Ealing Studios: A Movie Book by Charles Barr

Ealing Studios: A Movie Book Reviews

• 
  Jill Hutchinson

  If you are a fan of older British films, then you know all about Ealing Studios, probably the greatest of the UK movie companies. Although it only lasted from 1938-1959, the output was amazing and full of classic comedies as well as dramatic tales that still fascinate the modern audience.
  
  One of the most memorable products of Ealing were the films, darkly comedic, starring Alec Guiness; e.g. The Lavender Hill Mob, The Man in the White Suit, The Lady Killers et al. These splendid stories hold up well and the behind the scenes information regarding the production of them is fascinating. But Ealing could also hit the jackpot with dramatic films such as Scott of the Antarctic and The Blue Lamp.
  
  As often happens, internal tensions weakened the quality of the films and Ealing called it quits in 1959......but oh, how lucky we are, that during their heyday, this company made some of the landmark films of all time which we can still enjoy. Recommended for the fan of British film......or just film in general.
• 
  Martin

  This book describes Ealing as consisting of dramas with a documentary background and comedies about average people, which is about as succinct as one can be about a studio that did so much in such a short amount of time. When Michael Balcon took over in 1939, the studio has been putting out films for a decade under Basil Dean. The Dean era is not discussed much here, unfortunately, though many of their better films are included on a line of DVDs called Ealing Studios Rarities. The author makes a big deal about 1939’s “Cheer Boys Cheer” as a parable for Michael Balcon’s stewardship of the studio. The analogy may be apt, as Balcon was the super competent scrapper who tried to resist Hollywood’s dominance by creating a strong production base putting out a solid, dependable product, but as a film, “Cheer Boys Cheer” is more akin to the middling films of the Basil Dean era. It actually took a few years for Ealing to establish its new identity, forged in war against Hitler and against Churchill, who had different views on what form propaganda should take. Balcon wanted to represent all views of Britain, not just what the government would like, as seen in films like “The Halfway House”, or films about communities, interlocking and interdependent, like “Johnny Frenchman” and “Painted Boats”. Balcon’s propaganda admits defeats such as Dunkirk but has faith in second chances through dogged determination, much like Balcon’s filmmaking team who came together at the right time to do the patriotic thing. Their filmmaking is decisive, emphasizing planning and cooperation rather than guessing and competition, as in Hollywood. In Balcon’s war films, the British become even more British in films that are modest in nature but grand in the patriotic ambition of what they wish to represent. Ealing perfected a vision of England to be preserved and fought for.
  
  After the war, however, this identity became somewhat stale. Balcon saw no need to change from the kind of statements he had made during the war, and was later to become irrelevant with Angry Young Man movement. Ealing became stranded in a changing world. There was a brief period after the war where a film like “Frieda” could admit the darkness that lurks in the British heart. The Googie Withers films “Pink String and Sealing Wax” and “It Always Rains on Sunday” exemplify the pain that lies behind a bland exterior, and the horror in the lack of privacy in a culture defined by small personal pleasures and solitary hobbies like bird-watching or stamp collecting. Robert Hamer’s urge against social conformity is best exemplified by Googie Withers in the noirish “It Always Rains on Sunday”, but from 1950 onwards there is the urging to accept conformity and the way things are.
  
  Despite a film like “Scott of the Antrarctic”, Ealing found it difficult to portray outright heroism -- the modest heroes smacking of amateurism was too deeply ingrained in Ealing’s DNA. The stock company of actors became too comfortable for the viewers, and the lack of regular actors with a sharp edge like Googie Withers and David Farrar kept some average films from becoming fully realized. In Ealing’s dramas, one is aware of the pull between dreams and reality (especially in the films of Robert Hamer), but in the comedies, the protagonist is able to take flight from such grounding.
  
  The Ealing Comedy, for which Ealing is most remembered, was more the product of a fluke and Balcon was able to run with it for a few years, especially with new member of the family Alexander MacKendrick. “Hue and Cry” debuted during a horribly cold winter when audiences were starved for some form of relief, and Balcon’s team was briefly able to reflect the changes in society and make fun of holdovers from the war years such as rationing. The comedies often show how society is nearly upended when its unwritten rules are turned back on itself, such as the laws of inheritance and rank in “King Hearts and Coronets”. The author feels that after “The Man in the White Suit” the spark of rebellion is gone from Ealing films, and there is a fast stagnation. Ealing attempts to stay itself, not allowing itself to grow or change, remaining loyal to the stable, innocent community in itself (content to turn out 4-7 quality features a year) and in its increasingly quaint depiction of Britain as the 1950s rolled on.
  
  The book was initially written in 1977, a time when the author admits, in a 2012 interview, that he was only able to view the films once or maybe twice and take down a few notes, and was often going off of first impressions. He was somewhat dismissive of Basil Dearden in the initial book (often implying cinematic laziness and abundance of stereotypes, another form of laziness), but when it was reprinted, not revised, in 1993, the author issued a lengthy apology for some of his opinions which he felt he formed in haste or with prejudice – his attitude about Dearden in particular. Or the author may be kind to a Dearden film like “Cage of Gold” but attributes this to Jean Simmons’ performance rather than anything the director did. However, Charles Barr does not go back and revise the initial text, which may have made sense at the time, but which I feel could be of tremendous service now that all of these films are available on PAL DVD. Recently, I saw him interviewed for a special feature on the 2013 DVD release/rediscovery of 1950’s “Dance Hall”, and he spoke again of how wonderful it is to have all of these films available now, and how “Dance Hall” is another film he had brushed past, thinking it was inconsequential because it was all about women, and that as time has passed and feminist theory has worked itself into mainstream film criticism, he realized what a hidden gem it was. I’m attempting to demonstrate here that it can be difficult negotiating this book, written nearly 40 years ago in a different time and under much different circumstances in terms of the films’ availability, and yet this still appears to be the definitive tome on what I feel is the greatest of British film institutions. It will frustrate the Ealing enthusiast and misdirect the novice. In figuring out which DVDs to purchase, as most are unavailable the rent in any format in NTSC Region 1, I relied just as heavily on Amazon’s user reviews. That is not to say that the book is not informative. It really is splendid. But you may often find yourself disagreeing with the author on a variety of points, and grateful on an equal number of points.
  
• 
  Mfaiella2

  An interesting read for anyone who likes cinema or history, but I can't say it's not super dry