The Valley on Film - 1940

Henry Irving

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060006220

Great 1940 propaganda film, Britain at its lowest ebb and the foundation of the "we stood alone/blitz spirit" mythology but posted here for the drilling four minutes in.

And is that Jimmy Trotter front left in the V neck jumper

@Blitzwalker @SE7toSG3

Stig

Saucy tease at 1'33".

JohnfromNorfolk

love those old propaganda films. 

Henry Irving

Talking Pics TV shows them on a regular basis via the IWM

TellyTubby

Oi are you trying to undermine my chance of a promote by ignoring the 'Old Charlton Images' thread? 
Acting just like Chelsea to undermine the opposition.

Nice find BTW.

SporadicAddick

A slight aside, but interesting nevertheless. The mass produced stretchers seen at 5.10 were used after the war for fencing. Some remain in use in Marlborough Lane, just up from Charlton Village.

Daarrzzetbum

Great video that great video that thanks @HenryIrving

Ashers

Rare, brief glimpse of the old enclosure at the front of the west stand. Good find, cheers. 

charltonbob

Stig said:

Saucy tease at 1'33".

What did I miss ?

Lucky_the_Cat

Thanks for posting that Henry.

At 67 years of age I can recall some of the flavour of that film from my childhood (although not the war bit!).

England was a much simpler place, and although we have all gained a lot since then I feel that we have lost a lot more.

I can remember, in the early 60s, bunking in to The Valley to see a reserve or Athenian League game on a sunny afternoon and walking around the ground two or three times while watching it, just because you could. Apart from the blind bit behind the stand of course.

jimmymelrose

JohnfromNorfolk said:

love those old propaganda films. 

Is it propaganda? It's a public information film, and yes a rallying cry, but not propaganda.

I think there's more propaganda daily on the news today than on that film.

Definition:
information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view.

Henry Irving

Yes, it's 100% propaganda

SporadicAddick

Henry Irving said:

Yes, it's 100% propaganda

True story, once worked with someone who thought propaganda meant having a good look at something..

SE7toSG3

Fantastic film Ben, I have never seen it, the calming voice of JB Preistley, the scenes of the Valley terraces stretching up to the sky along with crashing waves on the coast make for really stirring stuff. 
 
Propaganda was not a dirty word back then, its possible to be a public information film at the same time as being sraight propaganda. The Ministry of Information was a direct development from the original Secret War Propaganda Agency that was formed in September 1914 by Charles Masterson. It involved literary figures and social influencer's of the day including Rudyard Kipling, John Buchan, Arnold Bennett and Arthur Conan Doyle. 

Good to see the civil defence stretchers, I have always been fascinated with the stretcher fencing across SE London, they are a real surviving link to our past.  
      
To me, its sobering to think that at the time people first watched this short film in the pictures, the outcome of victory was far from clear. That as Jimmy Trotter paraded across our Valley turf in a cricket jumper, the guarantee of freedom I take for granted was a distant hope, well its just quite incredible really.

You can watch it now, somewhat whimsically, nostalgically  without questioning that we would victor over Nazi tyranny. Of course we are armed with hindsight and history lessons but then? How did they feel? To be fair the vast majority probably shrugged 'it is what it is' in a Boweresque style and cracked on with life.                           
It certainly makes me very proud some 80 years on.   

AddicksAddict

SporadicAddick said:

A slight aside, but interesting nevertheless. The mass produced stretchers seen at 5.10 were used after the war for fencing. Some remain in use in Marlborough Lane, just up from Charlton Village.

The block of flats at the bottom of Erlanger Road, New Cross Gate has (had? - haven't looked for quite a few years) them, too.

ross1

I still remember slightly, coming home from school in the 50s at Charlton Secondary, up Charlton Lane, onto Lansdown Mews towards Valley Grove and onto Charlton Village. My favourite day was Wednesday, (I think) when Charlton played some games in the afternoon and I could stop half way and watch, (Jimmy Seed stand was not there then).

SporadicAddick

AddicksAddict said:

SporadicAddick said:

A slight aside, but interesting nevertheless. The mass produced stretchers seen at 5.10 were used after the war for fencing. Some remain in use in Marlborough Lane, just up from Charlton Village.

The block of flats at the bottom of Erlanger Road, New Cross Gate has (had? - haven't looked for quite a few years) them, too.

A quick drive down there on googleearth suggests they are no longer there..

addick19

Very good shots of The valley; my dad (RAF) was in Norway in 1940. They got chased home even before the lads at Dunkirk LOL!

Stig

charltonbob said:

Stig said:

Saucy tease at 1'33".

What did I miss ?

Steam coming up from the bottom.

jimmymelrose

'once again in a form of war, together we are one nation'.

Royal British Legion, 2020


No less propaganda than in 1940.