Noise to Signal

Login disabled.

What A Life!

In preparation for the much bigger article I'm going to write about British Public Information Films soon (honest), here's a fabulous example of the genre from the National Archives site, dated 1947. Titled "What A Life!", it stars Richard Massingham, who was to appear in many PIFs, but this is unusual in showing a weary attitude to post-war life, and has such black humour that it was complained about in Parliament! It's really refreshing compared to the rather more strait-laced presentation of the era that abounds, and gives me the impression that 'modern' humour really isn't that modern at all.

About this entry


Comments

Cheers for digging that up. What a great wee film! It would have been very odd to have seen a PIF with that sort of black humour and general lack of firm message (what was it saying at the end? That you can always go for a pint?) in the 1980s, let alone the 1940s.

By Zagrebo
October 08, 2007 @ 11:12 pm

reply / #


It's an amazing piece of work. As I said, we're so used to a certain idea of that era, I think we forget that not everyone was like Mr Chomondley-Warner! It makes me want to hunt out more Richard Massingham stuff. If only I had the money.

Also, the other films from that era are well worth a look, especially the ones about the NHS and the government's plans for Britain at the time. Sadly, they never achieved their potential.

By Tanya Jones
October 09, 2007 @ 11:11 pm

reply / #