Exploiting a Universal Nostalgia for Steak and Onions: The Ministry of Information and the Promotion ofWorld of Plenty(1943)

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes Notes 1. Kinematograph Weekly, April 27, 1944, 34. 2. The Committee of Public Accounts, Proceedings, 1941–42, 193; Civil Appropriation Accounts, 1943–44, para. 42. 3. Paul Rotha, Documentary is neither short nor long, in: Informational Film Year Book, 1947 (Edinburgh, Albyn Press, 1947), 14. 4. In the 12 months to August 31, 1943, non-theatrical distribution of MoI films is estimated to have reached a total audience of 15.5 million viewers. A further 1.5 million viewers were present to watch the 2000 film shows put on in cinemas out-of-hours. Daily Film Renter, October 4, 1943, 3, 18. 5. Variety, July 14, 1943, 18, 22. 6. Interview with Basil Wright, quoted in Elizabeth Sussex, The Rise and Fall of the British Documentary Film (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1975), 137–138. 7. Sir Donald Vandepeer to Arthur Elton, May 24, 1943. Ministry of Information File 1/214 at The National Archives, London (hereafter NA INF). 8. Arthur Elton to Paul Rotha, June 8, 1943. NA INF 1/214. 9. J. D. Griggs to Jack Beddington, May 17, 1943. NA INF 1/214. 10. The final budget of World of Plenty was approximately £5000. See the amended budget sheet prepared by Mr Anderson on May 20, 1943. NA INF 1/214. 11. It should be noted, however, that whilst the exploitation competition was novel, the MoI had previously agreed to provide distributors with money to advertise its films. For example, £1000 was provided to promote Fires Were Started (Humphrey Jennings, Crown Film Unit; UK, 1943). Sidney Bernstein to R. H. Weait, March 18, 1943. NA INF 1/212. Later documentary features would also benefit from promotional campaigns. For instance, Western Approaches (Pat Jackson, Crown Film Unit; UK, 1944) was advertised with display windows in both Fortnum and Mason and Simpsons of Piccadilly. Kinematograph Weekly, December 14, 1944, 41. 12. Paul Rotha, Documentary is neither short nor long, 14–15. 13. Paul Rotha (ed.), Portrait of a Flying Yorkshireman: letters from Eric Knight in the United States to Paul Rotha in England (London, Chapman and Hall, 1952), 198–199. 14. Advertiser's Weekly, November 25, 1943, 172. 15. Documentary News Letter, 4(5), 1943, 216. 16. Paul Rotha to Arthur Elton, October 15, 1941. NA INF 1/214. 17. Paul Rotha to Jack Beddington, March 31, 1943. NA INF 1/214. 18. This telegram was dated May 31, 1943. Paul Rotha (ed.), Portrait of a Flying Yorkshireman, 222–223. 19. Memo re: distribution of World of Plenty, by Paul Rotha, April 24, 1943. NA INF 1/214. 20. All reviews with dates in parentheses come from press cuttings sent by Rotha to Arthur Elton on June 23, 1943. NA INF 1/214. World of Plenty received positive reviews in a wide range of publications. In addition to major newspapers and journals, the film was also reviewed in the Quaker journal The Friend (August 6, 1943) and the October 1944 edition of The Vegetarian Messenger and Health Review. 21. The Times, June 2, 1943, 5. 22. Monthly Film Bulletin, August 1943, 10(116), 87. 23. See, for example, Manchester Guardian, July 30, 1943, 4. For more on the use of Isotypes in World of Plenty, see Michael Burke and Toby Haggith, Words divide, pictures unite: Otto Neurath and British propaganda films of the Second World War, Imperial War Museum Review, 12, 1999. 24. Arthur Elton to Arthur Calder Marshall, November 4, 1942. TNA INF 1/214. 25. Farmers Weekly, December 10, 1943, 31. 26. See Asa Briggs, The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom. Volume 3: The War of Words (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1995), 141. 27. Extract from Home News Bulletin, 9 p.m., May 27, 1943. NA INF 1/214. 28. Daily Herald, May 28, 1943, 3. 29. Daily Herald, May 29, 1943, 4. 30. Daily Herald, June 26, 1943, 1. 31. Cambridge Daily News, March 14, 1944, 6. 32. Picturegoer, June 26, 1943, 3. Emphasis in original. 33. July 21, 1943. Parliamentary Debates: House of Commons, 5th Series, Vol. 391, cols. 905–906. 34. T. J. Brooks to Brendan Bracken, July 28, 1943. Parliamentary Debates: House of Commons, 5th Series, Vol. 391, cols. 1561–1562. 35. This contract was dated July 1, 1943. Production summary for Words of Plenty sic, October 28, 1947. NA INF 6/561. 36. R. H. Weait to G. A. Campbell, July 28, 1942. NA INF 1/212. 37. Paul Rotha, Documentary is neither short nor long, 14. 