Classic Movies on Sky Arts - Series 4 Episode 3 - The Story of Passport to Pimlico

 Ian Nathan, who introduces this series, had already mentioned this movie in previous documentaries. These were referred to in my posts of 27th September 2023 (Sky Arts: The Pioneer Years) and The Art of Film on 27th November 2023 and 1st January 2024. I also reviewed Passport to Pimlico on 3rd March 2025 when we watched the DVD. 

Ian starts by denouncing the "absurd plot". He talks to Stephen Armstrong about how much it is about what it's like to be British. We hear about how the film is set in 1947 when rationing is at it's height. Christina Newland tells us about the austerity faced by the population. However, when the film was released in 1948/49, rationing was virtually at an end. So some very late words were added to the introduction that paid tribute to the population that experienced the hardship. We still see the area with it's bomb sites. (They were still there when we arrived in London in 1952)

The plot itself is pretty crazy. The discovery of an ancient scroll deems that this part of London was in fact governed by Burgundy. It's independence from the UK ratified by the equally bonkers historian Margaret Rutherford. So this is partly a challenge to Westminster that would have gone down really well with audiences at the time. It's Stanley Holloway, of course, who is made the Prime Minister of Burgundy. However things are not actually that straightforward and problems arise in every increasing circles. Director Henry Cornelius ups the ante. We hear about his background and that this was his very first feature. The presenters talk about the political climate of the time, the comedy and the development of the plot.

It was one of the first films that dealt with what it was like to be working class. Ian Nathan describes the humdrum surroundings and the disillusionment with life after the end of the war. (What would foreign audiences make of customers in a pub dancing around to "Knees Up Mother Brown"). We hear about the large cast and a "soap opera of lives". The ensemble included actors such as Charles Hawtrey,  Hermione Baddeley, Barbara Murrey, Jane Hylton, Sidney Tafler (I think my father knew him) and Michael Hordern. There was also clever casting of the double act Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne playing the face of officialdom. But they were mainly concerned with the cricket score, as they were in their previous films that included The Lady Vanishes.

The movie was not filmed in Pimlico but across the river on the Lambeth Road. We see the huge crowds who surrounded the area to watch the filming take place. However it was not all straightforward. A record hot and dry summer made the filming run way over budget. There were daily rows between the director and producer Michael Balcombe. Ian Nathan concludes that this was "the seeds of Great British soap opera". Neil Norman tells us how the film became so popular and how it still resonates today.