I knew that I had seen a film familiar to this within the last year, "The Lion Has Wings", a semi-documentary about the early days of Great Britain's involvement in the war, which features Ralph Richardson and Merle Oberon as a typical married couple dealing with changes in their life during the time of war. Lots of newsreel and exposition is inserted in between the dramatic scenes, and both films show life as it was prior to war from many different social aspects. This is probably 60% exposition and 40% dramatic filler. There's a bit of history of the post first world war and the details of what led to the threat of another, showing the hatred of the Nazis towards the Communists and the anger that both political parties cause in a democratic society.
These films are interesting in a historical context as both use completely different newsreel footage and background dramatic scenes to make a propaganda film that promises to be entertaining as well as educational. This film surrounds the idea of making such a film, showing the researching of newsreels and how it's all put together, explaining its purpose and goals. Will Fyffe is the cranky chief of production, and Terry-Thomas is one of the men on his crew. Arguments between British men having read all of "Mein Kampf" over Germans who have only read select portions are certainly revealing.
These films are interesting in a historical context as both use completely different newsreel footage and background dramatic scenes to make a propaganda film that promises to be entertaining as well as educational. This film surrounds the idea of making such a film, showing the researching of newsreels and how it's all put together, explaining its purpose and goals. Will Fyffe is the cranky chief of production, and Terry-Thomas is one of the men on his crew. Arguments between British men having read all of "Mein Kampf" over Germans who have only read select portions are certainly revealing.
