  :for the film, see ealing comedy. for the film comedies see ealing comedies. thumb|250px|ealing studios ealing studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at ealing green in west london. will barker bought the white lodge on ealing green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on the site ever since. it is the oldest continuously working studio facility for film production in the world,history. ealingstudios.com, accessed 22 june 2011 and the current stages were opened for the use of sound in 1931. it is best known for a series of classic films produced in the post-wwii years, including kind hearts and coronets (1949), passport to pimlico (1949), the lavender hill mob (1951), and the ladykillers (1955). the bbc owned and filmed at the studios for forty years from 1955 until 1995. since 2000, ealing studios has resumed releasing films under its own name, including the revived st trinian's franchise. in the past decade, films shot here include the importance of being earnest (2002) and shaun of the dead (2004). the met film school london operates on the site. ==history== === early years === the site was first occupied by will barker studios from 1902.http://knowledgeoflondon.com/movies/ealing.html from 1929 it was acquired by theatre producer basil dean, who founded associated talking pictures ltd. he was joined on the management level by stephen courtauld and reginald baker. in 1931 they built ealing studios,transferring all production there in december of that year. when dean left in 1938 to be replaced by michael balcon from mgm, about 60 films had been made at the studios. balcon discontinued the atp name and began to issue films under the ealing studios name. in 1944 the company was taken over by the rank organisation. in the 1930s and 1940s, ealing produced many comedies with stars such as gracie fields, george formby, stanley holloway and will hay, who had established their reputations in other spheres of entertainment. the company was also instrumental in the use of documentary film-makers to make more realistic war films. these included went the day well? (1942), the foreman went to france (1942), undercover (1943), and san demetrio london (1943). in 1945, the studio made its influential chiller compendium dead of night. in the post-war period, the company embarked on a series of celebrated comedies which became the studio's hallmark. these were often l
British_film_studios Buildings_and_structures_in_Ealing Ealing_Studios_films Film_production_companies_of_the_United_Kingdom History_of_Ealing History_of_television Media_and_communications_in_Ealing Television_production_companies_of_the_United_Kingdom Television_studios_in_England