The term Ealing Comedy was one I remember growing up with. I saw it on the shelves at home and heard my parents and others discussing them warmly, in the same way that I first heard of other cultural touchstones like Monty Python. I remember dismissing them as old-fashioned, as most things must seem to be to young children, it was only after becoming a film fan that I wanted to see what it was all about. Ealing is simply a film studio based in London, apparently the oldest studio in the world, which became synonymous with their style of comedies, and maybe still are.
I have now seen 3 of the Ealing considered classics;
Kind hearts and Coronets (1949)
The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
The Ladykillers (1955)
Firstly, the fact that they're all called comedies.. all three plots focus on criminal plans that end up going awry, they are strictly sleaking blackly comic. They did have funny moments and all had farcical and satirical elements but like with most great comedies the laughs came via the serious drama, not just written in, which really worked for me. They were all good stories;
- Kind hearts follows someone on the eve of being executed in prison, writing his memoirs and retelling his plan to murder a long line of dignitaries to become the heir to a title and fortune.
- Lavender Kill Mob revolves around an ill-fated gold heist masterminded by the very man that is employed to keep it safe in transit.
- The Ladykillers refer to a group of criminals who plan a heist from a guesthouse owned by a sweet little old lady, using her as a part of the plan and deciding to silence her before she reports them to the police.
It's not just the stories, there's no doubt they were all expertly executed. With kind Hearts at about 105 and the other two at under 90 minutes, they all feel swift and economically told, and the stories benefit from that, really helping them to regain their timeless status. Themes of crime and quaint britishness feature in all of the above, as does the great Alec Guinness, who became synonymous with them. The scripts of each one felt so naturally developed, without ever feeling like there were jokes shoe-horned in, they were all organic parts of the story. And as mentioned above, they were all very well delivered dramatic plots, with good to great performances, directing and, perhaps especially, cinematography/photography in each case.
I don't think there is really an apt equivalent series of comedy productions currently, in terms of a trusted name that repeatedly produces good quality. Maybe the closest thing today would be producer Judd Apatow (40 Year Old Virgin, Superbad, Anchorman), in the recent past director Christopher Guest (Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, Waiting for Guffman) and of course Monty Python in the 70's (admittedlya very different style). However, although I'm a big fan of Judd Apatow's work and I love Christopher Guest's and Monty Pyhton, it's almost impossible to predict what is going to be considered a timeless classic at 70 years old.
Ealing's are rightly referred to as classics of the genre, I believe The Ladykillers especially is revered as a timeless work, and I wouldn't argue with that, but for me, I loved Kind Hearts the most. Even with none of the comedy aspects it would still have been a great film and story, with a gorgeous black and white aesthetic.
I am certainly now a fan, they are pretty much as good or better than any other pre 1960 comedies I have seen, including the Chaplin/Keaton/Marx eras, so I highly recommend them. I will keep an eye out for any other titles I come across, there are still a few others that are considered unmissable.
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