People wondered at first if any movie theatres would open at the start of the war. When the expected bombs failed to appear, cinemas quickly opened to the public. Since almost half the population went to the movies each week in 1939, rising to thirty million a week by 1945, the authorities soon recognised that national morale was hugely boosted by film-going as a leisure pursuit.
But what kind of films should the public watch? And which would have the best effect? These questions led to the setting up of a Ministry of Information who debated whether films should be for propaganda, information or entertainment. In the event, all three had their place.
Ministry of Information Propaganda Themes
In wartime Britain, many other forms of amusement were stopped, so the cinema provided much-needed escape from the darker realities of life. The government hoped to get popular support for the war effort while keeping spirits high. The Ministry of Information identified three propaganda themes which films could address:
- What is Britain fighting for?
- How Britain fights.
- The need for sacrifice if the fight is to be won.
Making Newsreels Acceptable
They decided the Newsreel was the most important propaganda tool as it could reach large audiences. For the sake of morale and to gain public support for the war effort, some of the factual news had to be ‘doctored’ to make it more acceptable. So no shots of a destroyer being blown up. By the first months of 1940, however, people were tired of the emphasis on war and newsreels lost their appeal .
Documentary Films to Boost Morale
The documentary film soon became more popular as a way of boosting the spirit, showing what ordinary men and women could do for their country. By July 1940, five-minute short films were introduced along with the famous GPO Film Unit documentary films. The Humphrey Jennings 1940 film, London Can Take It, illustrates the stoicism of London people during the blitz. His 1943 film, Fires Were Started, uses genuine firemen and locations which appealed to the notion of the ‘people’s war’.
Popular Commercial Feature Films
The more commercial feature film also became popular during the war and some used elements of the realist documentary film to great effect. According to Ian Christie in Arrows of Desire: The Films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (Waterstone), Alexander Korda’s film of 1939, The Lion has Wings, started the day after Hitler invaded Poland and was shown to “an astonished new MOI” just six weeks later. The film’s opening shows how the RAF would fight the war in the sky, ignoring the more depressing aspects of reality. The Daily Mail called it the “most magical picture of the British Spirit and of British Courage that has ever been produced.”
A more chilling film, from a book by Graham Greene, was Went the Day Well? Shown in 1942, the setting is a peaceful, English country village but it tells the shocking, fictional story of German occupation. Although there was little possibility of invasion by this time, the public could identify with the ordinary, peace-loving characters capable of defending their country. That same year, Mrs Miniver depicted a less chilling, but powerful picture of a country village determined to survive against German bombs. Winston Churchill evidently believed this film was more valuable than the combined efforts of six divisions.
Women in War-time Films
The role of women in wartime films was another important way of gaining support for the war effort, as women were taking over the jobs men had left behind. Millions Like Us, in 1943, shows girls from different backgrounds united by their work in an aircraft factory. The Gentle Sex, in 1943, gives a realistic account of a mixed group of girls training in the ATS. As well as encouraging and inspiring the female audience, they showed how important women had become to the war effort.
Romance and Escapism during War
One of the most popular kinds of film during the war was the Gainsborough-type romantic melodrama such as The Wicked Lady in 1945. Although regarded as sensationalist and historically inaccurate, Margaret Lockwood portrays a new kind of woman, immoral and as adventurous as a man.
Powell and Pressburger’s 1945 film, I Know Where I’m Going, also has a strong heroine but is a gentle love story enhanced by the romantic and remote Scottish setting. Film writer Jeffrey Richards states in Best of British: Cinema and Society from 1930 to the Present (IB Tauris), that these types of melodramas “outstripped Ealing’s realistic war films at the box office.”
There is no doubt that the British cinema was one of the most popular places during the dark war years, as increased audience numbers proved. These much-loved British films informed, entertained and provided a morale boost to ordinary men and women, while offering a much-needed escape from the worn-torn reality of the streets outside.
