The First Days
British Film Institute • 23m
Directed by Humphrey Jennings, Harry Watt & Pat Jackson • Documentary • 1939 • 23 minutes
Sunday 3 September, 1939. The day begins peacefully with people going to church or to the country, but at 11.15am Neville Chamberlain broadcasts from 10 Downing Street the news that Britain has declared war on Germany. London prepares during the first days of World War II.
Up Next in British Film Institute
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Listen to Britain
Directed by Humphrey Jennings & Stewart McAllister • Documentary • 1942 • 19 minutes
Documentary, public information film, morale booster; propaganda film – all descriptions that apply to Humphrey Jennings and Stewart McAllister's extraordinary war-time film. Using his customary combination ...
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London Can Take It
Directed by Humphrey Jennings & Harry Watt • Documentary • 1940 • 10 minutes
Humphrey Jennings and Harry Watt’s famous film, produced at the GPO film unit, is an enduring example of British self-mythology and rousing evidence of the artistic potential of supposed propaganda. A hymn to the Br...
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Night Mail
Directed by Harry Watt & Basil Charles Wright • Documentary • 1936 • 23 minutes
A cornerstone of British documentary, Harry Watt and Basil Wright's NIGHT MAIL, with music by Benjamin Britten and verse by W.H. Auden, stands as a beacon for John Grierson's original purpose for documentary - to...
