The Big Blockade

The Big Blockade
British DVD cover
Directed by	Charles Frend
Produced by	Michael Balcon
Written by	Charles Frend Angus McPhail
Starring	Leslie Banks Frank Cellier Will Hay John Mills Robert Morley Michael Redgrave
Music by	Richard Addinsell orchestrated by Roy Douglas
Cinematography	Wilkie Cooper Douglas Slocombe
Edited by	Compton Bennett Charles Crichton
Production company	Ealing Studios
Distributed by	United Artists Ltd (UK)
Release dates	19 January 1942 (1942-01-19) (UK)
Running time	73 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

The Big Blockade is a 1942 British black-and-white war propaganda film in the style of dramatised documentary. It is directed by Charles Frend and stars Will Hay, Leslie Banks, Michael Redgrave and John Mills. It was produced by Michael Balcon for Ealing Studios, in collaboration with the Ministry of Economic Warfare.

Plot

This is a propaganda film in which the British strategy of the economic blockade of Nazi Germany is illustrated through a series of scenes and sketches, combined with documentary footage.

Main cast

The film's commentary is made by the journalist and former Liberal MP Frank Owen.

Release

The film premiered at the London Pavilion on 19 January 1942, and the premiere was attended by a group of members of Parliament interested in economic warfare.^[1] The film was not well received by The Times, whose critic in 1942 found that "this particular hotch-potch is, as propaganda, woefully unconvincing. It is splendid to give audiences a glimpse of the devoted work done by the Services […] but actors got up as comic Nazi business men distort the lessons the more serious parts of the film are trying to drive home",^[2] and modern film reviewers are not very much kinder to it.^[3]

References

External links

• The Big Blockade in the British Film Institute's "Explore film..." database
• The Big Blockade at the Internet Movie Database
• Dr Keith M. Johnston: The Great Ealing Film Challenge 65: The Big Blockade (1942)