WW2 Public Information Films – Leslie Howard

I have just been sent a link to some 1941 Ministry of Information films held by the Imperial War Museums and tagged:

• The soldiers – from Australia, Canada and New Zealand – meet in Trafalgar Square, where a gushing lady commends them for “answering the mother country’s call”. Leslie Howard, the actor, rescues them, buys them a drink, then takes them to Saint Paul’s and shows them that the reason they are fighting is not in answer to anyone’s ‘call’, but in voluntary defence of the heritage Britain has in common with her Empire. The film also appears to intend a play for American support – Howard adopts the preamble of the Declaration of Independence as a shorthand statement of Britain’s war aims.

(links to films below)

From the Four Corners Part One

From the Four Corners Part Two

Getting the tone of the period while remaining relevant to a modern audience is always something of a tightrope walk and seeing the kinds of public information and propaganda films that movie goers would have seen between the A and B movies (or more likely B and A for those of us who still remember getting two films for our money before the dawn of Muliplexes) is one way of referencing that era.

These clips are especially fun for me and any fan  of the Bunch Courtney Investigations because Leslie Howard is exactly who I see when I am writing about her partner in crime-busting, Chief Inspector William Wright!

The latest book In Cases of Murder is out now!