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This Was Paris (Trailer)

This Was Paris (Trailer)

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WWII at the Pictures

Once the cinemas were declared open for business, the film industry kept the reels turning, serving up a mixed diet of news, morale-boosting propaganda and uplifting entertainment.

In the early days of the war, cinemas were closed as a public safety measure, but authorities were soon persuaded of film's many virtues in wartime. Newsreels kept spirits up and relayed vital information, documentaries rigorously explored every aspect of life and work on the home front, and an array of animations and short films imparted practical tips and guidance.

Feature films, meanwhile, offered equal parts inspiring wartime stories and escapist fantasy to bring relief from everyday trials. And with gender roles evolving and so many men away from home, producers were forced to pay more attention (long overdue!) to the tastes and interests of women cinemagoers - with fascinating and enduring results.

34 videos in this collection

The villagers of Cwmgiedd re-enact a Nazi massacre in Czechoslovakia, in Humphrey Jennings' unforgettable propaganda film.
1

The Silent Village

  • Cwmgiedd
  • 1943
Gainsborough melodrama trailer, starring the most desirable cast of the period.
2

The Man in Grey (Trailer)

  • 1943
Powerful and sometimes disturbing account of Britain's defences against enemy attack - made six months before WWII.
3

The Warning

  • 1939
Use Rinso and help defeat Hitler! Soap brand Rinso deploys some savvy wartime advertising.
4

Little Miss Muddlehead (Rinso Advert)

  • 1943
A pacy trailer for Launder and Gilliat's 2000 Women, about incarcerated women who hide a British airman.
5

Two Thousand Women (Trailer)

  • 1944
Entertaining and evocative Fleet Air Arm drama-doc propaganda piece, written and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.
6

The Volunteer

  • Denham
  • 1944-01-10
Will Hay's 'silly ass' sidekick Claude Hulbert is excellent in this ingenious wartime savings propaganda comedy short.
7

Did You Ever See a Dream Talking?

  • 1943
Hard work on the home front: the story of the 'reserved occupations'.
8

A Job to Be Done

  • Witney
  • 1940
Fun mixture of natural history and wartime public information.
9

Wisdom of the Wild

  • 1940
A pair of 'nude' dancers find a new way of doing their bit for the boys in this fun propaganda short
10

A Call for Arms!

  • 1940
Terror on the home front - literally - in this heady and eccentric brew.
11

Fear and Peter Brown

  • 1940
An entertaining wartime promotional film for the National Savings campaign thatshoehorns in three variety acts.
12

Savings Cavalcade

  • 1943
A trailer for Ealing's wartime drama "Ships with Wings", an all-star actioner about the Navy's Fleet Air Arm.
13

Ships with Wings (Trailer)

  • 1941
Only a witch would be wicked enough to help Hitler on washing day, warns this fun wartime soap powder ad.
14

The Wicked Witch (Rinso Advert),

  • 1942
Women on the factory floor? An engineer needs convincing that war work is a feminine pursuit.
15

Her Father's Daughter

  • 1941
Fun-filled singalong savings ad with a dangerously catchy theme tune.
16

Bob in the Pound

  • 1943
Stirring trailer for renowned war documentary Desert Victory - coming to a screen near you!
17

Desert Victory (Trailer)

  • 1943
An American G.I. learns how to brew a proper English cuppa in this jolly wartime ad for Maypole tea.
18

U.S. And Us

  • 1943
Humphrey Jennings and Stewart McAllister's masterly collage of the various people and classes of Britain - at home and at work, at war and at peace - is one of the great films of war-time Britain.
19

Listen to Britain

  • 1942
Matter-of-fact wartime instruction in how to fit your gas mask efficiently - leaving no margin for error.
20

How to Fit a Gas Mask

  • 1939
An indefatigable district nurse crisscrosses her rural patch to tend to the sick at home and on the farm.
21

The District Nurse

  • 1942
"Is everybody happy? YES!" Children were both seen and heard, loudly singing along to this jolly anthem at Odeon National Cinema Clubs across Britain
22

Odeon Cinema Club

  • 1943
This Vim ad cleverly adopts the guise of a wartime public information filler.
23

Minister of the Interior (Vim Advert)

  • 1943
24

This Was Paris (Trailer)

  • 1941
The young, old and infirm are evacuated from Blitz-hit cities in this moving testament to Britain's wartime organisational prowess.
25

Health in War

  • 1940
Glamour comes to wartime Folkestone as the town hosts its first world film premiere.
26

World Premiere of "Kipps"

  • Folkestone
  • 1941
German trailer for a rare British wartime thriller about love, treachery and a missing 50,000 dollars.
27

Suspected Person (Trailer)

  • 1942
This typically energetic trailer for a British-made Warner Bros. wartime drama certainly does its job.
28

Flying Fortress (Trailer)

  • 1942
Two daft 'goofers' cause trouble by staying outside while an air battle rages overhead in this punchy WWII public information film.
29

Goofer Trouble

  • 1940
A thoughtful Christmas message in hope of peace from early in WWII - the absence of loved ones hit hardest at holiday times.
30

Wartime Cinema Christmas Greeting

  • 1940
Following one family from 1944 till after the war, this film tells the story of the women who worked to keep the home fires burning - not to mention cleaning the grates, darning socks, feeding a houseful on rations and waving off the uniformed heroes with a brave smile. It's an affecting and affectionate tribute to the vital role women played ensuring that husbands, sons and daughters had something to come home to.
31

The Weaker Sex

  • 1948
A taxing issue for the post-war film industry - cinema owners make their case in this silent plea
32

Film Tax Cinema Advertisement

  • 1947
33

Cinemagazine No.8

  • 1946
An Ealing councillor fervently implores local cinemagoers to Dig for Victory!
34

Greenford and Northolt Dig for Victory Campaign

  • 1942
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