Digitally Restored Classics THE TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT & PASSPORT TO PIMLICO Will Be Available on Loaded Blu-Ray

By: Dec. 05, 2019
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Digitally Restored Classics THE TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT & PASSPORT TO PIMLICO Will Be Available on Loaded Blu-Ray

A comical and delightful tale of community spirit, written by celebrated Ealing regular and Academy Award® Winner T.E.B. Clarke (The Lavender Hill Mob, Barnacle Bill), directed by Charles Crichton (A Fish Called Wanda, The Lavender Hill Mob) 1953's THE TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT tells the story of the inhabitants of the tiny village of Titfield, who endeavor to prove that their single-track railway is a vital form of transportation in this digitally-restored classic from Ealing Studios, whose output from the 1940s and 1950s helped define the Golden Age for British Cinema and the birthplace of the most delectable crop of films to decorate postwar cinema.

After British Railways announce the closure of the Titfield to Mallingford branch line, a group of local residents make a bid to run it themselves, backed by a wealthy member of the community. Unfortunately, this puts them into direct competition with Crump and Pearce, two unsavory characters who own the local bus company who've introduced a brand new single-decker bus to Titfield and are determined to cease the running of the train by means fair or foul.

Starring Ealing regulars including Stanley Holloway, Naunton Wayne, George Relp, John Gregson and Hugh Griffith, this special Film Movement Classics Blu-ray release is loaded with bonus programming assuring that a ticket to Titfield will be an unforgettable experience.

During the worst heat wave in years, the sleepy district of Pimlico dozes...at least until London's last unexploded WWII-era bomb goes off with a deafening roar, flinging its citizens headlong into a fantastic adventure. Directed by Henry Cornelius (The Galloping Major) and written by the talented T.E.B Clarke, (responsible for another comedy classic, 1951's The Lavender Hill Mob), the whimsically charming PASSPORT TO PIMLICO has been hailed by Time Out as "perhaps the most Ealingish of the Ealing comedies." Nominated for both an Academy Award® for Best Writing, Story & Screenplay and a BAFTA Award, Film Movement Classics brings this Official Selection at Cannes to NORTH AMERICA for the very first time on Blu-ray, digitally restored for optimal viewing and loaded with extras.

Investigating the crater caused by the explosion, Arthur Pemberton and his daughter Shirley unearth a buried cellar containing both fabulous riches and an unknown 15th Century royal charter from King Edward IV that decrees that Pimlico can be recognized in perpetuity as Burgundian soil. Since the charter has never been rescinded, Pimlico is now legally the long-lost Duchy of Burgundy, and therefore no longer subject to British law, including postwar rationing and pub closure hours. The locals, quick to see the opportunities, do their best to take full advantage of the situation, while the British government push back with all the authority they can muster in this newly restored classic starring comedy stalwarts including Stanley Holloway, Hermione Baddeley, Margaret Rutherford and Paul Dupuis.

Both films will be available on Blu-ray starting December 31.



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