Monday Matinee
'Passport to Pimlico' (U)

Come and join us for a screening of one of Ealing Films classic productions.

When an unexploded WWII bomb is unexpectedly detonated in Pimlico, it reveals a buried cellar full of treasures, including an ancient document proving that the area is in fact part of Burgundy, France and thus foreign territory. In an attempt to regain control, the British Government set up borders and cut off all services to the area, but the ‘Burgundians' are determined to fight back!

This classic Ealing Comedy was directed by Henry Cornelius and written by T.E.B. Clarke. starring Stanley Holloway and Margaret Rutherford.  The film was based on a true incident in Canada during the Second World War; the maternity ward of Ottawa Civic Hospital was temporarily declared extraterritorial by the Canadian government so that, when Princess Margriet of the Netherlands was born there, she would not lose her right to the throne.

Passport to Pimlico was well-received on its release. The film was released in the same year as Whisky Galore! and Kind Hearts and Coronets. It was nominated for the British Academy Film Award for Best British Film and the Academy Award for Writing (Story and Screenplay). There have since been two BBC Radio adaptations: the first in 1952, the second in 1996.