
Time for talk's passed.

505
00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:10,119
Any more talk and we've had it.
We've got to do something.

506
00:27:10,120 --> 00:27:12,079
We've got to tell this Duke
where he gets off.

507
00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:14,679
Oh. Well, I hope the old man
won't put me onto it.

508
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:17,439
The main outsiders,
the main Whitehall characters,

509
00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:20,679
the two of them,
played by Basil Radford

510
00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:23,399
and Naunton Wayne.

511
00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:26,239
And these are...
These are a double act.

512
00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:30,399
They would have been very,
very familiar to the audience

513
00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:32,839
from The Lady Vanishes,

514
00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:36,239
which was the first time
that they appeared on film together.

515
00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:40,039
They are basically
a kind of bachelor duo,

516
00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:43,639
who are obsessed,
mutually obsessed, with cricket.

517
00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:46,039
And they...

518
00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:48,559
It doesn't matter what peril
they're in or what adventures

519
00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:50,399
they get up to, or...
The main thing is

520
00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:52,959
that they are talking
about the current cricket scores.

521
00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:58,799
They are sort of... typical English
sort of upper-class types,

522
00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:02,799
who, you know, they're not cowards,
they're not... whatever,

523
00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:06,279
they're-they're just,
their main concern is cricket,

524
00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:09,159
even if the bullets
are whizzing over their heads.

525
00:28:09,160 --> 00:28:11,999
And they became so popular

526
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:16,599
after their appearance
in Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes,

527
00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:20,479
that they were cast again
in Night Train To Munich,

528
00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:24,439
as a... as a double act,
as Charters and Caldicott,

529
00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:26,239
which is what their names were.

530
00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:28,599
So they became
almost sort of a trademark.

531
00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:30,839
They're not called
Charters and Caldicott in this,

532
00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:34,079
but the very fact that they appear
together as the Whitehall mandarins,

533
00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:36,719
one is the head of one department,
the other is another,

534
00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:39,439
and they are constantly trying
to sort of pass on,

535
00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:43,439
pass the buck as to who is going
to deal with this situation,

536
00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:45,959
because neither of them have ever
had to face it before,

537
00:28:45,960 --> 00:28:47,639
they don't know what to do.

538
00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:49,599
And of course,
they are just as hysterical,

539
00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:52,359
and sort of authoritative.

540
00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:54,599
I mean, they've got the authority.

541
00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:57,279
Everybody who would see them
would know who they are,

542
00:28:57,280 --> 00:29:00,679
and realise that,
"Ah, yes, it's them.

543
00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:02,479
We're in safe hands there.

544
00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:05,359
It may be if the government
isn't in safe hands,

545
00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:07,079
then at least we are
as an audience."

546
00:29:07,080 --> 00:29:10,399
Passport To Pimlico
wasn't actually shot in Pimlico,

547
00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:13,119
but a mile away over the river,

548
00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:15,199
where a cleared bomb site
off the Lambeth Road

549
00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:16,879
offered the perfect setting.

550
00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:20,959
However outlandish, the film
gives us an unparalleled depiction

551
00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:24,199
of a city still bearing
the scars of the Blitz.

552
00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:26,759
With life imitating comedy,

553
00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:29,719
the production became
a local novelty.

554
00:29:29,720 --> 00:29:31,519
As they do in the story,

555
00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:34,479
huge crowds gathered
at the perimeter to gawp.

556
00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:36,839
That's one of the things to say
about Passport To Pimlico,

557
00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:40,519
it is just an extraordinary
social document of 1949.

558
00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:44,679
I can't think of another film that
shows you London quite like this.

559
00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:47,199
No. I mean, I can't think
of another film that shows,

560
00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:48,879
in particular the bomb sites,

561
00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:50,799
without them being
artfully constructed

562
00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:54,639
or put in a very deliberate
and fey way. They...

563
00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:56,799
This is something
that takes the camera out,

564
00:29:56,800 --> 00:29:58,759
and just points it into London,

565
00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:00,879
and then shoots
the film then and there, again,

566
00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:03,959
coming from that... you know,
those European schools of filmmaking

567
00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:05,959
like the Italian
and French sort of realism,

568
00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:08,279
which was just like,
"Well, let's get out of the studio,

569
00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:09,799
let's show what's really going on."

