prunesquallor | Floreat Burgundia

Review of Passport to Pimlico (1949)

A whimsical little movie, one of the lesser known Ealing Studio films. It's probably less famous because it is so overwhelmingly of a particular place and time - postwar Britain before the lifting of rationing. (A lot of Americans don't know food rationing wasn't completely over in the U.K. until 1954.)

An unexploded piece of German ordinance left over from the Blitz goes off in a London neighborhood, exposing a small treasure trove and some legal documents from the fifteenth century. Upon examination by an expert (Margaret Rutherford, in a hilarious if somewhat sexist portrayal of a female academic), these documents prove that Pimlico was actually deeded over to the Duchy of Burgundy, and is thus (ta da!) a foreign country! Gasp! This inspired bit of invention, which of course is complete ballocks legally and diplomatically, thus conjures up a Ruritania in the middle of London. The first night of their 'independence' the neigborhood goes wild as they realize they no longer need to obey licensing laws or use ration-books.

Everyone takes extreme delight in saying "Burgundy" and "Burgundian" as often as possible; so much so that any hypothetical drinking gamester would probably be completely overwhelmed by the necessary succession of alcholic swigs. The whole thing reaches its zany apotheosis when Margaret Rutherford deliriously cries out, "Floreat Burgundia!" (Which shall hereafter and forevermore be my battlecry.)

A whole series of complications ensue, which result in the new ‘nation’ being surrounded by barbed wire and blockaded, but there are no real villains. When the pretender to the ducal title shows up and starts romancing a local girl, you expect the bloke who was sweet on her to respond in some fashion, but the potential fireworks never manifest. Eventually everyone muddles through in typical English style, and the only lasting results seem to be a love affair and the construction of a playground in the neighborhood, which are perhaps points enough for all the shenanigans.

I've already mentioned Margaret Rutherford. We also have Stanley Holloway as the elected leader of the ‘Burgundians.’ He later played a much more well-known sagacious Cockney, Eliza Dolittle's father in My Fair Lady.