Know Your Ally: Britain (1944) User Reviews

Know Your Ally, Americans -- Britain!

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 16 April 2013]

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.

Interesting Mid 1940s View of Britain

[lchadbou-326-26592 · 6/10 · 12 February 2021]

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.