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London 1942

Video London 1942

TLF ID M011954

This is a film about the effects of the World War II on London and Londoners in 1942. It shows London as the organising hub of the 20 Allied nations at war, with new life and growing strength arising amid the ruins of the Blitz. Londoners are seen serving in the Home Guard and the civilian defence, fire-watching, growing food, keeping pigs, shopping for rationed goods, eating communal meals, relaxing and being entertained. The film emphasises the mobilisation of women for the war effort. It is in black-and-white and runs for 13 mins 46 secs with several shots censored.

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Educational details

Educational value
  • This film is of great value for the World War II depth study in the year 10 history curriculum. It is especially relevant for the depth study's content description that refers to the impact of World War II including the changing roles of women and use of wartime government controls (manpower controls, rationing and censorship). Women are shown placing their children into nurseries; working in factories, on buses, in civil defence and on allotments; as well as shopping for rationed food and clothing.
  • The censored section provides an insight into wartime government controls. All films were scripted, directed and shot under strict rules about what they could show and how they must try to raise the morale of the civilian population. Even so, 'London 1942' fell foul of the censors in the Ministry of Information for including a shot of Auxiliary Territorial Service personnel operating an anti-aircraft gun. One of the parts of the gun was classified as secret.
  • The resource may make some contribution to students attaining the year 10 history achievement standard. It provides a multimedia source from World War II that may help students explain patterns of change by referring to the actions of individuals and groups. It may also assist them analyse the effects of events and the context for people's actions in the past.
Year level

10

Topics Military campaigns Censorship Labour market Domestic war effort Rationing World War II
Learning area
  • History

Other details

Contributors
  • Contributor
  • Name: Education Services Australia
  • Organization: Education Services Australia
  • Description: Data manager
  • Address: VIC, AUSTRALIA
  • URL: http://www.esa.edu.au/
  • Copyright Holder
  • Name: British Council
  • Organization: British Council
  • Address: UNITED KINGDOM
  • URL: http://film.britishcouncil.org/
  • Publisher
  • Name: British Council
  • Organization: British Council
  • Description: Publisher
  • Address: UNITED KINGDOM
  • URL: http://film.britishcouncil.org/
  • Resource metadata contributed by
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organisation: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Address: AUSTRALIA
  • URL: www.esa.edu.au
Access profile
  • Unknown
Learning Resource Type
  • Video
Rights
  • © British Council, except where indicated otherwise. This material is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0) licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/.