The script was written by T.E.B. Clarke and demonstrated his usual logical development of absurd ideas. Some scenes where the residents 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.
Synopsis
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 entrepreneurial outsiders take advantage of the situation. There are no laws and only one policeman to try to control the ensuing anarchy. The British government tries 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 there are benefits as well as drawbacks to British government and agree to rejoin the UK on favourable terms. They sit down to a ceremonial dinner, but as they raise a toast to "Welcome to the UK", a rainstorm suddenly erupts, satirizing the myth that it always rains in the UK.
Quotes
*"We always were English and we always will be English, and it's just because we are English that we're sticking up for our right to be Burgundian!"Trivia
*A BBC Radio 4 adaptation was broadcast on January 20, 1996.*A comparison can be made to Seborga, an equally fictional entity, coterminous with a village in Italy.
