This historical Western finishes off the coverage of Ealing's five Australian films in this blog and, as that genre description suggests, it has a lot in common with the films it was produced between, namely The Overlanders (1946) and Bitter Springs (1950).

Ealing's eighth film after Michael Balcon's arrival at the studio is one of those that is permanently stuck in the debate over what makes a film 'Ealing-esque' or, indeed, what makes a comedy an Ealing comedy?

Unlike Bitter Springs' Cowboys and Indians narrative, this tells of a massive cattle drive across wartime Australia.

Halfway through The Halfway House was, technically, halfway through my Ealing marathon (47.5 films out of 95) so this blog entry feels suitably celebratory. Six months on from the start of this mad idea, I am keeping to my schedule - approximately two films a week - and still have a stack of known and unknown films ahead of me.

This film may be more famous as "the one where George Formby punches Hitler", but that reputation arguably conceals a more complex narrative than Come on George (1939), while also revisiting most of the basic concepts seen in Formby's Ealing films to date: mistaken identity, unconvincing romantic couple, ukulele numbers, and broad slapstick.

Back in wartime production mode, this is one of Ealing's best-known war drama-documentary efforts and, if I'm honest, it was a bit of an effort to sit through.