Ealing Studios

Ealing Studios, a film production company at Ealing Green in West London, claims to be the oldest film studio in the world. The site had been previously occupied by Will Barker Studios from 1896, but was acquired by theatre producer Basil Dean's newly formed Associated Talking Pictures in 1929, and reopened as Ealing Studios in 1931. In 1933 the company was renamed to Associated Talking Pictures. When Dean left in 1938, to be replaced by Michael Balcon from MGM, about 60 films had been made at the studios. Balcon discontinued the ATP name and began to issue films under the Ealing Studios name. In 1944 the studios were taken over by the Rank organisation.

1947 saw the first of the so-called Ealing Comedies, Hue and Cry. This was the beginning of a popular series of comedies that became the hallmark of Ealing Studios. Others include Passport to Pimlico (1949) , Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), Whisky Galore (1949), The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) and The Man in the White Suit (1951) The last comedy in this series was The Ladykillers (1955).

The BBC bought the studios in 1955. In 1995 the studios were purchased by the National Film & Television School (NFTS).

Table of contents

1 The Ealing Studios Films 2 Documentaries 3 The BBC TV Productions 4 Later Films 5 Independent TV

The Ealing Studios Films

• The Gaunt Stranger (1938)
• The Ware Case (1938)
• Let's Be Famous (1939)
• Trouble Brewing (1939)
• The Four Just Men (1939)
• There Ain't No Justice (1939)
• Young Man's Fancy (1939)
• Cheer Boys Cheer (1939)
• Come on George (1939)
• Return to Yesterday (1940)
• The Proud Valley (1940)
• Let George Do It (1940)
• Convoy (1940)
• Saloon Bar (1940)
• Sailors Three (1940)
• Spare a Copper (1940)
• The Ghost of St. Michael's (1941)
• Turned Out Nice Again (1941)
• Ships with Wings (1941)
• The Black Sheep of Whitehall (1942)
• The Big Blockade (1942)
• The Foreman Went to France (1942)
• Next of Kin (1942)
• The Goose Steps Out (1942)
• Nine Men (1943)
• The Bells Go Down (1943)
• Undercover (1943)
• My Learned Friend (1943)
• Went the Day Well? (1943)
• San Demetrio, London (1943)
• The Halfway House (1944)
• For Those in Peril (1944)
• They Came to a City (1944)
• Champagne Charlie (1944)
• Fiddlers Three (1944)
• Johnny Frenchman (1945)
• Painted Boats (1945)
• Dead of Night (1945)
• Pink String and Sealing Wax (1945)
• The Captive Heart (1946)
• The Overlanders (1946)
• Hue and Cry (1947) - the first Ealing Comedy
• Nicholas Nickleby (1947)
• The Loves of Joanna Godden (1947)
• Frieda (1947)
• It Always Rains on Sunday (1947)
• Against the Wind (1948)
• Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948) - Ealing's first Technicolor film
• Another Shore (1948)
• Scott of the Antarctic (1948)
• Eureka Stockade (1949)
• Passport to Pimlico (1949)
• Whisky Galore! (1949)
• Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
• Train of Events (1949)
• A Run for Your Money (1949)
• The Blue Lamp (1950)
• Dance Hall (1950)
• Bitter Springs (1950)
• Cage of Gold (1950)
• The Magnet (1950)
• Pool of London (1951)
• The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
• The Man in the White Suit (1951)
• Where No Vultures Fly (1951)
• His Excellency (1952)
• Secret People (1952)
• I Believe in You (1952)
• Mandy (1952)
• The Gentle Gunman (1952)
• The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953)
• The Cruel Sea (1953)
• The Square Ring (1953)
• Meet Mr. Lucifer (1953)
• The Love Lottery (1954)
• The Maggie (1954)
• West of Zanzibar (1954)
• The Rainbow Jacket (1954)
• Lease of Life (1954)
• The Divided Heart (1954)
• Out of the Clouds (1955)
• The Night My Number Came Up (1955)
• The Ship that Died of Shame (1955)
• Touch and Go (1955)
• The Ladykillers (1955)
• The Feminine Touch (1956)
• Who Done It? (1956)
• The Long Arm (1956)
• The Man in the Sky (1957)
• The Shiralee (1957)
• Barnacle Bill (1957)
• Davy (1957)
• Dunkirk (1958)
• Nowhere to Go (1958)
• The Siege of Pinchgut (1959)

Documentaries

• All Hands (1940)
• Dangerous Comment (1940)
• Food for Thought (1940)
• Now You're Talking (1940)
• Salvage with a Smile (1940)
• Sea Fort (1940)
• Guest of Honour (1941)
• Yellow Caesar (1941)
• Young Veterans (1941)
• Find, Fix and Strike (1942)
• Go to Blazes (1942)
• Raid on France (1942) (adapted fron Next of Kin)
• Greek Testament (1943)
• Return of the Vikings (1944)
• Man - One Family (1946)

The BBC TV Productions

• Colditz
• The Singing Detective
• Fortunes of War

Later Films

• An Ideal Husband
• Notting Hill
• Star Wars – Episode 2
• Lucky Break
• The Importance of Being Earnest

etc.

Independent TV

• The Royle Family (Granada)
• Bedtime (HatTrick)
• Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (Ghost)
• Emma Brody (20th Century Fox)

etc.