THE BIG BLOCKADE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 8, Issue 188, 29 January 1943, Page 17

THE BIG BLOCKADE

(B.E.F.)

F anyone is tempted to’ regard the little man’s apathetic attitude as a trifle unpatriotic, I can only say that we both prefer, whenever

possible, to consume our ration of entertainment apart from our ration of propaganda and when, as in the present instance, we are served up with a large helping of palpable official propaganda thinly disguised as entertainment, we rather resent having to pay 2/3 a seat for it. The Big Blockade was produced in England for the Ministry of Economic Warfare, and was made with the close co-operation of that Ministry and of the Fighting Services. The "greatest allstar cast ever assembled in one picture" (vide advertisements), contains the names of many well-known actors (most of whom do not, however, appear for more than a few minutes each), and such "amateurs" as Quentin Reynolds, Sir Ronald Cross, and Dr. Hugh Dalton (whose appearances are even briefer), , When the film is being factual or documentary, it is good-though unfortunately some of the documentary episodes traverse almost the same ground (and the same sky) as Target’ for To-night, | But when the film is being fictional, it is mainly just silly, often dangerously silly, There is one bright episode in which Will Hay argues with a sailor about 4

navicerts during a bombing attack on his ship: in most of these fictional episodes, however, the film crudely repeats our old national blunder of wunderrating our opponents, presenting the German leaders and German people as buffoons and propaganda-soaked morons, If that’s all they are, why bother to use such a complicated weapon as Economic Warfare against them? This kind of folly is bad enough in an ordinary movie; here it is given the stamp of authenticity and official approval. So, what with one thing and another, I didn’t think much of The Big Blockade, in spite of Michael Redgrave, Leslie Banks, Will Hay, Frank Collier, Alfred Drayton, Michael Rennie, John Mills, Robert Morley, Quentia Reynolds, Ronald Cross, old Uncle Hugh Dalton and all.

STAND-UP CLAPS: Fantasia, The Man Who Came to Dinner, The Next of Kin, How Green Was My Valley, Sullivan’s Travels, Ball of Remember the Day, Alexander Nevsky, Sergeant York, Mrs. Miniver. SIT-DOWN CLAPS: This Gun for Hire, Eagle Squadron, The Bride Came C.0.D., The Oppenheim Family, The Lady is Willing, Bedtime Story, Ladies in Retirement, Three Girls About Town, The Tuttles of Tahiti, Captains of the Clouds, Swamp Water, Strawberry Blonde.