Director Basil Dearden's wartime Ealing Studios' fantasy drama, They Came to a City, gets a BFI Dual Format Edition release on 23 April 2018 in a new 2K transfer
Directed by Basil Dearden (Victim), the rarely seen Ealing Studios’ feature They Came to a City starring John Clements, Googie Withers and Raymond Huntley, gets a BFI Dual Format Edition release on 23 April 2018 in a new 2K transfer.
Nine disparate Britons are transported to a mysterious city where, according to their class and disposition, they find themselves either in an earthly paradise of peace and equality or a hell starved of ambition and riches.
From the pen of JB Priestley, this fantastical allegory is a striking expression of post-war utopian impulses and among Ealing Studios’ most unusual features.
Special features • Presented in High Definition and Standard Definition • Michael Balcon NFT Lecture (audio only, 1969, 59 mins) • We Live in Two Worlds (1937, 14 mins): a GPO film about communications technology, narrated by JB Priestley • Britain at Bay (1940, 7 mins): a wartime morale-booster narrated by JB Priestley • A City Reborn (1945, 22 mins): a propaganda film written by Dylan Thomas, highlighting plans for post-war reconstruction • Charley in New Town (1948, 9 mins): an animated short on post-war new towns • Your Very Good Health ( 1948, 9 mins): an animated short on the new National Health Service • Illustrated booklet with essays and full film credits
