Advance Democracy! - Part 1 of 2

This 1938 promotional film for trade unionism, made by the Co-Operative Movement, is a very unusual example of left-wing propaganda in 1930s British cinema. Since the late 1920s, the British Board of Film Censors, at the Home Office's behest, had operated a strict and effective policy of behind-the-scenes political censorship, ensuring that about the only political messages permitted in mainstream films were ones that emphasised consensus and national unity. The filmmaker, Ralph Bond, was a figure on the periphery of John Grierson's Documentary Movement, sharing their belief in film as an instrument of social justice, but considered too politically extreme to rise to prominence in the way that directors such as Harry Watt, Basil Wright and Pat Jackson did. For more background, see Bert Hogenkamp, 'Deadly Parallels: Film and the Left in Britain, 1929-39' (London, Lawrence and Wishart, 1986).

This is a transfer from a 1938 16mm release print in my collection. As the film is now over 70 years old, it's in the public domain in the UK. If you wish to leave comments, please do so on the page for part 2.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• propaganda
• socialism
• Great
• Britain
• London
• 1930s
• documentary
• experimental
• film
• Ralph
• Bond
• Benjamin
• Britten