Review for The Ealing Studios Collection Vol. 1

Ealing Studios created some of the best comedies ever created. FACT! The reason I say this is not because of the success, awards or the critical praise (though that does help), but simply because of the quality of the films. Many films created between 1940-1960 feel like they belong to that age and are very difficult to watch, but the Ealing movies feel like they are time capsules that you can open and breathe in the era they were made. This set brings together three of their best films. The fact is all three could have easily been released as a stand alone Blu-ray, but by putting them all together it makes it even more delightful.

Included are 1949's Kind Hearts and Coronets Directed by Robert Haer, 1951's The Lavender Hill Mob Directed by Charles Crichton and again 1951's The Man in the White Suit Directed by Alexander Mackendrick. The films have all been given a wonderful new presentation and what is most amazing about these three films is that they are all as entertaining as they were over sixty years ago! All three star Alec Guinness and for any younger people who may only know of him from Star Wars this is a perfect opportunity to discover him at his comedic best.

Kind Hearts and Coronets is a wonderfully dark comedy starring Dennis Price as Louis Mazzini. Mazzini's mother was cheated out of her birthright and ostracized by the aristocratic D'Ascoyne family and after she is refused to be buried in the family crypt he decides to murder the eight members of the D'Ascoyne family in order to inherit his Dukedom. This film is as dark as you can get with some wonderful satire on the nature of murder and the ending is still one of the best I have ever experienced.

What makes this film all the more wonderful, is that every single member of the D'Ascoyne family are played by Alec Guinness. His performances in each of the roles are nothing short of miraculous and when you consider the various age ranges and the fact one is a woman it is nothing short of perfection. This is not the over the top nonsense of Eddie Murphy in Nutty Professor, but eight perfectly created characters and something only someone as great as Guinness could achieve.

The film is possibly one of the best examples of the Ealing comedy and usually everyone's go-to when it comes to a classic British comedy and its reputation is well deserved.

Extras include a Commentary by Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw, Director Terence Davies and Matthew Guinness, son of Alec. This is a nice commentary and certainly has some great stories as obviously very few if any of the original cast or crew are still alive to do this. One problem I did find was the sound is a little odd and at times it was very difficult to hear what they were saying.

Dennis Price: Those British Faces is a tribute to the main star of the film and though you would expect that for Alec Guinness, it is nice that do give him the tribute as before this I didn't realise how many great British films he had been in. Introduction by John Landis is fine as he obviously loves the film, though be warned if you have never seen the film before watch this after so as to not spoil anything. BBC Radio 3 Essay probably should have been included as a linked podcast or something, but it is great to hear.

Alternative American Ending is essentially the same ending except removing the subtlety of it and does not have the hilarious gut punch that the original has. Restoration Comparison is a five minute feature showing some of the scenes before and after restoration. It is amazing what they did and proof that 'restoration' does not mean putting CGI all over it. Excerpts from BECTU is really only for hardcore fans of the film or Ealing, featuring an interview from 1988 of cinematographer Douglas Slocombe which has some interesting moments from someone who did most of the Ealing work and went from working on this to Julia, The Great Gatsby and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Finally there is a Stills Gallery and Trailer which are always nice.

The Lavender Hill Mob is one of the funnest heist films I have ever seen. Holland, played by Alec Guinness, in a well deserved Oscar nominated role, works as the delivery man of gold bullion from the refinery to the bank. With the help of Pendlebury, played by Stanley Holloway, he concocts a plan to steal the gold and smuggle it to France having been melted into Eiffel Tower models. To do this, they enlist the help of two professional criminals played by Sid James and Alfie Bass in a wonderfully simple and perfectly executed robbery. Or so they think.

This film is just wonderful from beginning to end. The main cast are perfect and each scene almost plays out like a carefully constructed sketch. Guinness' performance throughout is wonderful as always and unlike other Ealing comedies where he steals the show (which he does at some points) instead the film plays out as a great ensemble of acting throughout with Majorie Fielding as landlady Mrs Chalk stealing every scene she is in.

One of the best sequences, besides everything, is the wonderfully surreal and complicated police chase which could almost have been the influence on the OTT nature of The Blues Brothers. This is all made even more surreal by the use of the song Old Macdonald. As with Kind Hearts and Coronets, the ending is so wonderful that even if you guess what it will be it is still perfect. This is not an M. Night twist, but more a satisfying conclusion to the story and one well deserving of the Oscar awarded to T.E.B. Clarke.

Extras include an introduction by Martin Scorsese which was both surprising and wonderful. Although I was aware of how much of a film historian he was, it seems so bizarre that the Director of Goodfellas and Taxi Driver would love such a quaint English comedy. Watching this it makes me realise that maybe this style was what he was going for in his lighter works like The King of Comedy. It is just a shame that he never provided a commentary as he seems like he could have talked about the film for longer than the short time he did.

Excerpts from BECTU interview Director Charles Crichton and is a nice little interview with him when I can only presume he was riding the success of his Oscar-nominated work on A Fish Called Wanda. Good Afternoon is a wonderful interview with Oscar winning writer T.E.B. Clarke and it made me sad listening to it that he wasn't able to be a part in a commentary as I feel he and Crichton would have been wonderful to listen to. Behind the Scenes Stills Gallery is nice, but the lack of a Commentary is a shame.

The Man in The White Suit is a film that looks at the nature of invention and also the positive and negative effects of them. Alec Guinness stars as Sidney Stratton, a genius who creates a material that never wears out and never gets dirty. This appears to be a wonderful breakthrough, until those who profit from the manufacturing of clothes realise that if they don't wear out then they will only ever have to make one!? All of this leads to a number of silly scenes with the manufacturers, the unions and even his landlady putting their two pence into the debate about whether this is a good thing or not.

This film has its moments and its central idea is really interesting, but the film as a whole is not as memorable or enjoyable as some of the other Ealing Comedies. It is surprising that it has not been remade as the idea of a company suppressing innovation because it will hurt the profit margin is something that would still ring true today. I could see a company discovering the cure to some disease and then not wanting to release it because there is no profit in curing people. The script is brimming with the usual Ealing wit and it is deserving of the Oscar nomination it received, but at times it just felt a little 'one joke' played out over and over for me.

Guinness' performance as always is superb, but unlike the previous two films, this really is a one man film. Despite the appearance of Michael Gough, who most will remember as Alfred from Tim Burton's Batman and the return of the sexy voiced Joan Greenwood, the cast is mostly forgettable. Again, there are some funny moments and it certainly is enjoyable, compared to the others it just feels a little weak. If I'm honest to make this set a MUST BUY item I would have included The Ladykillers instead of this one.

It is sad that this film does not have the same amount of extras that the other two have. When you consider this is a film that was nominated for an Oscar for its Screenplay I did expect some feature looking more at its creation. Instead we have a Revisiting Featurette which is fine in general, but certainly could have been better. The lack of a Commentary as with the previous film is a little disappointing. When you look at Landis and Scorsese's introductions surely they could have found someone who enjoyed this film to talk about it? (The fact that Director Stephen Frears is interviewed for the featurette they surely could have had him contributed a further two-three minutes to introduce the film like the others).

If you are a fan of Ealing or indeed Alec Guinness The Ealing Studios Collection Volume 1 is a perfect set to pick up. All three are enjoyable and watchable. Although I could argue that Kind Hearts and Coronets and The Lavender Hill Mob are a lot stronger than The Man in the White Suit it is still enjoyable to watch. This is a great trip down memory lane, when comedy was more than just boob and fart jokes and lame parodies.

Bring on Volume 2!