40s Scotland: Propaganda and Public Information Films
The 1940s was a heyday for documentary film making, with many industrial film units, including those of Shell, BP, and ICI offering their servcies to the Ministry of Information and other government departments.
Relatively few were made in Scotland and Panamint Cinema has published almost all of them in various DVD collections shown below
North East Corner: The development of farming and fishing in Buchan and crofting communities in Achriesgill, a village that lies on the eastern bank of Loch Inchard in Lairg, Sutherland.
North East Corner: DVD edition
The Kay Mander Filmbook: A wonderful 2-disc collection of films directed by Kay Mander during the 1940s. They includes Highland Doctor, made to promote the concept of publily funded heath as proposed in The Beveridge Report, Social Insurance and Allied Services, published in November 1942, which was influential in the founding of the welfare state in the United Kingdom.
Ths collection also includes A Plan to Work On, in which the growth of Dunfermline is explored, and an architect describes schemes for changes in the future.
In Penicillin (ICI, 1944), The search for a cure for gas gangrene, which killed so many in the First World War, resulting in the development of the Penicillin antibiotic, originally discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928.
The Kay Mander Filmbook: DVD edition
Scotland's X-Files: From the archive of the Imperial War Museums, rare and unseen Second World War propaganda films made to inform the public of Scotland's role in the war effort.
This fine collection comprises: Scotland Speaks (1940). The role of all Scots in supporting the war effort, assuring soldiers that there will be always be a free Scotland to come home to. Special Despatch (1941). A fictional "day in the life" of a Royal Corps of Signals Despatch rider, introduced by one of the riders. Fighting Fields (1941). Food production in wartime Scotland - the effort to expand agriculture now that the ships and harbours are otherwise employed. A Good Landfall (1941). The Salvation Army help a sailor returning by train from Edinburgh to his ship obtain news of his hospitalised young daughter. Give Us More Ships (1942). Wartime appeal by actor Leslie Banks urging for "more ships ... to win this war", featuring footage of ships under construction, tanks and aircraft being unloaded from a cargo ship, ships under fire, and Nelson's flagship HMS Victory at sea. Strangers (1942). Polish Soldiers are posted to a camp in Scotland after the fall of France. Transatlantic Airport (1944). Prestwick Airport became a meeting point of world air routes during The Second World War. Clyde-Built (1944). Shipbuilding on the Clyde showing the processes involved and emphasising the importance of speed efficiency and reliability in ship construction.
Scotland's X-Files: DVD edition