Castles in the air : British film and the reconstruction of the built environment, 1939-51

This thesis is an examination of British films which discuss and propose the reconstruction of the built enviromnent. It concentrates on the period 1939-51 but also looks at those films made during the inter-war period. It examines how and why the films were produced, and how they present the issues of reconstruction. The particular aims are to see what the films might tell us about the relationship between planners, architects, politicians and the ordinary people - the people who would be the beneficiaries of reconstruction. Secondly, to ascertain what impact the films had on popular attitudes to town planning and building. The main findings are that the films were considered a very important way of communicating with the general public and that they were specifically designed to widen the debate and the process of reconstruction beyond the professionals to ordinary citizens. However, despite these noble and sincere aims the films had only limited effect in achieving this. As a result of studying the production and distribution of the films one has also a better understanding of the relationship between film-makers and the government propaganda agencies to which they were contracted. The most important conclusion from this aspect of the research is that they were highly constrained in the kind of films on reconstruction they could make despite their efforts to produce radical work. Finally the Central Office of Information films of the post-war period show that the Labour Government was similarly committed to involving and informing the people in the new world that they planned to build

The Dead, Battlefield Burials and the Unveiling of War Memorials in Films of the Great War Era

During the First World War nearly three-quarters of a million British subjects were killed. The grief of the families of those who died overseas was exacerbated by the lack of information about the manner of a serviceman�s death and general ignorance about the nature of life on the battlefield. The families also experienced a sense of dislocation from the body of their loved ones as the War Office ruled against the repatriation of the dead and civilian mourners were not allowed to visit the battle zones. Civilians maintained links with the men who were fighting and commemorated those who had died by compiling �rolls of honour� and displaying them outside churches and other prominent places. In working-class districts the rolls often took the form of a street shrine, where the list of names would be framed and decorated with flowers and Christian and patriotic symbols