neadods | Blimey! I'm a foreigner!

These days, Ealing Studios is synonymous with Alec Guiness, and for good reason: The Man in the White Suit, Lavender Hill Mob, and Kind Hearts and Coronets are classics - not to mention The Ladykillers, which is infinitely superior to the remake, as it depended on plot and not crassness for its humor.

But there were many, many Ealing comedies, and some of the others are available for purchase or rental on DVD too. And that includes the delightful Passport to Pimlico.

By modern sensibilities, it starts very slowly. We're almost 10 minutes into a 120-minute film before the plot begins: an unexploded bomb left over from the war detonates, and the blast crater exposes gold, jewels... and an unrescinded royal decree signing the Pimlico district of London over to the Duchy of Burgundy. (Leading to the quote I've used as a title.)

What starts as a slightly drunken revolt against current restrictions - pub closing time? Ration books? Those are English laws, mate, we're in Burgundy! - abruptly turns real when Whitehall, determined to get its hands on that treasure and bring its citizens' revolt to heel, literally treats Pimlico as a foreign country. They didn't expect their war-battered citizens to furiously (and hilariously) fight back.

Wikipedia can provide the historical background to the plot; all the casual viewer needs to know about the tone is summed up in one shopkeeper's line: "We always were English and we'll always be English, and it's precisely because we are English that we're sticking up for our right to be Burgundians!"