IMDb > The Big Blockade (1940)

The Big Blockade (1940) More at IMDbPro »

Overview

User Rating:
5.3/10   39 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
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Director:
Charles Frend
Writers:
Charles Frend (writer)
Angus MacPhail (writer)
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Contact:
View company contact information for The Big Blockade on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
23 March 1940 (UK) more
Genre:
Drama | War more
Plot:
Wartime propaganda piece reporting on the success of the economic blockade of Germany in the early years of the war. | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
User Comments:
Wizard Prang more (2 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Leslie Banks ... Taylor
Michael Redgrave ... Russian
Will Hay ... Skipper

John Mills ... Tom
Frank Cellier ... Schneider
Robert Morley ... Von Geiselbrecht
Alfred Drayton ... Direktor
Bernard Miles ... Mate
Marius Goring ... Propaganda Officer
Austin Trevor ... U-boat Captain
Michael Rennie ... George
Morland Graham ... Civil Service
Albert Lieven ... Gunter
John Stuart ... Naval officer
Joss Ambler ... Stoltenhoff
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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parents
Runtime:
73 min
Country:
UK
Language:
English
Color:
Black and White
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono
Filming Locations:
Ealing Studios, Ealing, London, England, UK
Company:
Ealing Studios more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Initially intended as a MOI (wartime Ministry of Information) two-reeler about economic warfare. more
Movie Connections:
Featured in Forever Ealing (2002) (TV) more

FAQ

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User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful.
Wizard Prang, 13 April 2008
7/10
Author: Gary170459 from Derby, UK

All media propaganda appears shallow in hindsight, and more especially to todays enlightened cynical generations. Todays propaganda usually has to be far more subtle and careful than that of WW2 to get the government line out, but ultimately it's the same: America good, China bad etc. My line is: every country good, every country bad.

This episodic film starts with T for Tommy (keen as mustard Michael Rennie and nonchalant John Mills) flying out to night bomb Hanover, later doing it and returning. In between there's lots of various naval action and detailed earnest explanation of the how and why of the British economic blockade of Nazi Germany. We're repeatedly shown how useless and demoralised the Germans were getting under War conditions, when the Blockade was taking effect and even their ersatz products were failing them. Sadly though Hitler hung on for another savage 5 years. Lots of big and little British stars have bit parts here: Leslie Banks as a super organiser at the Minstry of Economic Warfare, Michael Redgrave as a humorous Russian in Germany, Will Hay and Bernard Miles have an intense 3 minutes fighting off the Luftwaffe from on board ship, Robert Morley as a frothing Nazi officer, Ronald Shiner has 2 seconds as a shipping clerk in a phone box, George Woodbridge as half the man he later became. And many others. Was that a woman's voice dubbed onto the man at the Bunawerke production meeting, and if so why?!

The "vicious intrigues of the Capitalist-British-Jewish Empire" are still a major concern to a lot of people today – mainly British passport holders though! This was a film made solely for 1940, and is a great window on the thought-processes of the time, if not the truth. Also it's useful to bear in mind that if the War they were all supporting in here had been lost I wouldn't be here writing this nor you reading it.

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