Passport To Pimlico
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Passport To Pimlico is a British comedy film made in 1948 by Ealing Studios. Margaret Rutherford, Stanley Holloway and Hermione Baddeley star under the direction of Henry Cornelius.
Image:Passport to Pimlico film.jpg A bomb left over from the Second World War blows up in the Pimlico district of London. The explosion reveals a buried cellar, in which artwork, coins, jewellery and an ancient parchment are found. When examined by Professor Hatten-Jones (Margaret Rutherford), the document proves that Pimlico was ceded to the last duke of Burgundy several hundred years ago. When this becomes known, a Frenchman (Paul Dupuis) comes forward to claim his dukedom.
Pimlico declares its independence from England when the residents realize that they would no longer have to put up with post-war rationing and other bureaucratic restrictions. It becomes what would now be called a micronation. The "Burgundians" form a government, headed by the Duke, the local bank manager, and shop owner Mr. Pemberton (Stanley Holloway).
At first everything is fine, but then criminals and entrepeneurial outsiders take advantage of the situation. There are no laws and only one policeman to try to control the ensuing anarchy. Next, the British government does its best to extinguish the bothersome new nation by closing the border, essentially imposing a blockade on food and water. The resourceful natives do their best, sneaking across and "liberating" supplies one night, and sympathetic Londoners throw food parcels across the border, but these solutions are only temporary. Eventually, the residents realize the benefits of English government and agree to rejoin the UK on favourable terms. In the end, a heavy downfall of rain hits Pimlico, symbolising the end of the experiment.
The script was written by T.E.B. Clarke and demonstrated his usual logical development of absurd ideas. Some scenes where the residents of the new nation are refused passage out of their district into London by the authorities, and rely on supplies thrown over the dividing wall by well-wishers, were very topical because the film was made during the Berlin Blockade.
A BBC Radio 4 adaptation was broadcast on January 20, 1996.
A comparison can be made with the case of Seborga, an equally fictional entity, coterminous with a village in Italy.