Men of the Lightship
- Synopsis
- 'Year in, year out, all round our coasts, the beam of the lightship shines through the night and its siren pierces the fog banks. Light and fog signals reach vessels of all nations equally, and for three centuries lightships and lighthouses were considered international - until the 29th January 1940’. This reconstruction of the events surrounding the Nazi bombing of the East Dudgeon lightship and the fate of those who manned it, made more money in the cinemas in its first few years than any other GPO/Crown production with the sole exception of Harry Watt’s TARGET FOR TONIGHT. The director David MacDonald came from the commercial industry and had worked with Cecil B De Mille, but it was Cavalcanti who told him to throw out his entire cast of actors and use ‘real people’, and it was Stewart McAllister (later Humphrey Jennings’ close collaborator) who edited the material to such effect. Music by Richard Addinsell.
- Series
- Britain at War: Under Fire
- Language
- English
- Country
- Great Britain
- Medium
- Video; Videocassette. VHS. col. 25 min.
- Year of production
- 1940
- Availability
- Sale
- Notes
- See: BRITAIN AT WAR: UNDER FIRE for availability on compilation videocassette.
- Subjects
- History
- Keywords
- Home Front; World War II
Credits
- Director
- David MacDonald
- Producer
- Alberto Cavalcanti
- Writer
- Hugh Gray
- Contributor
- Richard Addinsell; Stewart McAllister
Production Company
- Name
GPO Film Unit
Distributor
- Name
Post Office Film & Video Library
- poes@edist.co.uk
- Phone
- 01795 426465
- Fax
- 01795 474871
- Address
- c/o Post Office Education Services
PO Box 145
Sittingbourne
Kent
ME10 1NH - Notes
- Contact: Barry Wiles
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