Ministry of Information

After escaping a Nazi POW camp, a young Scottish RAF gunner recounts his perilous journey through occupied France with the help of the Resistance. During his debriefing in London, French intelligence officers press him for details—especially about one companion whose true loyalties may not be what they seemed.

An uncredited Anthony Asquith is one of the directors of this WWII film (a joint UK/US production) which aims to explain British culture and character to the newly arrived American soldier. Starting with the ubiquitous pub visit, the film breezes through geography lessons, food and entertainment on the Home Front.

Backstage before a performance, a French actor recalls his time in Madagascar during World War II, when he secretly ran a Resistance radio station under the watch of a collaborationist police chief. His story unfolds in flashback, revealing espionage, deception, and divided loyalties within the French ranks. Made for Britain’s Ministry of Information, this 1944 French-language propaganda short satirizes Vichy opportunism and wartime hypocrisy, and was shelved for decades before its release in 1993.

A romantic tour of Britain set to Dylan Thomas's poetry.

Sheffield stands in as 'Smokedale', an industrial Everytown, in this stirring call for "new schools, new hospitals, new roads, new life", after WWII.

Trawlers at work; the crew on board and landing a catch. The fishing crew are seen with their families on shore shopping and enjoying themselves in the pub. Life aboard a West Coast trawler under arduous and dangerous wartime conditions.

A soldier returns home from the Far Eastern theatre of conflict, but discovers that life back home isn't quite what he expected.

A 1941 Ministry of Information propaganda film set to the tune of The Lambeth Walk, a popular song from the musical Me and My Girl.

At the start of World War II, few ordinary soldiers knew exactly why they were fighting, or the significance of each theatre of war. Such ignorance did not boost the fighting spirit amongst the men; hence the need for education of the forces in current affairs was recognised and ABCA conceived. Officers attended courses on conducting discussions groups, and these were started as hourly sessions each week. Such was the response that ABCA rapidly expanded resulting in photographic display, wall newspapers articles written by the men themselves and an "Anglo American Brains Trust". ABCA would not only benefit the men during war time, but play an important part in post-war period during the building of the "new peace".

A short documentary style film it depicts the story of The British obtaining a special tool from America to help with the building of a tank.

On the 29th September 1945, the incomplete rough cut of a brilliant documentary about concentration camps was viewed at the MOI in London. For five months, Sidney Bernstein had led a small team – which included Stewart McAllister, Richard Crossman and Alfred Hitchcock – to complete the film from hours of shocking footage. Unfortunately, this ambitious Allied project to create a feature-length visual report that would damn the Nazi regime and shame the German people into acceptance of Allied occupation had missed its moment. Even in its incomplete form (available since 1984) the film was immensely powerful, generating an awed hush among audiences. But now, complete to six reels, this faithfully restored and definitive version produced by IWM, is being compared with Alain Resnais’ Night and Fog (1955).

Bernard Miles and Percy Walsh play two members of the Home Guard, on duty by a windmill, discussing the causes of the war and the issues at stake.

Is your hedge thin and straggly? Don't worry, help is at hand.

Coventry prepares to rise from the ashes of WWII in this docu-drama written by Dylan Thomas.

A Letter From Ulster (1943). Northern Ireland's greatest film director Brian Desmond Hurst directed the film and his assistant director was fellow Ulsterman William (Bill) MacQuitty who went on to make the ultimate Titanic film A Night to Remember. The script was written by Terence Young who went on to direct the early Bond films. All the components were in place for a fine film and this short (32 minute) by the Crown Film Unit remains an important part of Ulster and America's cultural history. As the opening credit says "This film is dedicated to those members of the US Forces Who are our guests in these islands". The film shows American soldiers landing in Northern Ireland and settling into their new camps. The arrival of mail from 'back home' helps camp moral, however, two brothers receive none. Their commander realises that the two brothers have not sent any letters back to their parents and gives the order to write a letter home- A Letter From Ulster.

A tribute to the Avro Lancaster, “the most powerful and efficient bomber in the world, and one of the most important war-winning weapons in the UN”.

With great optimism Britain re-constructed after World War I but ignored the threat from the Gathering Storm of Nazi aggression.

How Somerton, Oxfordshire benefits from membership of the Village Produce Association during WWII.

Members of three Commonwealth armies, an Aussie, a Canadian, and a New Zealander meet actor Leslie Howard who buys them a beer and makes them understand why they're fighting.

A doctor talks about the number of injuries and deaths resulting from automobile accidents.