Know Your Ally: Britain

Know Your Ally: Britain is one of the less well known entries in the cycle of documentary/propaganda featurettes supervised by Frank Capra during WWII and directed by him and some others. In this case, transplanted veteran UK director Robert Stevenson contributes as well as several English writers.So we get a sense of how US strategists wanted to portray the British to Americans as well as how the British wanted to think of themselves. The film opens with a football game and the idea of teamwork in both sport and war. Teamwork between the two countries. The issue is brought up that one of the things the Germans are using against the British is that they have an Empire. Other points: the importance of privacy even on a congested island.The ability of people to get along together.The old fashioned respect for tradition.A sense of self effacement where people do not boast about themselves. The point is made by showing children playing in both the US and the UK that we are alike.

This propaganda film, directed by Robert Stevenson, is available on the DVD for "Jane Eyre". The legendary Frank Capra served as producer.

Fun things we learn: Britain has "more congestion" than any place on Earth except a New York subway or a sardine can... and yet they have low levels of crime and the police do not carry guns! And no place in Britain is more than 100 miles from the sea!

While this is called a "propaganda" film, it should be noted that it does not actually carry all the negative baggage that the word propaganda implies today. Sure, it is promoting a political purpose... but it also happens to be rather informative. Audiences today might learn a good deal about how England was brought into World War II by watching it.

This is an American government propaganda film explaining Britain to the American soldier. They call the British everyman as John Britain. It's not that catchy. I would try Bobby Britain or Johnny English. Maybe not English to avoid any conflicts. It is surprisingly long at forty two minutes. This is not something deep or revealing any internal conflicts. More than anything, it is a spin job for an Ally. They do give a good recount of the war with an Allie point of view.

It is telling that they spend some time with India. Obviously, that is a sore point in the soft power fight and a big negative in portraying Britain. They are not digging too deeply into the negatives of colonialism and internal conflicts. This also spends some time showing that Britain is paying back for the lease lend program. Americans don't like paying for things even if it helps them. This is a spin job and an important job to reply to any negative attacks on the alliance. My problem is that this is probably too long and the everyday American soldier is going to get lost with the massive info dump.

In one of the two movies actually produced in this series, we get a portrait of the British. They're people a bit different from us, but they want the same things and have the same ideals, and they're doing all they can do and maybe a bit more than that in their efforts. So as long as we're all in this war together cut them some slack in the attitude.

Which is good advice, given that, despite all that stuff, we had had a culture of suspicion towards Britain since before we declared independence from them, and they tried to stop it. This slick and telling piece of propaganda was intended for American soldiers stopping off in Britain on their way to the front, and no one wanted ill will.