570
00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:11,839
Again, something
that's not common in comedy,

571
00:30:11,840 --> 00:30:14,919
to tell these stories
in the way they ought to be told,

572
00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:17,879
or had not been
until this point common in comedy.

573
00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:20,519
I think this sets up
a whole tradition in British comedy,

574
00:30:20,520 --> 00:30:22,919
which is about the realism
in British comedy.

575
00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:24,999
You know, this is
why it's such an important film,

576
00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:27,279
and why it's so important
that the decision was made

577
00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:28,919
to shoot on location.

578
00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:31,519
Because it sets up
the future direction

579
00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:33,439
of lots of British comedy.

580
00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:36,959
Director Henry Cornelius keeps
his comic entanglements moving

581
00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:40,039
with a series
of wonderfully eccentric motifs.

582
00:30:40,040 --> 00:30:42,839
The increasingly excitable
newspaper headlines,

583
00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:44,639
rival tannoy systems,

584
00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:47,199
customs checks and crowded tubes.

585
00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:49,799
And the Greek chorus
of unkempt schoolboys

586
00:30:49,800 --> 00:30:51,679
always in the thick of things.

587
00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:54,039
There is even a film within a film

588
00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:57,359
as Gaumont British News
recounts the siege of Burgundy.

589
00:30:57,360 --> 00:30:59,359
By the final act,

590
00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:02,999
the situation has risen to a parody
of contemporary Berlin,

591
00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:06,599
with Pimlico blockaded
by the furious authorities.

592
00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:11,879
This week's exclusive camera report

593
00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:13,519
tells of growing tension
on both sides

594
00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:15,879
of Burgundy's
self-imposed iron curtain.

595
00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:18,039
For the first time
since World War II,

596
00:31:18,040 --> 00:31:20,399
Britain's party politics
have been forgotten.

597
00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:23,199
The nation's leaders have come
together to seek a solution

598
00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:25,200
to this unprecedented crisis.

599
00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:32,319
Henry Cornelius had
quite an interesting background.

600
00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:33,999
He was German-Jewish,

601
00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:36,479
he was raised
part of the time in South Africa,

602
00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:39,799
and later in Berlin,
always very interested in the stage.

603
00:31:39,800 --> 00:31:41,559
And then eventually moved to England

604
00:31:41,560 --> 00:31:44,719
and worked on propaganda
and documentary films.

605
00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:46,959
It was there
that he met Alberto Cavalcanti,

606
00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:49,559
who, of course, ended up being
one of the great luminaries

607
00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:51,439
of Ealing Studios as a director.

608
00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:53,719
He also worked a little bit
with Charles Crichton,

609
00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:55,559
another important director
for Ealing.

610
00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:58,039
And so through those connections
that he made,

611
00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:00,999
and through working as a producer,
sometimes a writer,

612
00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:04,639
and mostly an assistant, an
assistant director on various films,

613
00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:06,999
some of which were quite successful,

614
00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:09,599
he eventually got
Michael Balcon's attention.

615
00:32:09,600 --> 00:32:13,279
He worked on the great crime film
It Always Rains On Sunday

616
00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:15,399
in a supporting
kind of role on the set.

617
00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:18,839
So that kind of set him up
to get the chance

618
00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:21,919
to direct his first feature
with Passport To Pimlico.

619
00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:25,079
However, there was
quite a contentious relationship

620
00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:27,599
between him
and the head of the studio.

621
00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:31,279
He was over budget
and over schedule on the film.

622
00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:33,279
Some of that was not his fault.

623
00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:35,959
The film is set
in the summer of 1947,

624
00:32:35,960 --> 00:32:38,879
and a very important part of that
is that there is a huge heatwave,

625
00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:43,039
and there are water shortages
in this little... small...

626
00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:45,159
sort of island unto itself
that is Burgundy,

627
00:32:45,160 --> 00:32:46,879
and it's a huge plot point
in the film.

628
00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:49,839
However, when they filmed it
in the summer of 1948,

629
00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:52,199
it was one of the wettest summers
on record.

630
00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:55,399
So there were just constant delays
and issues around the weather.

