Listen to Britain

Infobox Film
name = Listen to Britain


image_size =
caption = Title card of "Listen to Britain"
director = Humphrey Jennings
Stewart McAllister
producer = Ian Dalrymple
writer = Humphrey Jennings
Stewart McAllister
narrator = Leonard Brockington
starring = Chesney Allen & Bud Flanagan (as Flanagan and Allen)
Myra Hess
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
music =
cinematography = H.E. Fowle
editing = Humphrey Jennings
Stewart McAllister
John Krish (uncredited) [cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/1077061/index.html|title=Krish, John (1923- )|last=Russell|first=Patrick|publisher=British Film Institute|accessdate=2008-08-28]
distributor = Crown Film Unit
released = Start date|1942 (United Kingdom)
runtime = 19 min.
country = flagicon|United Kingdom United Kingdom
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0034978

"Listen to Britain" is a 1942 British propaganda short film by Humphrey Jennings and Stewart McAllister. The film was produced during World War II by the Crown Film Unit, an organisation within the British Government's Ministry of Information to support the Allied war effort. The film was nominated for the inaugural Academy Award for Documentary Feature in 1942, but lost against four other allied proganda films. The film depicts a day in the life of Britain during the blitz, and is noted for its nonlinear structure and its use of sound. "Listen to Britain" is widely regarded as a masterpiece and one of the best British films of all time. [cite web|url=http://www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1000_countryUK.htm|title=The Top 100 Films|last=Georgaris|first=Bill|coauthors = Vicki Platt|publisher=They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?|accessdate=2008-08-28]

Plot

"Listen to Britain" opens with a foreword spoken by Leonard Brockington. The forewords begins with the famous and eponymous "I am a Canadian. I have been listening to Britain.".ref A

Footnotes

:ref A I am a Canadian. I have been listening to Britain. I have heard the sound of her life by day and by night. Many years ago, a great American, speaking of Britain, said that in the storm of battle and conflict, she had a secret rigour and a pulse like a cannon. In the great sound picture that is here presented, you too will hear that heart beating. For blended together in one great symphony is the music of Britain at war. The evening hymn of the lark, the roar of the Spitfires, the dancers in the great ballroom at Blackpool, the clank of machinery and shunting trains. Soldiers of Canada holding in memory, in proud memory, their home on the range. The BBC sending truth on its journey around the world. The trumpet call of freedom, the war song of a great people. The first sure notes of the march of victory, as you, and I, listen to Britain.

References

External links

*
* [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/520084 Comprehensive webpage] at the British Film Institute
* [http://www.tc.umn.edu/~ryahnke/filmteach/listen.htm Synopsis] of the film by Robert E. Yahnke