Millions Like Us
Promo DVD from the Daily MailThe DVD is in a card sleeve with full details on the back and will be put in a clear sleeve to protect it in transit.
(if buying from outside Europe, Japan, Middle East please ensure your DVD player is capable of playing multiregion disks)
Patricia Roc, normally cast in more glamorous roles, plays a shy young London girl called up to do war work, but instead of the more appealing WAAF or WRNS she is assigned to a munitions factory. It might sound a dull subject at first, but the film is full of fascinating period details and deft touches of comedy as well as the more serious message that everyone had to play a part if Britain was to have any hope of survival.
There is a strong supporting cast of well-known British actors: Megs Jenkins plays a working-class Welsh girl (from a Depressed Area) with a university education, who sees the war as part of an even greater struggle for social progress. Anne Crawford portrays a spoilt débutante who finds the whole thing tiresome and does her best to contribute as little as possible short of actual sabotage, but her attitude begins to change when she becomes attracted to the factory foreman, played by Eric Portman (though not listed on the DVD cover) in his native Yorkshire accent. The heroine meanwhile has met a young Scottish airman, played by Gordon Jackson, and their shy, tentative courtship is one of the most touching aspects of the story.
The film ends on a defiant note. It was made at a time when victory was by no means certain, and the tone reflects that; but the underlying message is of hope and comradeship, and of the value and worth of ordinary people, the Millions Like Us.
Starring: Patricia Roc, Gordon Jackson, Anne Crawford, Basil Radford
Producer: Edward Black
Directed by: Frank Launder, Sidney Gilliat
Screenplay: Frank Launder, Sidney Gilliat
Running Time: 99 mins
Region 2: Europe
Cert: UK: U
Aspect Ratio: 4:3 (black & white)