WWII LONDON DURING THE GERMAN BLITZ LONDON CAN TAKE IT w/ QUENTIN REYNOLDS 78294
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
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This short British propaganda film from 1940 entitled LONDON CAN TAKE IT shows the effects of eighteen hours of the German Blitz on London and its people. Intended to sway the U.S. population in favour of Britain's plight, it was produced by the GPO Film Unit for the British Ministry of Information and distributed throughout the United States by Warner Brothers. The film was directed by Humphrey Jennings and Harry Watt, and narrated by US war correspondent Quentin Reynolds.
The film opens with shots of the London streets in late afternoon, as people begin their commute home. The narrator reminds the audience that these people are part of the greatest civilian army the world has ever known, and are going to join their respective service before London's "nightly visitor" arrives. Listening posts are stationed as far away as the coastline and the "white fingers" of searchlights touch the sky.
Soon the Luftwaffe bombers arrive and begin their nightly work, bombing churches, places of business and homes, the work of five centuries destroyed in five seconds. But as soon as it is morning the British people go back to work the way they usually do, demonstrating the British 'stiff upper lip' attitude. Joseph Goebbels is quoted as saying that the bombings are having a great effect on British morale. He is right, the narrator says, the British people's morale is higher than ever.
Via an agreement with Warner Bros., the film was widely distributed in the United States of America by the British Ministry of Information with the intention of turning public opinion into favouring the USA declaring war on Germany. It did so particularly by depicting the war's effect on ordinary people, rather than on Britain as an outdated imperial power as she was often depicted by anti-war voices in America. A shorter domestic version was released as Britain Can Take It. The film was nominated for an Academy Award in 1941 for Best Live Action Short Film, One-Reel.
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The woman carrying the tin bucket of tea or food at 7:04 is my grandmother Ginnie Mansell. I don't know where the film was taken, but my family lived in West Ham so could have been the bombed dock area. My mum was watching this on TV one day and suddenly saw her long dead mother on it. She had no idea the film existed .
Watching and listening to this film reawakened old memories. I was 5 years old living in South East England during those days. We had no shelter except a cupboard under the stairs, where Mum and I slept every night listening to the bombs and guns and hearing the shrapnel plinking on the roof and road outside. Sometimes she took me into the street where she and the neighbours would douse the incendiary bombs littering the road, with sand and water. Dad was in the Fire Service and was absent most nights coming home in the morning covered in dirty soot, exhausted. He would talk to Mum about his experiences, but I was too young to understand what they were going through. It seems like another World now, fading into the distance of time.
Europe which is incensed about Brexit should remember than the Britain and the RAF saved the world back in 1940. A debt never to be repaid!
Dave Wilson, I'm the same age as you. One of the things that is astonishing to the younger generation now, is that we had no TV, no mobile phones.and no computers. We had a little radio, which we called the wireless, and we had to take the "accumulators " up to a shop to get them charged,so we could listen to the wireless. I remember a lot about the war, but I can't remember what type of shop that charged these accumulators. Perhaps you remember. Another thing to astound this generation, is that a lot of houses didn't have electricity. Cooking, heating, and lighting, were all by gas, in some areas of Hampstead where I lived. I was an only child, so my dad used to talk to me a lot, all about the war, and we used to have maps on the wall that we used to stick little pins in, following battles etc.
@@johnbarton7543 respect to you john. And dave Above
I visited London a few weekends ago and, always having been interested in the Blitz, we went around the City of London. My wife was enjoying seeing all the sights such as Tower Bridge, The Monument, etc, she didn't know that I was looking up at the older buildings looking for bomb shrapnel damage. As we stood in front of St Pauls I could see in my mind's eye, that iconic photograph where the church stood defiant and proud amongst the burning wreckage of the city. Stood on the exact spot where I know a high explosive bomb shattered the pavement and buried itself 6 feet down, failing to explode. Great film, thanks.
My Dad a first world war Soldier was the Head of West London Heavy Rescue based at Kew. He used to come home covered in white dust all over his dark blue battle dress every day my mum beat it in the garden. My Dad built a WWI dug out with tree trunks over the top . He reckoned it could stand all boche artillery. My Mum preferred the deep shelter in the Richmond fields. I collected shrapnel everyday some really big chunks. My Mother threw it all away! At school ,we had Gas mask and blast protection training . We had to know the nearest shelter and Gas cleansing Station. We spent hours down the shelters. eating marmite sandwiches!
The narrator, a war correspondent named Quentin Reynolds, is a wonderful writer who put out a half dozen books during the war, beginning with "London Diary," about the Blitz. If you liked this, find his books. He was great and he deserves to be remembered and brought back into print.
I will!
I was friends with a US soldier that was stationed in London for a brief period of time, durning the Blitz. He said, "one thing for sure, the British people have guts."
Elberiver11. Seek help. You are insane.
I suppose the concentration (death) camps were all made up stories. An old pal of mine was in a regiment that bulldozed bodies into a communial grave at Belsen.
Ever heard of D-Day?
Britain and France and Poland had a pact to stop the German bullies.
I wonder what a US soldier was doing in London during the Blitz. It would be more than a year before Germany declared war on the US.
Long live England , and its people 🇬🇧🇬🇧
Wrong flag.
My Grandmother was from the East end of London she lost everything in the blitz the whole street was blown to bits my Grandfather was away at war at the time.
Elberiver11 Churchill was not the person who declared war on Germany. It was Neville Chamberlain. And Chamberlain was heavily criticised for not doing more to stop the Germans as they ravaged much of Europe. Eventually even the arch appeaser Chamberlain had to declare war after Germany invaded Poland which don’t forget was just the latest of many places he had invaded.
