Forever Ealing

"Forever Ealing" is the story of a small studio in England that had people behind it with big dreams. In its heyday, Ealing Studios produced some of the truly great British films, including "Dead of Night," "The Ladykillers," "Lavender Hill Mob," "The Man in the White Suit," "Kind Hearts and Coronets," and many others. This documentary gives us a history of Ealing. A lot of the studio's earlier work before Michael Balcon took over won't mean much to Americans because many of the important celebrities who worked there did not have big careers in American film: Gracie Fields, Googie Withers, John McCallum, George Formby. Other names are more familiar: Alec Guinness, Peter Sellars, Joan Greenwood, Sir John Mills.

Particularly fascinating was Ealing's work during the war years, and also the work that went behind the group shot of all of the Alec Guinness roles in "Kind Hearts and Coronets." Probably the most delightful was the accounting by Googie Withers of her co-star, John McCallum, proposing marriage while the wedding of Elizabeth and Phillip was broadcast on the radio, and the subsequent photo used by the newspapers.

Narrated by Daniel Day-Lewis (Sir Michael Balcon's grandson), the documentary features perspectives by John Landis, Martin Scorcese, and others. Very good.