631
00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:58,399
The great drought caused
by London's longest heatwave

632
00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:01,919
is the one serious threat
to Burgundy's independence.

633
00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:04,919
80-year-old records for lack
of rainfall have all gone overboard.

634
00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:07,919
Water is cut off,
but liquor makes do.

635
00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:09,759
So Burgundy washes up
in a pint of bitter

636
00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:11,559
and makes tea
with a kettle of boiling gin.

637
00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:14,800
In fact, Burgundians are spending
their water like money.

638
00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:19,039
But he infuriated his boss,
Michael Balcon,

639
00:33:19,040 --> 00:33:21,079
which is kind of the theme
of the film as well,

640
00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:22,639
so it's entirely in keeping.

641
00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:25,279
Yes, I mean the tension
between the authorities

642
00:33:25,280 --> 00:33:26,839
and the people of Burgundy

643
00:33:26,840 --> 00:33:29,319
was enacted between the producer
and the director.

644
00:33:29,320 --> 00:33:34,119
There's a...
This film has a lot of meta moments.

645
00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:36,479
So in the opening titles,

646
00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:40,639
there is a piece of graffiti shown,
which says "Corny is a rotter",

647
00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:44,199
and Corny was Cornelius's nickname,
so Balcon had obviously gone in

648
00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:48,439
and put in a little...
a little comment to Cornelius.

649
00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:49,959
So there was this war.

650
00:33:49,960 --> 00:33:51,999
Some of the younger actors had found

651
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:55,359
Cornelius's
very stern way of directing

652
00:33:55,360 --> 00:33:58,839
a little intimidating,
and so they found the rows,

653
00:33:58,840 --> 00:34:01,839
the daily rows on set
between Balcon and Cornelius

654
00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:05,679
to be entertaining because
they felt scared of Cornelius.

655
00:34:05,680 --> 00:34:07,239
But yeah, it was daily.

656
00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:10,319
They would daily have
a set-to about what was going on.

657
00:34:10,320 --> 00:34:12,719
As a satire of British bureaucracy,

658
00:34:12,720 --> 00:34:15,519
it is as much a film about language,

659
00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:17,999
how the working-class folk
of Burgundy

660
00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:22,159
begin to adopt the highfalutin
flannel of their foes.

661
00:34:22,160 --> 00:34:26,279
There is a socialist parable
inherent in Clarke's script

662
00:34:26,280 --> 00:34:30,039
about a community of people
who grow increasingly unsure

663
00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:33,279
that they want to relinquish
the stability of the past.

664
00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:34,959
They have the choice

665
00:34:34,960 --> 00:34:37,639
of accepting the government's
evacuation offer,

666
00:34:37,640 --> 00:34:40,759
or of subjecting themselves
and their children

667
00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:43,799
to the hardships
of what would be virtually a siege.

668
00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:45,759
Come along, children.

669
00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:15,599
Cor, look at that!
The Siege Of Burgundy.

670
00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:17,519
Like to see that.

671
00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:19,520
Look at them pictures.

672
00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:23,799
Fuelled by contrasting themes
of individuality and togetherness,

673
00:35:23,800 --> 00:35:27,399
Passport To Pimlico is
the archetypal Ealing comedy.

674
00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:30,799
A community bands together
in good-natured rebellion,

675
00:35:30,800 --> 00:35:33,519
but victory is not
all it's cracked up to be.

676
00:35:33,520 --> 00:35:38,559
The Burgundians are soon faced with
the perils of free-market economics.

677
00:35:38,560 --> 00:35:42,679
For every good intention, there is
a spiv lurking around the corner.

678
00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:46,319
And it's amazing to think that there
was a comedy made in 1949

679
00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:48,119
basically about
free market economics.

680
00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:49,959
It is. Well, it's...

681
00:35:49,960 --> 00:35:52,279
I mean, this is
why I always think of it sometimes

682
00:35:52,280 --> 00:35:54,239
as a libertarian Marxist idea,

683
00:35:54,240 --> 00:35:56,999
because it's about the freedom
of the community

684
00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:59,079
set against the way
the market comes in.

