Archives: Production

The Rainbow Jacket is a 1954 British Ealing Studios drama film, produced by Michael Relph, directed by Basil Dearden, and featuring Robert Morley, Kay Walsh, Bill Owen, Honor Blackman and Sid James.

Lease of Life is a 1954 British film drama made by Ealing Studios and directed by Charles Frend. The film was designed as a star-vehicle for Robert Donat, representing his return to the screen after an absence of over three years during which he had been battling the chronic asthma which plagued his life and career. It was a prestige production which was generally respectfully, if not over-enthusiastically, received and gained Donat a nomination as ‘Best British Actor’ at the 1955 British Academy Film Awards. In common with a number of other Ealing films of the era, Lease of Life focuses on a specific English milieu – in this case a Yorkshire village and its nearby cathedral city – and examines the nuances, quirks and foibles of its day-to-day life. The film is unique in the Ealing canon in having religion as its dominant theme.

The Divided Heart is a black-and-white British film directed by Charles Crichton and released in 1954. The film is a drama, based on a true story of a child whose father was a member of Slovenian Partisans executed by Nazis and whose mother was deported to Auschwitz. Little Ivan was sent to Germany in a Nazi program known as Lebensborn, like the 300 other babies and young children from Slovenia whose parents were declared Banditen by Nazis.

Out of the Clouds is a 1955 British drama film directed by Basil Dearden, and starring Anthony Steel, Robert Beatty and James Robertson Justice. An Ealing Studios production, the film is composed of small stories dealing with the passengers and crew on a day at London Airport (the name of Heathrow Airport 1946–1966).

The Night My Number Came Up is a 1955 British supernatural drama film directed by Leslie Norman with the screenplay written by R. C. Sherriff. The plot is based on a real incident in the life of British Air Marshal Sir Victor Goddard; his journal was published in The Saturday Evening Post of 26 May 1951. The film stars Michael Redgrave, Sheila Sim and Alexander Knox. This was Sim’s final film before her retirement from acting.

The Ship That Died of Shame, released in the United States as PT Raiders, is a black-and-white 1955 Ealing Studios crime film directed by Basil Dearden and starring George Baker, Richard Attenborough and Bill Owen. The film is based on a story written by Nicholas Monsarrat (better known as the author of The Cruel Sea), which originally appeared in Lilliput magazine in 1952. It was later published in a collection of short stories, The Ship That Died of Shame and other stories, in 1959.

Touch and Go (U.S. The Light Touch) is a 1955 British comedy film directed by Michael Truman and starring Jack Hawkins, Margaret Johnston, and June Thorburn. The film was made by Ealing Studios. The film was indifferently received on release and is not generally included in the canon of classic Ealing Comedies. It did however pick up two nominations at the 1956 British Academy Film Awards: Margaret Johnston for ‘Best British Actress’ and William Rose for ‘Best British Screenplay’ – Rose did win that year’s screenplay award but for another Ealing film, The Ladykillers.

The Ladykillers is a 1955 British black comedy film made by Ealing Studios. Directed by Alexander Mackendrick, it stars Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Peter Sellers, Danny Green, Jack Warner and Katie Johnson as the old lady.

The Feminine Touch is a 1956 British drama film directed by Pat Jackson and starring George Baker, Belinda Lee and Delphi Lawrence. The film is based on the bestselling novel A Lamp Is Heavy by Canadian former nurse Sheila Mackay Russell, and consequently it was released as A Lamp Is Heavy in Canada, while it was given the title The Gentle Touch in the United States, when it was released there in December 1957.

Who Done It? is a 1956 British comedy film starring comedian Benny Hill and Belinda Lee.