Product Details

• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Kino Video
• VHS Release Date: June 27, 2000
• Run Time: 107 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: 6302600324
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #592,741 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wartime Moments, October 5, 2010

By 

meg (santa monica, california) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wartime Moments [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Three of the most noted British WWII propaganda films are included in this collection. LISTEN TO BRITAIN, co-directed by Humphrey Jennings and Stewart McAllister, is a narration-free celebration of daily British life during wartime in 1942. Images from across the nation are shown with a soundtrack of collected sound fragments of the time: sounds of a lunchtime factory canteen as the workers sing along with a musical theater duo, sounds of the factory itself, the radio broadcasting "London Calling," the sound of Big Ben striking the hour, the music of another lunchtime concert, this one held at the National Gallery, featuring the pianist Myra Hess and attended by the Queen. I'm sure it was heartening to the British to see the royal family in residence in London. All these years later it brought a lump to my throat to see the empty frames hanging on the museum walls, testament that the valuable masterpieces were still being stored elsewhere for safekeeping against German bombing attacks. This is a masterpiece, whether of the propaganda genre or the documentary genre.

A DIARY FOR TIMOTHY, made by Jennings in 1945 as an Allied victory seemed more certain, is another record of "daily life" during wartime. "Timothy" is born on September 4, 1944, the fifth anniversary of hostilities between England and Germany. The film covers national events during the baby's first three months. The narration, written by E.M. Forster and performed by Michael Redgrave, muses about what kind of world Timothy and others of his generation will inherit.

TARGET FOR TONIGHT, directed by Harry Watt and released in 1941, recounts the planning and execution of a Royal Air Force squadron's night raid on an oil storage depot near the Rhine. It is a matter-of-fact reenactment performed with aplomb by the RAF personnel themselves. Not just a huge morale booster for the homefront audience, the film also had a propaganda impact abroad. For example, it won an honorary Academy Award at the 1942 Oscar ceremonies, shortly after the U.S. was stunned by the attack on Pearl Harbor.

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