685
00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:01,799
Actually the arrival of
the free market is seen as a threat,

686
00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:04,399
ironically - once the spivs
and the market arrive,

687
00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:06,959
the community is threatened
so they then have to work

688
00:36:06,960 --> 00:36:10,119
on this kind of charitable basis
with the people of Britain.

689
00:36:10,120 --> 00:36:11,399
So there's really...

690
00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:14,599
I mean, it explores
all sorts of ideas with jokes,

691
00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:16,439
which is the wonderful thing
about it is.

692
00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:19,719
The ideas being discussed here
are immense historical ideas

693
00:36:19,720 --> 00:36:23,759
that have been coursing through
European dialogues for 200 years,

694
00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:26,079
and they do them
in two hours with some gags.

695
00:36:26,080 --> 00:36:27,959
Then in 1948,

696
00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:30,039
when the Russians
sealed off the land corridors

697
00:36:30,040 --> 00:36:32,239
leading to Western Berlin,

698
00:36:32,240 --> 00:36:34,239
the United States,
England and France

699
00:36:34,240 --> 00:36:37,039
countered
with the famous Berlin airlift.

700
00:36:37,040 --> 00:36:39,399
From their bases
outside the iron curtain,

701
00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:42,119
a steady stream of airplanes
flew night and day,

702
00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:45,039
supplying West Berlin's
two million residents with food,

703
00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:46,719
fuel and medicine.

704
00:36:46,720 --> 00:36:50,720
Finally, the communists capitulated
and reopened the land corridor.

705
00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:53,679
What Clarke also manages to pull in

706
00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:56,559
into this story is -
and it was very current -

707
00:36:56,560 --> 00:36:58,959
was the Berlin airlift,
the Berlin blockade,

708
00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:02,719
when the Soviets
actually stopped supplies

709
00:37:02,720 --> 00:37:05,079
coming in to parts of Berlin.

710
00:37:05,080 --> 00:37:07,479
And so
the great Berlin airlift started,

711
00:37:07,480 --> 00:37:10,039
and packages would be dropped
from above,

712
00:37:10,040 --> 00:37:13,639
or brought in somehow or other,
to people who were under siege.

713
00:37:13,640 --> 00:37:17,479
He uses this in a brilliant way
in Passport To Pimlico,

714
00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:21,359
where the only thing
that the authorities can do

715
00:37:21,360 --> 00:37:23,639
is actually cut off all supplies,

716
00:37:23,640 --> 00:37:26,359
cut off communication
and cut off trade.

717
00:37:26,360 --> 00:37:31,319
And so they basically put Burgundy
under siege - Pimlico, under siege.

718
00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:35,759
This gives rise
to not only a fantastic scene

719
00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:38,479
where they're running out of water,
and so at night,

720
00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:41,319
they crawl under barbed wire,

721
00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:46,359
and attach a hose and then run it
back into the reservoir,

722
00:37:46,360 --> 00:37:48,839
which is actually a crater,
to fill it up.

723
00:37:48,840 --> 00:37:51,439
That whole scene is like
a scene from a war film.

724
00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:53,479
I mean, it's quite exciting.

725
00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:13,640
Ooh, it's good.

726
00:38:16,880 --> 00:38:20,279
I think Passport To Pimlico
has one foot

727
00:38:20,280 --> 00:38:22,599
very firmly in social realism,

728
00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:25,359
particularly for the time
when again, you know,

729
00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:27,959
I think audiences were
probably primed

730
00:38:27,960 --> 00:38:30,879
to want a little more escapism
from their comedies.

731
00:38:30,880 --> 00:38:33,839
This... you know, is extremely close

732
00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:37,519
to the material circumstances
of real life.

733
00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:40,679
You know, the main character
Pemberton has a daughter

734
00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:44,279
who... you know, as a young woman
coming up in this environment,

735
00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:47,559
and who wants
some of the nicer things, right?

736
00:38:47,560 --> 00:38:50,359
Wants to be able to look nice
and go out.

737
00:38:50,360 --> 00:38:52,599
And so you see these daily struggles

738
00:38:52,600 --> 00:38:54,839
with people who, you know,
could have been...

739
00:38:54,840 --> 00:38:57,239
Back then, certainly,
could have been your neighbour,

740
00:38:57,240 --> 00:38:58,799
could have been
the guy down the road,

741
00:38:58,800 --> 00:39:00,799
could have been the guy,
you know, in the pub.

