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I collect British WW2 movies made in the 40's, 50's and 60's. I currently have about 100 on DVD but I am really looking for a definitive list of all the films in the above category that were made.

Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

Blanche Fury

You could try the book 'British Cinema and the Second World War' by Robert Murphy, published by Continuum in 2000. (If it's out of print you might find a copy on abebooks.com) This has a filmography listing nearly 400 films (1939-2000), though I don't suppose this is a definitive list. It's a reasonably good read too, if a little 'academic' and dry, and because it covers such a lot of ground it deals in detail with only a small number of films.

John Llewellyn Moxey

I directed a film for the War Office (or perhps the post office). Itwas entitled "Escape and Evasion". Donald Taylor was the producer. Maybe the Crown Film Unit was involved.
I would like to trace it as it got me the job of Directing "Horror Hotel".

John Llewellyn

ChristineCB

I did a KEYWORD search on IMDB using

"british-ww2"
"british-wwii"
"british-war"

without getting direct hits on those. Then I did another KEYWORD search on "wwii" and saw that "british" and "british-army" both had subcategories.

However, a cursory glance thru those few dozen films showed they were far from definitive.

John Llewellyn Moxey

Thanks, I will look into them. John Llewellyn

theuofc

Hello, John,

How are you? One of the pleasures of BritMovie Forum is reading a message from you related to your work in film. Here are some thoughts on tracking down the training film "Escape and Evasion" that you made for Donald Taylor.

One important detail would be when you made the film as that would help lead to the correct film unit and finding out if a print exists. Your 'Horror Hotel' is dated 1960. If you made 'Escape and Evasion' as early as the years between 1939-1945, from what I can determine, it would have been for the Government Post Office Film Unit under the arm of the Ministry of Information 'propaganda machine'. Pinewood Studios was requisitioned and used as a base for the GPO Film Unit (later CFU), the Army Film and Photographic Unit, the RAF Film Unit and the Polish Air Force Film Unit. Would you have filmed that early and where did you film the movie?

By spring 1946, the Central Office of Information had become the peacetime successor to the Ministry of Information with the Crown Film Unit (formerly the GPO Film Unit) now serving as the in-house production body of the COI. The Crown Film Unit ended in 1952. I am thinking you were right the first time in saying it was for Crown in light of the operating dates.

Would "Escape" have any other title, as does your 'Horror Hotel', aka 'City of Dead'? I ask because searches bring up quite a number of UK training films, and the like made during WW2 but not your title which is also not listed in your filmography nor that of Taylor or if it is, I can't find it. (I was shocked to see that Taylor committed suicide in his 50s.) Films slip through the cracks, but if it has another title that would offer another avenue of search.

Interesting to note that you were not alone in making training and other war films. Ian Dalrymple was head of the RAF Crown Film Unit also churning out war films. Freddie Young was Chief Cameraman and later Director and head of a unit for three years doing training films for the Army Film Production Unit. His "Seventy Light Years" is a wonderful look back at early days of filming and personalities. But I digress, which is very tempting fun to do on this subject.

If you want to try tracking down 'Escape and Evasion', here are some thoughts that you may not have explored as contacts to see if they have your film in their holdings:

1. The BFI vast holdings. I searched their database, but talking to them might unearth more titles.

2. The Imperial War Museum has a large collection of Ministry of Information films made between 1939-1945, newsreels, docs, propaganda, and training films, which might include the one you did for Donald Taylor. It would be worth a call to them:

Film and Video Archive - Imperial War Museum
Collections: Footage shot by service cameramen, newsreels, documentaries, amateur footage and television programmes, which can be viewed by appointment.
Film and Video Archive
020 7416 5291/5292
Non-commercial enquiries
Tel: + 44 (0)20 7416 5294/3
Fax: + 44 (0)20 7416 5299
Email: film@iwm.org.uk / Postal address: Film and Video Archive
Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, London, SE1 6HZ

3. Here is a rich online source for WW2 docs and films made in the UK by the Ministry of Information, the Crown Film Unit and others.

For PnP members: among the films is: "Britain At War - Homeguard -"the unknown warriors", as Churchill called the part time band of citizens prepared to fight and die for their country, who by1944 were over 200,000 strong and trained to professional standards. Well done, Clive Candy!

http://www.1940.co.uk/acatalog/Documentary.html

4. Film-Images which has WW2 information films, including ones from the Central Office of Information Footage File, Crown, etc:

http://www.film-images.com/

Good luck in finding that pivotal film, John. Let us know if it surfaces.

All the best,

Barbara

Dirk_Bogarde_Brigade - a Yahoo group

dylan

Here's a list of key 50s British war films:

Close up - Appendix to Robert Murphy's Article

D