London Can Take It!
Period & History
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War, Documentary, UR
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 our 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 Period & History
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The Silent Village
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 (often said to be Britain's greatest documentary filmmaker) ingenio...
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Spare Time
Humphrey Jennings epitomises the artist-filmmaker and this poetic evocation of ordinary people enjoying well-earned time away from the mill, mine, or foundry is a forerunner to Jennings' later wartime greats such as Listen to Britain. Joyous shots of people either pigeon fancying, ballroom danci...
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Scott of the Antarctic
This tale of adventure and daring was one of Ealing Studio’s most ambitious features, with the crew hauling a huge Technicolor camera on location to Norway and Switzerland. The choice to shoot in colour was interesting given the bleak, white landscape and cinematographer Jack Cardiff based shots ...
