Good Value

1942
Sound
8m

A tribute to British workmanship - from Witney blankets to Sheffield cutlery.

Pleasing propaganda for British manufacturing - equally adept at battlefield bayonets and harmless kitchen knives. Witness the weavers of Witney, the cutlers of Sheffield and the producers of electric lamps at an unnamed location. Although citing mass-production and its role in fashioning weapons of war, this is at heart a gentle, reassuring vision of craft-based cottage industries. Outsourcing lies far in the future...

The filmmakers perhaps felt some affinity for their subjects. The documentary film business was likewise a cottage industry, likewise distinguished by precision-craftsmanship, likewise applied both to wartime and peacetime purposes. The Realist Film Unit, which produced this film (and many more) for the government's Ministry of Information, was one of the leading independent production companies within the British documentary film movement.

Keep the Wheels Turning

The State seized control of much of British industry at the start of the war. Mills and factories now produced munitions, planes, tanks and uniforms, while mines yielded the coal to power it all.

Production went into overdrive. Workforces in key industries like coalmining and shipbuilding were classed as 'reserved occupations' and spared the draft, while an army of women took to the machines to meet the constant demand for munitions and uniforms. In hindsight, we can see that the foundations of the postwar settlement were being laid. The wartime economy was formidable: workers pulled together to meet ever-increasing demand for resources and government oversight kept the motors running.