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Bookmark this pageFor Freedom (1940)
Director: Maurice Elvey, Castleton Knight
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
1938: newsreel chief Fyffe compiles a movie explaining the genesis of the war that's about to break out; then the Munich agreement is signed. 1939: he's now working on a picture about world peace; the Nazi/Soviet pact is signed (the censor allows Fyffe to say 'God damn', unheard of licence at the time) and war starts a week later. Quite an ingenious format for propaganda, this, permitting more comedy than usual, but the film then forgets about Fyffe in favour of a re-enactment of the destruction of the Graf Spee (cf. The Battle of the River Plate). A speech by Churchill rounds off the proceedings. For the cinephile this is all pretty negligible. For the historian it's worth a look, as an artefact from the momentous summer of 1940.Author: BBa
Cast & crew
Director: Maurice Elvey, Castleton Knight
Producer: Edward Black
Cast: Will Fyffe, Anthony Hulme, EVH Emmett, Guy Middleton, Albert Lieven, Hugh McDermott, Terry-Thomas, Robert Beatty full cast
Genre(s): War
Duration: 84 mins
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