They Came to a City

Synopsis: 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 is among Ealing Studios’ most unusual features.
Special features:
-Presented in High Definition and Standard Definition
-Michael Balcon NFT Lecture (audio only, 1969, 59 mins): the producer discusses his career
-We Live in Two Worlds (Alberto Cavalcanti, 1937, 14 mins): a GPO film about communications technology, narrated by JB Priestley
-Britain at Bay (Harry Watt, 1940, 7 mins): a wartime morale-booster narrated by JB Priestley
-A City Reborn (John Eldridge, 1945, 22 mins): a propaganda film written by Dylan Thomas, highlighting plans for post-war reconstruction
-Charley in New Town (Joy Batchelor and John Halas, 1948, 9 mins): an animated short on post-war new towns
-Your Very Good Health (Joy Batchelor and John Halas, 1948, 9 mins): an animated short on the new National Health Service
-Illustrated booklet with essays by Dr Josephine Botting, Alan Burton, Tim O’Sullivan, Katy McGahan and Jenny Stewart, and full film credits.
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Year of production: 1944
Subjects: Film studies
Keywords: British cinema; Ealing Studios

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Notes: The British Film Institute is a specialist non-theatric rental distributor of international fiction and documentary films on 16mm and 35mm film, as well as VHS and DVD video. The holdings are so vast that only those titles available on DVD and HD Digital are listed in full on the website, so it is worth enquiring about specific titles that might only be available for hire in other formats. The BFI has partnered with on-line platforms such as lovefilm and blinkbox to deliver a selection of films to buy or rent in digital format, and others are streamed free of charge on the BFI’s YouTube channel or as dowloadable clips on the Creative Archive section of the BFI’s own website.

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