The British Film Resource A History of British Film Early British Comedy Early Hitchcock Introduction to Humphrey Jennings Humphrey Jennings and Third Cinema. The Stars Look Down / The Proud Valley - Conflict and Unity The Renaissance of the 1980s Film On Four The Films of David Lynch Dennis Potter & The Singing Detective
Humphrey Jennings and Third Cinema. Author:Tomas Leach
A Fresh Framework The Propaganda Master Fires Were Started Oppositional Cinema A National Cinema The Patriot Narrative Deconstruction Listen to Britain The Listener Narrative / Non-narrative Conclusion   print this page   further reading This site relies on your donations to stay afloat. The Propaganda Master "Jennings the propaganda master" (Winston , 1999, pp37). That Jennings was officially a propagandist is an indisputable fact. His key wartime films were all made under the Crown Film Unit (CFU), after its change from the former GPO film unit upon its absorption by the Ministry of Information when they (rather late in the war) acknowledged (or warily trusted?) the power of the propaganda film. Jennings and his colleagues at the C.F.U were all knowingly and professionally producing films for the government. Although not a form of 'direct' propaganda, but a form of 'sociological'/'indirect' propaganda as outlined by Jacques Elul, Jennings' films cannot be ignored as substantial works "The ground must be sociologically prepared before one can proceed to direct prompting. Sociological propaganda can be compared to ploughing, direct propaganda to sowing". The films that Jennings was making, then, hold a contradictory stance. They are clearly made as propaganda, and are, at their most simplistic, powerful evocations of the British (although predominantly English and Welsh) people's strength during war. For me, however, they are even more powerful as anti-war statements, directly oppositional to the government's stance, directly oppositional to the politics that commissioned them and therefore a true example of Third Cinema.   Fires Were Started
A History of British Film   Early British Comedy   Early Hitchcock   Introduction to Humphrey Jennings   Humphrey Jennings and Third Cinema.   The Stars Look Down / The Proud Valley - Conflict and Unity   The Renaissance of the 1980s   Film On Four The British Film Resource   The Films of David Lynch   Dennis Potter & The Singing Detective If you would like to reproduce any portion of this work, or have any comments, please