Contents:
Britain Can Take It! (1940)
Directors: Harry Watt, Humphrey Jennings
Photography: H Fowle, Frank 'Jonah' Jones
Naration: Quentin Reynolds
Running Time: 8 mins
American Journalist Quentin Reynolds provides a dispassionately realistic view of London during the Blitz. This extraordinary film presents an account of raids during a single night, from sunset to sunrise, and that even under these conditions Londoners tried to carry on their lives as normal as possible.
Originally intended for American audiences under the title 'London Can Take It', it gave President Roosevelt the kind of material he needed to swing American popular opinion behind his support for Britain's war effort.
Britain at Bay (1940)
Narration written and spoken by: J B Priestly
MusicmRichard Addinsell
Running Time: 7 mins.
Members of the GPO Film Unit made this rallying film of defiance, as Britain stood alone following the fall of Europe..
The Story of an Air Communique (1940)
Running Time: 10 mins
Featuring the officers, men and women of the RAF, this film shows how the figures for destroyed enemy aircraft were compiled and checked.
It concentrates on a single communique, that of 15 September 1940 the time of the Battle of Britain. What emerges from the film is a study of people under pressure - fighter pilots and intelligence officers to senior command and the world's press waiting to file another story.
Christmas Under Fire (1941)
Director: Harry Watt
Naration: Quentin Reynolds
Carols sung by: The Choir of King's College Chapel, Cambridge
Running Time: 10 mins
As with 'Britain Can Take It!' , this was originally intended for American audiences. This second film despatch again features the quietly disturbing voice of American journalist, Quentin Reynolds, this time combined with the voices of the Choir at King's College, Cambridge. The film opened American eyes to the realities of life during the Blitz, made even more poignant by the Christmas theme.
Very effective, at the time, were the scenes of the Christmas celebrations in the underground shelters with a shot, photographed from a moving escalator as it descends to platform level, showing the bundles of bedding, and the gathered women and children, all to the accompaniment of the choir singing 'Come All Ye Faithful'. By this time the GPO Film Unit had been renamed the Crown Film Unit.
Men of the Lightship (1940)
Ptroducer: Alberto Cavalcanti
Director: David MacDonald
Photography: Frank 'Jonah' Jones
Sets: Edward Carrick
Editor: Stewart McAllister
Dialogue: David Evans
Script: Hugh Gray
Sound: Ken Cameron
Music: Richard Addinsell, conducted by Muir Mathieson
Running Time: 10 mins
Features the officers and men of the Royal Navy and Trinity House. A devastatingly effective piece of filming (and editing), this dramatic reconstruction of the real-life bombing of the East Dudgeon lightship and the fate of those that manned her struck a particularly responsive chord with wartime cinema andiences. Its emotional impact was intensified because lightships and lighthouses had been considered 'Neutral' until the act depicted in this film took place. This documentary-drama received much critical praise at the time: 'Grim, tense, exciting... this is the best British documentary film I have yet seen (The Daily Express), 'Brilliant little film' (Evening News).
Running Time: 57 Minutes.
DVD Region 0
PAL 4x3