742
00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:03,199
And so I think that gives
something to the film,

743
00:39:03,200 --> 00:39:05,359
because everything
that's built out of that,

744
00:39:05,360 --> 00:39:08,959
is... might be ridiculous,
but it's grounded in the real.

745
00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:11,479
As the film is being finished,
disaster struck.

746
00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:13,919
The British government
repealed rationing,

747
00:39:13,920 --> 00:39:16,679
and they were rendered
out of date in an instant.

748
00:39:16,680 --> 00:39:19,519
Thus, Cornelius made
the inspired choice

749
00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:22,919
of adding the insert to the end
of the opening titles,

750
00:39:22,920 --> 00:39:26,119
dedicating the film
to the memory of ration cards.

751
00:39:26,120 --> 00:39:29,919
In 1949,
audiences hooted with laughter.

752
00:39:29,920 --> 00:39:33,039
It became a triumphal comedy
of the recent past

753
00:39:33,040 --> 00:39:34,679
and a beckoning future.

754
00:39:34,680 --> 00:39:38,599
There was a hitch because before
the film was actually completed,

755
00:39:38,600 --> 00:39:40,439
rationing came to an end.

756
00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:43,919
Cornelius got around this
unfortunate set of circumstances

757
00:39:43,920 --> 00:39:46,119
by having a dedication.

758
00:39:46,120 --> 00:39:48,799
It said "This film..." on screen.

759
00:39:48,800 --> 00:39:51,359
"This film is dedicated to..."

760
00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:56,079
And then he showed pictures
of the ration cards and the coupons,

761
00:39:56,080 --> 00:39:59,079
which of course is a very,
very funny way

762
00:39:59,080 --> 00:40:01,439
of visualising the idea that,

763
00:40:01,440 --> 00:40:04,319
you know, thank God,
you know, it's all over.

764
00:40:04,320 --> 00:40:08,879
In fact, it wasn't over because
unbeknown to him at the time,

765
00:40:08,880 --> 00:40:12,559
rationing came back
in the early '50s.

766
00:40:12,560 --> 00:40:15,519
But there is no music soundtrack
to that part of the film,

767
00:40:15,520 --> 00:40:17,919
because they had used
all the music throughout the film.

768
00:40:17,920 --> 00:40:20,279
And so they just basically shot
that piece, stuck it on,

769
00:40:20,280 --> 00:40:21,559
and then the film went out.

770
00:40:21,560 --> 00:40:23,679
So it was a very, very last minute
sort of piece of...

771
00:40:23,680 --> 00:40:26,039
"Well, we quickly have
to deal with the truth of..."

772
00:40:26,040 --> 00:40:28,759
Because this is a film
which is being made

773
00:40:28,760 --> 00:40:30,799
as events change all the time,

774
00:40:30,800 --> 00:40:33,639
and that harks back to
its reference to the Berlin blockade

775
00:40:33,640 --> 00:40:36,999
and the Berlin airlift, and directly
deals with the end of rationing.

776
00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:39,719
It's constantly dealing
with what's happening in real time

777
00:40:39,720 --> 00:40:41,079
around the making of it.

778
00:40:41,080 --> 00:40:43,999
This wry take on the contradictions
of Britishness

779
00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:45,719
still resonates today.

780
00:40:45,720 --> 00:40:47,799
Especially
in the complicated relationship

781
00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:50,400
the country has
with its own sense of identity.

782
00:40:51,280 --> 00:40:53,239
In its Mouse That Roared theme,

783
00:40:53,240 --> 00:40:55,959
Passport To Pimlico established
a comic tradition

784
00:40:55,960 --> 00:41:00,439
of plucky social climbers
up against an indomitable system.

785
00:41:00,440 --> 00:41:03,199
It could easily be remade
as a sitcom.

786
00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:07,200
Here, too, are the seeds of
the great British urban soap opera.

787
00:41:08,160 --> 00:41:10,919
The film on release was
very popular.

788
00:41:10,920 --> 00:41:13,439
It was a critical success.

