Ministry of Information

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).

World War II propaganda film.

A young, Scottish RAF gunner is debriefed by French officials about his escape from Nazi-occupied territory. They are particularly interested in one person who may or may not have been a German agent.

A former leader of the French Resistance finds that one of his fellow actors looks like a detestable official he knew in Madagascar during the war. He tells about his time, operating an illegal radio station while evading the Nazis.

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.

Government information film on how to get maximum wear from a man's suit, narrated by one such suit in the form of an autobiography.

A documentary account of the allied invasion of Europe during World War II compiled from the footage shot by nearly 1400 cameramen. It opens as the assembled allied forces plan and train for the D-Day invasion at bases in Great Britain and covers all the major events of the war in Europe from the Normandy landings to the fall of Berlin.

The true story of the massacre of a small Czech village by the Nazis is retold as if it happened in Wales.

Animated short from Halas and Batchelor encouraging the British public to post early for Christmas.

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

A tribute to the courage and resiliency of Britons during the darkest days of the London Blitz.

Short WW II documentary

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

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

The story of how newspapers were distributed during the Blitz, stressing the importance of an accurate and objective press on the home front.

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 dramatised account of Norwegian fishermen outwitting occupational forces during World War II, directed by Jiří Weiss and written by acclaimed author Laurie Lee.

A parallel is drawn between a housewife's dealings with her butcher, and a burglar and his fence (receiver).

Surrealism, avant-garde sound montage, and irreverent wit might be the last thing you'd expect from a government-sponsored film about wartime cookery. But director, artist, animator and all-round firework of a man Len Lye specialised in the unexpected. A simple tale of a mother cheering up her daughter with a pie from her rationing-stricken pantry (interestingly the war is never directly referred to) is skilfully crafted into a work of real artistic depth, while retaining an unpretentious charm.

This film explains how sneezing in public can spread disease, and shows how using a handkerchief can stop it.