British Home Front Public Information Films - WWII Propaganda & History for Education & Research

These discs contain a fascinating collection of propaganda films made for the public by the UK government (and a couple from the US). In general, the films are simply presented as they are, without significant commentary or linking material, although there a couple of brief voice overs. The films are arranged by themes, so that those concerning ration books are all grouped together, for example.Several things astounded me. The way the government sponsored announcers talked down to the audience, addressing them as if they were all mentally defective, for example, in several films would never be allowed today. I was most intrigued by the several films about recycling, showing how to sort different recyclables into different bins for rubbish collection...I had thought that was an idea that only came in in the UK in the 21st Century. (if recyclable waste was collected in the 1940s, why did we stop?)Other suggestions were frankly hilarious. The films encouraging city dwellers to come on a 'fun holiday' labouring on a farm without pay showed them laughing as they grubbed on their hands and knees for potatoes, and playing games of cricket in the evening. This caused my mother, who was watching with me, to supply her own voice over describing just how painful and exhausting the reality of these 'holidays' had been! As a scientist, I was more amused by the advice on what you should do if you find that a German incendiary bomb has dropped a pound of burning white phosphorus into your living room: apparently you should hide behind the door frame and throw glasses of water at it !!