Passport to Pimlico

 (1949)
Directed by Henry Cornelius
Written by T.E.B. Clarke
Starring Stanley Holloway, Betty Warren, Barbara Murray, Paul Dupuis, Phillip Stainton, Naunton Wayne, Basil Radford
IMDB Entry

Ealing Studios were a UK film company that developed a reputation after World War II as the home of quirky comedies.  Passport to Pimlico takes a absurd situation and runs with it, making commentary on life in the UK at the time.

Pimlico* is a district in London, trying to get back to normal after the war, while wartime restrictions and rationing were still in effect. An unexploded bomb goes off, revealing a cache of coins, jewelry, and, most importantly, a old document, which turns out to be a royal charter ceding the area to the Duke of Burgundy. And it turns out that this has never been revoked.  Pimlico is legally part of Burgundy, not England. 

The residents realize this is a boon. Since they're not in the UK, black marketeers descend, selling rationed products.  Londoners descend on the district to buy the products they are denied. The authorities put barbed wire around the "border," but the Burgundians retaliate by stopping an underground train and checking passports. It becomes a battle of wits between the government and the Burgundians.

This is an ensemble cast that works perfectly together. Stanley Holloway** stands out of the leader of the Burgundians. He's best known for his role of Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady. Also in the film are Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne who play two government ministers and not their usual personas as Charters and Caldicott. Margaret Rutherford steals every scene as Professor Hatton-Jones, who comes in to confirm the legitimacy of the documents and of the descendant of the Duke of Burgundy, who arrives to claim his realm.

Overall, this is a fine, quirky comedy.

_________________________________________________________________
*Not to be confused with the racetrack in Maryland where the Preakness Stakes is run.

**Not to be confused with Sterling Holloway, the voice of Winnie the Pooh.

Hi Diddle Diddle

 

(1943)
Directed by Andrew L. Stone
Written by Andrew L. Stone, Edmund L. Hartmann,  Frederick J. Jackson 
Starring Adolphe Menjou, Martha Scott, Pola Negri, Dennis O'Keefe, Billie Burke, June Havoc, Barton Hepburn
IMDB Entry

The screwball comedy was generally a product of the thirties, but there are some isolated examples after that. One that seems to have been forgotten is Hi Diddle Diddle.

Janie Prescott (Martha Scott) is celebrating her wedding breakfast, though the wedding has not taken place. Her husband-to-be, Sonny Phyffe (Dennis O'Keefe) is a sailor, and his ship is late into port, This doesn't faze Janie's ditzy mother Liza (Billie Burke), who tries to keep things running. While everyone's waiting Sonny's father Hector Phyffe (Adolph Menjou) arrives.  Hector is a cheap conman and has married the temperamental opera singer Genya Smetana (Pola Negri). At the wedding, Peter Warrington (Barton Hepburn), a former suitor of Janie, announces that he tricked Mrs. Prescott to losd her fortune through bad investments and many hours at the roulette wheel, wanting to show Janie that Sonny is only interested in her money. They marry nonetheless and Hector starts to go about to get the money back. With the help of a singer, Leslie Quayle (June Havoc), they find a way.

The plot is too complicated to summarize here. There are the usual misunderstandings of the genre, and much is centered around how the newlyweds can never find time together on their wedding night. It has plenty of laughs throughout, including some gags that are pretty surreal.

The most notable one is a slight running gag.  Someone says, "You know, I've seen that girl somewhere before" and the reply is "She's a very particular friend of the director who's making this picture. He sticks her in every scene he can." That's a pretty self-aware line for the time. The final scene is also strange, as the wallpaper reacts to Smetana's singing.

Another neat trick is when Leslie sings a duet with herself via a video jukebox.  She is played by Gypsy Rose Lee's sister, who is Baby June in the musical Gypsy.

Director Andrew L. Stone mostly stuck with thrillers, but shows a nice talent for comedy. He had a long career, and directed a movie about a ship sinking in which they actually sunk a ship and filmed as it went down.

Chuck Rothman is author of The Cadaver Princess, from Amazing Stories Selects.

Year of the Rabbit (TV)

 (2019)
Created and written by Kevin Cecil, Andy Riley
Starring Matt Berry, Freddie Fox, Susan Wokoma, Alun Armstrong, Paul Kaye, Ann Mitchell
IMDB Entry

I've been a fan of Matt Berry for some time, even since I stumbled across Snuff Box several years ago. He has a great comic persona for being bombastic and very obscene, but always funny. So when I found Year of the Rabbit, I was delighted to discover he was its star.

The show is set in Victorian London. Detective Inspector Eli Rabbit (Matt Berry) is charged with trying to find a killer of young girls. Chief Inspector Wisbech (Alun Armstrong) assigns him to the case, along with a naive young assistant, sergeant Strauss (Freddy Fox). At the same time, Wisbech's adopted daughter Mable (Susan Wokoma) gets on the case as part of her desire to be the force's first woman police officer.

The investigation leads to plots, while Detective Inspector Tanner (Paul Kaye) is out to destroy Rabbit for reasons that are eventually revealed, but more recently because he blames Rabbit for him getting blown up by a bomb. A mysterious woman named Lydia (Keeley Hawes) is definitely someone to worry about. Rabbit is helped by John Merrick (David Dawson),* who is the leader of many criminal enterprises, and by Gwendoline (Ann Mitchell), who runs the pub where Rabbit drinks.

The show is an interesting combination of cop show and comedy. Matt Berry is a typical version of his usual character.  He seems to have written much of his own dialog. Berry has been in several shows, some of which are documented in this blog. but up until now, with What We Do in the Shadows, did not run for very long.

I was also delighted to see Susan Wokoma. I first noticed her strong appearance in Crazyhead and she is great as the somewhat commonly seen role of a woman who's trying to survive in a man's world.  Freddy Fox projects the right amount of naivety as Strauss.

The portrayal of John Merrick is interesting. Usually he's shown as a sad figure, as he was in real life. Here, he's strong, capable, and devious.

There was a second season announced, but it hasn't shown up.

Chuck Rothman is author of The Cadaver Princess, a hidden historical fantasy about magic events that fit in with historical fact.

_________________________________________________________________
* aka, the Elephant Man