The Silent Village
The Silent Village | |
---|---|
Directed by | Humphrey Jennings |
Produced by | David Vaughan |
Cinematography | H.E. Fowle |
Edited by | Stewart McAllister |
Music by | Becket Williams |
Distributed by | Crown Film Unit |
Release date |
|
Running time | 36 min. |
Country | United Kingdom |
Languages | English, Welsh |
The Silent Village is a 1943 British propaganda short film in the form of a drama documentary, made by the Crown Film Unit and directed by Humphrey Jennings. The film was named one of the top 5 documentaries of 1943 by the National Board of Review.[1] It was inspired by the Lidice massacre in Czech Republic in June 1942.
Plot
The film opens with a
It then moves on to an image of the stream running through the village of
The German occupation is heralded by the arrival in the village of a black car, blaring military music and political slogans from its
The catalyst for the systematic obliteration of Cwmgiedd in a reprisal is intended to parallel the consequence of the actual murder of the leading Nazi Reinhard Heydrich the previous year. The children of the village are marched out of school and join the womenfolk as they are loaded onto trucks. The men, defiantly singing "Land of Our Fathers" as they go, are lined up against the wall of the village churchyard.
Cast
- Villagers of Cwmgiedd as Themselves
- Arwel Michael as Self
Background
The murder of Reinhard Heydrich, whose assassination (
Production
By August 1942, Jennings was scouting for a filming location in a mining community with both a physical resemblance to Lidice, and a similar social/political history. According to one of the film's actors, Jennings asked the advice of Welsh miners' leader and South Wales Miners' Federation president Arthur Horner as to a suitable location.[2] Horner advised avoiding the coal mining valleys of the Rhondda, and instead investigate the more rural anthracite area of west Wales.[2] Jennings' travels brought him to the town of Ystradgynlais in Brecknockshire, and in particular its self-contained community of Cwmgiedd. Jennings discussed the project with the local mine workers and their families, and found them enthusiastic for the venture. He also gained the co-operation of Arthur Horner, who felt that the proposed film would be symbolic of the unity and solidarity felt by all mining communities with the people of Lidice.[3]
Filming began in September 1942 and continued through to December. Jennings had decided that no professional actors would be brought in, and his entire cast consisted of untrained local people, although he was careful to ensure that nobody appeared on screen without giving their permission and that anyone who felt uneasy or uncomfortable about being filmed was excluded from shots. People were filmed going about their actual daily lives in a largely improvised manner with no script having been prepared. In a letter to his wife, he wrote: "Down here I’m working on a reconstruction of the Lidice story in a mining community – but more important than that really is being close to the community itself and living and working inside it, for what it is everyday. I really never thought to live and see the honest Christian and Communist principles acted on as a matter of course by a large number of British – I won’t say English – people living together."[4]
Critical reception
On its release, the film gained a reputation as a particularly pertinent, powerful and moving short film. Contemporary opinion places it among the products of Jennings' most fruitful period as a director alongside Listen to Britain,
References
- ^ National Board of Review Awards for 1943 Archived 16 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 6 August 2010
- ^ a b Berry, Dave. "The Silent Village (1943)". BFI Screen Online. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
- ^ a b "Wartime propaganda film on Nazi massacre is screened". BBC News. 11 July 2012. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
- ISBN 0-330-35438-8
- ^ The Silent Village Danks, Adrian. Senses of Cinema. Retrieved 6 August 2010
- ^ "Industry in Welsh film" BBC Wales. Retrieved 6 August 2010
External links
- The Silent Village at IMDb
- The Silent Village at the BFI's Screenonline
- The Silent Village at AllMovie
- The Silent Village at the TCM Movie Database