Celluloid : the film to-day (1931)

TELL ENGLAND 171 preserved as an individual impression of the War. They have one and all set out to be entertainment, and the War was hardly that. They have been thrilling, exciting and sensational, in some cases intelligent, but they have all to some extent aimed at the box-office, which has meant that truth has been sacrificed in the interests of profit. Nobody could be more anxious than I that Tell England should completely fulfil this heroic aim, that it should be the first real film of the War, and wholly successful as an achievement which should long ago have been Britain's. But although it falls short of this ambitious goal, it approaches nearer to the mark than any of its predecessors. In the same way that the Dardanelles campaign was a great human effort which very nearly triumphed, so Tell England is a noble attempt which very nearly succeeds. And if it is any consolation to those concerned in its making, it possesses the merit of being the most interesting British film yet produced in the sphere of theatrical film production. Particular sentiment attaches to this last independent picture to come from the Welwyn studios of British Instructional Films Ltd., before this gallant firm joined forces with the British International Pictures company at Elstree. In many respects it summarizes their prolonged effort to create an individual, tremendously patriotic production-centre in England, as different in tone and outlook from other companies operating around London as " The Observer " is from " The News of the World." Welwyn may not perhaps have brought forth any pictures of the sensational, vulgar