I’m like a kid in a candy store here. Some fantastic vintage short subjects, including a boat load of old Beatles and Rolling Stones shorts. The films span the years from 1896 to 1976. Amazing.
Here’s a link to the Pathé YouTube channel. Happy browsing.
These are great, but a lot of them make me expect a jump cut to Eric Idle or Michael Palin in same elaborate costume speaking in a funny voice.
I was born in 1950, and my father was a farmer and 4F with a congenital deformity. Though two uncles were in the Navy, they weren’t in the European theater, so I didn’t hear many war stories.
I’ve watched a few of these so far. It’s quite sobering to learn of all the devastation the British and allies had to endure during that war. You can see the strong spirit of survival on many of the faces.
I’m glad they published this material. Though I’m sure a lot of it had a propaganda spin to it, it’s admittedly hard to imagine life under actual bombing attacks to one’s homeland. I admire the British “stiff upper lip” attitude where it existed, and I’m grateful for our eventual victory.
The world would have been quite different had Germany succeeded.