38. See letter from George Archibald of the MoI's Films Division to the Cinematograph Exhibitors’ Association. Kinematograph Weekly, December 21, 1944, 16. 39. Letter from Joseph Reeves of the Workers’ Film Association. Kinematograph Weekly, September 9, 1943, 5. 40. Editorial in Kinematograph Weekly, September 9, 1943, 4. 41. Kinematograph Weekly, October 5, 1944, 12. It should be noted that the presence of Desert Victory in this programme excited considerably more comment than the inclusion of World of Plenty. 42. Memo re: distribution of World of Plenty, by Paul Rotha, April 24, 1943. NA INF 1/214. 43. Robert Westerby to Jack Griggs, July 19, 1943; Stephen Tallents to Paul Rotha, June 22, 1943. NA INF 1/214. 44. Paul Rotha to Arthur Elton, June 23, 1943. NA INF 1/214. 45. Kinematograph Weekly, September 9, 1943, 5. 46. Kinematograph Weekly, August 5, 1943, 23. 47. Anonymous Viewer's Report, July 29, 1943, sent to Jack Beddington by Arthur Jarratt of Associated British Cinemas on July 30, 1943. NA INF 1/214. So critical was the review that Beddington was advised to ‘destroy it after reading.’ 48. Jack Beddington to Arthur Jarratt, August 3, 1943. NA INF 1/214. 49. Jack Griggs to Robert Westerby, July 16, 1943. NA INF 1/214. 50. Daily Herald, June 26, 1943, 1. 51. S. Gates to Jack Beddington, July 24, 1943. NA INF 1/214. 52. Initial draft of letter from Brendan Bracken to Lord Woolton (drafted by Jack Griggs), August 3, 1943. NA INF 1/214. 53. S. Gates to Jack Griggs, August 4, 1943. NA INF 1/214. 54. Brendan Bracken to Lord Woolton, August 9, 1943. NA INF 1/214. 55. Draft of letter from Lord Woolton to Paramount Film Services, August 17, 1943. NA INF 1/214. 56. A. S. Hodge to M. R. Metcalfe, August 24, 1943. NA INF 1/214; Daily Film Renter, October 4, 1943, 21; Picturegoer, October 30, 1943, 4. Woolton's recommendation lost some of its relevance, although not necessarily its newsworthiness, when on November 11, just four days before World of Plenty's general release, he became Minister of Reconstruction. 57. Timothy Boon, Films of Fact: a history of science in documentary films and television (London, Wallflower Press, 2007), 138–139. 58. See Documentary News Letter, 4(6) (1943), 229. 59. See, for example, the arguments that Temple sets out in Christianity and Social Order (Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1942). 60. William Temple to Edward Villiers, July 29, 1943. NA INF 1/214. 61. Edward Villiers to William Temple, August 4, 1943. NA INF 1/214. Emphasis in original. 62. Canterbury Diocesan Gazette and Notes, No. 174, December 1943, 1. 63. The Cinema, December 1, 1943, 18; Kinematograph Weekly, December 2, 1943, 4. 64. Letter by W. E. C. Manchester Guardian, December 18, 1943, 6. 65. Letter by Jack Griggs of the Films Division. Manchester Guardian, December 28, 1943, 4. 66. Manchester Guardian, August 22, 1944, 3. 67. See, for example, Kinematograph Weekly, August 5, 1943, 2. 68. BFI Microfilm Collection—Press Books—World of Plenty (1943). Emphasis in original. 69. Kinematograph Weekly, December 1, 1943, 50. 70. Kinematograph Weekly, January 6, 1944, 27. Emphasis in original. 71. Kinematograph Weekly, February 17, 1944, 35. 72. Kinematograph Weekly, March 2, 1944, 40. 73. Kinematograph Weekly, March 9, 1944, 31. 74. Kinematograph Weekly, April 27, 1944, 34. 75. Paul Rotha to Jack Griggs, December 10, 1943. TNA INF 1/214. 76. Farmers Weekly, December 10, 1943, 30–31. 77. New Statesman and Society, June 10, 1944, 386. 78. Manchester Guardian, July 26, 1944, 1. 79. R. Nunn-May to David Rose, June 22, 1944. TNA INF 1/214. 80. Distribution and Exhibition of Cinematograph Films: report by the Committee of Enquiry appointed by the President of the Board of Trade (1949), 17–18. 81. Thirteenth Report from the Select Committee on National Expenditure (1940), 7. 82. Paul Rotha, The government and the film industry (1945), in: Paul Rotha, Rotha on the Film: a selection of writings about the cinema (London, Faber Presenting the World to the World, in Rotha, Rotha on the Film, 98. 84. See, for example, the results of a survey carried out by the North Devon Journal-Herald in the winter of 1943 that found that audiences ‘wanted any kind of picture except dealing with the war.’ Report in Kinematograph Weekly, December 2, 1943, 14. 85. W. J. Speakman in Kinematograph Weekly, September 7, 1944, 11–12. 86. Editorial in Kinematograph Weekly, September 9, 1943, 4. 87. Kinematograph Weekly, January 11, 1945, 90. 88. Details of the Rex's programme are included in Manchester Guardian, July 26, 1944, 1.