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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Farewell my Concubine
Spanning 50 years and a lifelong relationship amidst the violence and upheaval of national civil unrest, this unflinching epic balances intimate romance and devastating scale to heartbreaking effect. Adapted from the novel by Lilian Lee (author of Rouge), the tale of Dieyi and Xiaolou carries us ...
