London Can Take It
Humphrey Jennings • 9m 20s
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 British capital city’s resilience during the Blitz, structured as a day-in-the-life of stiff-upper-lipped Londoners, its poetic espousal of British fortitude ensured the film was widely exhibited internationally and utilised as a tool to help persuade America to join the Second World War.
Up Next in Humphrey Jennings
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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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Fires Were Started
Directed by Humphrey Jennings • Documentary • 1943 • 63 minutes
A dramatisation of the work of the National Fire Service during the Fire Blitz of the winter and spring of 1940/41.
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The Silent Village
Directed by Humphrey Jennings • Documentary • 1943 • 36 minutes
The villagers of Cwmgiedd, southwest Wales, are the stars of Humphrey Jennings’ unforgettably inventive drama-doc. At Lidice, Czechoslovakia, a mining community’s entire male population was executed by the Nazis in 1942. Jennings (o...
