Ealing Studios

It's called La Haine, which translates to hate.

It's also one of my three favourite films of all time, alongside Aliens and the original Ealing Studios version of The Lady Killers, starring Alec Guinness, Herbert Lom, and a very young Peter Sellers.

I... yeah, I have weird taste in films.

La Haine stars Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé and Saïd Taghmawi.

Rationing was still in effect and the societal fabric had been severely tested.

And out of that environment comes the 1950 film The Blue Lamp, produced by Ealing Studios and directed by Basil Dearden.

Now, this wasn't some glossy, hard-boiled Hollywood noir with trench coats and Tommy

guns.

It's like borough-ish, isn't it? And I think the

interior is Ealing Studios.

Yes.

Yeah.

And as you come in, something I didn't say, there's a picture of Sid James and Kenneth Williams.

It's an original print on the right when you come in and they're having their dinner at Ealing Studios, having their lunch.

And actually, Robin Esquith, who's a dear friend of mine, he was in Carry On Girls.

And obviously, he's in Madame Blanc and the Confessions films.

I Was a Spy was made by Gaumont British Picture Corporation, produced by Michael Balkan, who is a legend of British cinema.

He'd go on to run Ealing Studios and produce everything from the Ealing comedies to early Hitchcock.

Directed by Victor Saville, who by 1933 was already one of the most reliable hands in the British movie business.

Should be good.

The ambition, the attention to based on a true story, legal risk, and all that kind of stuff we talked about.

The willingness to spend real money on a prestige picture.

He takes this into the rest of his career, which becomes one of the most defining producing careers in the British movie history, right through Ealing Studios.

It's

What do you reckon, Ian? Ealing City Safari.

Do you have Ealing Studios as the background? No,

you have where I used to live.

Oh, Milo.

Were it not for its final shot, in which one of the few characters to survive with their soul intact walks away from the sordid world in which it's set, Sweet Smell of Success would be a film of despairing cynicism.

Directed by Alexander Mackendrick, an American-born filmmaker raised in Scotland who'd found success directing comedies for England's Ealing Studios, and co-written by Ernest Lehman, author of the short novel on which it's based, and playwright turned screenwriter Clifford Odets, the film peels back the bright surface of New York glamour and finds nothing but rot underneath it.

From the Broadway stage to jazz-filled nightclubs, nothing thrives without the approval of powerful columnists who treat their favorable words and condemnations as part of a network of transactions in which nothing comes for free.

None are more powerful than J.J. Hunsecker, played by Burt Lancaster as a hulking, humorous figure who lives to bend others to his will.

In summary, The Man in the White Suit is a timeless classic that offers both entertainment and insight.

Its blend of humour, drama and social commentary makes it a standout film in the Ealing Studios repertoire.

While it may not be as dark as some of its contemporaries, its subtle critique of societal norms and its enduring message about the complexities of progress ensure its place as a significant work in British cinema history.

And that concludes my review of The Man in the White Suit, and I'm giving it three and a half stars out of a possible five stars.

[laughs]

But I was a bit young for the casting, so I had to go f- to the audition really, really early in the morning at Ealing Studios 'cause th- they needed to cast the, the part-

Oh, right

... really quickly.