A Welcome to Britain

During World War II, the influx of American troops to Great Britain in 1942 caused a great deal of tension on both sides. Much of it had to do with women, of course. Your basic Tommy was making $15 a month, and the lowest ranked American buck private was making $50. Our brash American GI's would just walk up to British gals and say, "Hi, good-looking, can I take you out to dinner and a dance?" They were free to give out nylon stockings and other gifts, and the British guys couldn't match it. Naturally, British women (or any women) liked having money spent on them, so were happy to go out with the Americans. This led to a common lament among Tommy's that the Yanks were "overpaid, oversexed, and over here." It was like a country full of David Niven's and Hugh Grant's was invaded by hundreds of thousands of John Wayne's and Robert Mitchum's.

This sort of tension led to this film short, introducing American soldiers, headed to or in Britain, on how to behave a little more conservatively than they were used to doing at home. Some basic info about warm beer, the war rationing the Brits were enduring, the never-ending pots of tea, not throwing their money around, and basic guest manners are given.

Burgess Meredith, who is now probably best known as Mickey, from the Rocky movies, The Penguin from the old Batman TV series, and some classic Twilight Zone appearances, is our guide and narrator. He moves through various situations our soldiers are likely to run into in Britain, and frequently breaks the fourth wall to speak directly to the camera, and American troops, to give some guidance.

I think some things got too little attention, like the money thing. A threepence is how much of a half crown? A quid is a pound like a buck is a dollar, but a bob is what again? Frankly, I still have no clue how they did it, and I have access to Google.

I think this short is a fantastic piece of history in itself, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Highly recommended for any war or history buffs. Available on Youtube.

This is really quite an interesting film,presumably shown to GIs before they embarked on troopships to the UK.It contains a lot of information on the blitz and what rations were received by the civilian population.This country was not the multi racial society of today,so the prejudices that sprang up after the war were not evident.This must have been difficult for many American servicemen to understand bearing in mind their army was still segregated.The section featuring Bob Hope was poorly done,and would have been little help to servicemen trying to make sense of the antiquated currency.Despite the best efforts of the film makers there was a lot of friction between the troops of the US and the UK."Oversized overpaid and over here" was how they were regarded.Howeverwithout them we would by have won the war.

This 1943 film seems rather quaint today, but one should bear in mind that times have changed, and that does not mean simply that the price of beer has increased from one and thrupence a pint!

It was made to tell American soldiers how to behave and more importantly how not to behave when they rubbed shoulders with the natives. Most telling is the cameo as the narrator departs from the train in which an elderly woman shakes hands with him and a black soldier - alluded to here as "coloured", or perhaps that should be "colored". The cameo that follows, with the American general, is clearly something else.

The point of the encounter with Bob Hope was, well, if it was to explain the local currency, it didn't do a very good job. As probably most Americans don't realise, Hope was actually an Englishman, as were Stan Laurel, Cary Grant and Charlie Chaplin. The rest of the film is rather pointless; it would have been better if the people who put it together had concentrated less on contrived humour than on presenting concrete facts.

Burgess Meredith co-directs with Anthony Asquith, and stars in this training film. He explains in his intimate, awkward manner, how to behave in pubs and in British homes. He talks about Black soldiers, and is lectured by General John C.H. Lee on racial equality. He has Felix Aylmer (who is dressed as Mr. Chips) on the geography of the United Kingdoms and has his pockets picked by Bob Hope.

It's a thoroughly enjoyable training film, but the most astonishing bit it watching him smoke a cigarette in a huge cigarette holder. My earliest identification of him as an actor was as the Penguin in TV's BATMAN; this movie made me wonder if he had been cast in the role because of this short feature -- 38 minutes in the print I watched, cut down from an original running time of an hour. Beatrice Lillie, alas, did not appear in this copy.

Nowadays it's hard to realize how foreign Great Britain was to many American soldiers during the Second World War. In a land where they spoke the same language, it must have been difficult to recognize the differences in culture, how rationing affected relationships, and the English fascination with tea. This movie tells that story with wit and good humor.