Passport to Pimlico (1949)

Residents of a part of London declare independence when they discover an old treaty. This leads to the need for a "Passport to Pimlico".

Director:

Henry Cornelius

Writer:

T.E.B. Clarke (original screenplay)

Stars:

Stanley Holloway, Betty Warren, Barbara Murray

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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	...	Mr. Wix
Philip Stainton	...	P.C.Spiller
Roy Carr	...	Benny Spiller
Sydney Tafler	...	Fred Cowan
Nancy Gabrielle	...	Mrs. Cowan
Malcolm Knight	...	Monty Cowan
Hermione Baddeley	...	Edie Randall
Roy Gladdish	...	Charlie Randall
Frederick Piper	...	Garland

Storyline

When an unexploded World War II bomb is accidentally detonated in Pimlico, London, England, it reveals a treasure trove. They find documents proving that the region is, in fact, part of Burgundy, France, and thus foreign territory. The British government attempts to regain control by setting up border controls and cutting off services to the area. The "Burgundians" fight back.

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Plot Keywords:

pimlico london | burgundy | bomb | state within a state | london england | 

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Taglines:

Laugh your way to happiness

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 October 1949 (USA)

Also Known As:

Pasaporte para Pimlico

Filming Locations:

Ealing Studios, Ealing, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ealing Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min 70 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When the underground train is intercepted, the sign on the front of the train says it's on the District Line going to Wimbledon. That part of the District Line goes nowhere near Pimlico (or Lambeth). But, since this is a fictional story, it doesn't matter.

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Goofs

Approx 1 hour in, during the showing of the news reel, where they are throwing cans and buckets in the air and the phrase 'hitting the production target' is said, one of those people are hit by a falling item with visible distress.

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Quotes

Edie Randall: Here's to the Burgundy Lido!

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Crazy Credits

Dedicated to the memory of Clothing Coupons and Ration cards.

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Connections

Featured in Richard E. Grant on Ealing Comedies: Passport to Success (2016)

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Soundtracks

Explosion
(uncredited)
Music by Charles Williams
Chappell Recorded Music Library
"Siege of Burgundy" newsreel in cinema

User Reviews

Immigration? Parliament? Well...not yet.

A bustling and, it is implied, unscrupulous gaggle of Britons waddles its way into the freshly, sloppily partitioned nation of Burgundy. For the new Burgundians, opportunity knocks on one door, while confusion beats down another. The cacophonous Nazi explosion that created Burgundy (and buried Pimlico) is now rivaled by the vociferous crowd, swarming through the former British district like Bedouins over the dunes of Arabia.

T. E. B. Clarke's screenplay, "Passport to Pimlico," in its superior comedic handling of legal, logistical and practical civil nightmares, is one of best political parodies ever filmed. Like Clarke's later "The Lavender Hill Mob," "Passport" holds its knot to British underpinnings of dignity and grace under pressure; what remains so comedic about both stories, however, is the loss of such maintained hegemony. The direction, by veteran Henry Cornelius ("I Am a Camera," dramatic basis of "Cabaret"), is sure, confident in a way that resembles the careful work of a helmer filming a story of his own, which, in fact, he is (a conceptual collaboration with Clarke). It has been said that the two based their outline of "Passport to Pimlico" on the Canadian government's gift of a provincial `room' to the Netherlands.

"Passport" is a great, funny, touching film, well known to subject historians and critics, worthy of popular re-discovery.