789
00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:15,279
Most of the critics
aimed for the script,

790
00:41:15,280 --> 00:41:17,279
they said this is
a really brilliant script,

791
00:41:17,280 --> 00:41:21,119
but they also praised the direction
and the performances.

792
00:41:21,120 --> 00:41:22,559
Quite rightly.

793
00:41:22,560 --> 00:41:25,239
The film is not only still relevant,

794
00:41:25,240 --> 00:41:30,319
I think it has increased in
relevancy over the last few years.

795
00:41:30,320 --> 00:41:35,119
Because of the nature
of sovereignty,

796
00:41:35,120 --> 00:41:38,399
because of the nature
and the arguments and the debates

797
00:41:38,400 --> 00:41:41,360
that continue... continue with us.

798
00:41:42,160 --> 00:41:45,479
Passport To Pimlico has some
really fun moments in it as well.

799
00:41:45,480 --> 00:41:47,279
I particularly
like the scene of them

800
00:41:47,280 --> 00:41:50,959
trying to take an underground train
through the Burgundy territory

801
00:41:50,960 --> 00:41:53,359
and being stopped
and trying to go through customs.

802
00:41:53,360 --> 00:41:55,639
The idea of taking a tube train
through customs

803
00:41:55,640 --> 00:41:57,479
as if getting on the tube
in and of itself

804
00:41:57,480 --> 00:41:59,639
isn't already enough
of a difficulty...

805
00:41:59,640 --> 00:42:02,479
...is still just, like,
a really entertaining concept.

806
00:42:02,480 --> 00:42:06,279
And it kind of taps into something
which still true about you know,

807
00:42:06,280 --> 00:42:08,919
they call it, like,
the Little England mentality,

808
00:42:08,920 --> 00:42:11,319
which is you know,
just very red tape,

809
00:42:11,320 --> 00:42:14,599
very by the book,
very bureaucratic thing of like,

810
00:42:14,600 --> 00:42:17,199
"Oh, no, we're very sensible,
and you must do this properly."

811
00:42:17,200 --> 00:42:19,719
And I know I'm American, so maybe
I'm not allowed to say that,

812
00:42:19,720 --> 00:42:23,159
but Passport To Pimlico does
poke fun at that attitude

813
00:42:23,160 --> 00:42:25,759
and that-that kind of element
of Englishness.

814
00:42:25,760 --> 00:42:29,879
Would you say the film's themes
were still relevant today?

815
00:42:29,880 --> 00:42:32,319
Yes, I think so.
And I think the film...

816
00:42:32,320 --> 00:42:34,879
I mean, the genius of any idea

817
00:42:34,880 --> 00:42:36,679
is that everyone
is allowed to own it,

818
00:42:36,680 --> 00:42:39,399
whether it be right,
left, up or down,

819
00:42:39,400 --> 00:42:41,119
that's why all
the world is everybody's.

820
00:42:41,120 --> 00:42:42,679
And this film is
everybody's in a way.

821
00:42:42,680 --> 00:42:45,399
So it's used sometimes,
at the time of Brexit it was used,

822
00:42:45,400 --> 00:42:46,999
at the time of lockdown it was used.

823
00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:51,879
The ideas are always part
of the discourse, if you like.

824
00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:56,759
It's this concept of what it is
to be British in Britain

825
00:42:56,760 --> 00:42:58,919
is something
that is still being debated,

826
00:42:58,920 --> 00:43:01,479
and this film is
constantly being referred to

827
00:43:01,480 --> 00:43:05,159
as a point of storytelling
around that.

828
00:43:05,160 --> 00:43:08,199
The lasting strength of the film
lies not in its absurdity,

829
00:43:08,200 --> 00:43:09,999
but in its truth.

830
00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:13,999
Reinforced by a milieu of a city
still getting back to its feet,

831
00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:17,719
and in the heartfelt determination
of this tight-knit community,

832
00:43:17,720 --> 00:43:20,279
there lies a moving tribute
to the spirit

833
00:43:20,280 --> 00:43:22,319
that saw London through the Blitz.

834
00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:25,960
Passport To Pimlico is
a piece of history.

835
00:43:27,000 --> 00:43:28,919
We're back in England!

836
00:43:45,960 --> 00:43:49,960
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