Meanwhile. Take my advice. See a psychiatrist. You are potty to degree seldom heard of.
You can't even imagine how terrifying this would have been the siren is such a scary sound
This was the Brit's finest hour. And they deserve all the respect in the world for the courage they showed each rotten day after the next. But, they are not alone. The Russians, the French, and the smaller countries the Germans slammed into all went thru the same Hell!
The Russians attacked Poland in September 1939.
The Netherlands suffered severe bombing as well.
Not so much France as it fell before the Nazis had to bomb their cities to the ground.
@@user-ky6vw5up9m No, it was the Germans...
Such an incredible time in history. The Brits were brave and smart to send little kids out of London.
The Brits were one tough group of folks
SJ Bobkins And God bless them for it. What has happened to us in America? I thought of 9/12. What has happened to us in America?
we were just doing what brits do
Sadly not any more. Now we run scared from the EU and foreigners.
We've always been known as "Brush yourselves down and get on with it" its not the case now.
Indeed. We've become a nation of whining entitled snowflakes, where people get 'disgusted' if someone asked them to pick up the litter they dropped , 'horrified' at finding a small slug on the lettuce they bought, or more recently, as reported in the news, that one man states that he is too afraid to open his door after a courier left a card when he wasn't home to accept his package with "answer your phone!"
As for the EU, we are too afraid of those nasty foreigners that we chose to scuttle away rather than work with the EU parliament.
We *used* to be tough. Us old ones probably still are.
I am proud of my heritage.
I stay with my family in london at september this year. unbelievable when I see the places in the movie where I was standing. no more war. peace for the world.
@ 5 mins 59 seconds & 8 mins 59 seconds look remarkably familiar
yet alas, those on both sides & all sides have rejected & forgotten those who truly defied & denied victory over London & the free world ,,
their silence remained golden , there are no medals corner stones or grand tales nor epic movies in their name
, they became black sheep & thus hated scorned, fed to the dogs, wherever they trod, hence it was others who now could claim the badge of hero instead ,,
a fitting testament even to this day , whence London was ever attacked , no matter how dark the hour , it was they , yes they , & their silence still remains golden
If it wasn't for the great British courage the Germans would have won but these people fought for what we have now freedom so many thanks to you all
John O'brien If Hitler Listened to his Air commanders Britain would have been under Nazi Rule. You can't comprehend how close it was for it to happen.
Does anybody know if London was raided on New Year's Eve, 1940? (I'm writing a short story set during the Blitz and can't find the relevant information online). Thanks in advance.
Thank you to all the brave soldiers & people that fought for our freedom
A lot of times we don’t give the Germans enough credit for destruction because they had two engine bombers. The first “thousand bomber raid” on Cologne was the rough equivalent of the bombing of Coventry.
Wow
Now the british soldiers would say: "We fought for the wrong side." But no its too late. Britain is fallen
Fairly sure they wouldn't. Let me guess your sentiment here ..... bad muslims, bad europe?
Looks like the war on Nazi’s has still some way to go.
@@dylvaseyFor sure.
If this happened today, I think there would be riots in Los Angeles. Who do you fight for?
America never saved England, England was never taken or invaded by Germany.
Just because Poland couldn't fight their own battle. Crazy.
Tel whatsup Your getting mixed up with the first world war, it wasn't in poland it was in the former Yugoslavia. Hitlers socialist movement started all this with stopping trade to other countries and trying to take everything.
Elberiver11. More rubbish from you. If you knew anything you would know that before the war the British were heavily criticised for their policy of appeasement. Yes. Constantly giving way to the Germans who militarised the Rhineland took over Alsace, invaded Austria then large parts of Czechoslovakia. The Germans then said they wouldn’t invade any more and the British and the French signed the famous Munich agreement allowing the Germans to keep the what they had taken if they agreed to take no more.
Shortly after that agreement - signed by Hitler - he took over the rest of Czechoslovakia. Only then did the British and the French say “no more”. If you invade Poland we will have to go to war. Shortly after that the Germans invaded Poland - with the Soviets invading Poland from the east. And so the allies went to war with utmost reluctance.
Criticise Britain if you must, but try to get some facts right. Meanwhile; you are an idiot of gigantic proportions.
@Elberiver11 one other thing.
The greatest act of genuine altruism in the history of the world began in 1807 when the British decided to stop the slave trade.
The fight latest 50 years, cost the British billions in today's money and profited the British absolutely nothing.
I say genuine altruism because other great acts, the Marshall Plan for instance, benefited America by stopping the rise of communism in several western European countries after the war.
(Look up the word "altruism". I don't suppose you've heard of it before.)
No Fear hahahah Londers wear scared as shit
Tiger I You pathetic worm.
I was there, and I never saw anybody that panicked.
So John Barton your a blitz survivor?
@@johnbarton7543 Absolutely! I lived through the Blitz, the 'Baby' Blitz and the V weapons. My whole family nearly bought it with a close to direct hit, and among all the people we knew, all the neighbours, all the schoolkids and teachers, I never saw any sign of panic or despair.
derpreue. You were there, were you?
I don’t like this it seems so eerie
💜❤💕🌷🌹🌸😘
:3
At the same time British looted india two faces of snake wat a lol
Every country England gave independence to turned right back into a shithole after they left.
With all condemnation to the nazis and all glory to the anti Nazi fighters, this treatment suits the Brits who looted half of the globe to make London...it was their karma which came back to them
Not that rubbish again. That was the world then - get over it, you fool.