The Big Blockade

The Big Blockade was a 1942 British black-and-white war propaganda film in the style of dramatised documentary. It was directed by Charles Frend and starred Will Hay, Leslie Banks, Michael Redgrave and John Mills. It was produced by Michael Balcon for Ealing Studios, in collaboration with the Ministry of Economic Warfare.^[1][2][3]

The Big Blockade
British DVD cover
Directed by	Charles Frend
Written by	Charles Frend Angus McPhail
Produced by	Michael Balcon
Starring	Leslie Banks Frank Cellier Will Hay John Mills Robert Morley Michael Redgrave
Cinematography	Wilkie Cooper Douglas Slocombe
Edited by	Compton Bennett Charles Crichton
Music by	Richard Addinsell orchestrated by Roy Douglas
Production company	Ealing Studios
Distributed by	United Artists Ltd (UK)
Release date	19 January 1942 (1942-01-19) (UK)
Running time	73 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

At one stage, the film was known as Siege.^[4]

Plot

This was a propaganda film in which the British strategy of the economic blockade of Nazi Germany was illustrated through a series of scenes and sketches, combined with documentary footage.

Although released in 1942 it was largely made in 1941 so part of the story is complaint of America's non-involvement.

Main cast

• Leslie Banks as Taylor, Civil Service
• Michael Redgrave as a Russian on the train
• Will Hay as Skipper, Merchant Navy
• Bernard Miles as Mate, Royal Navy
• Michael Rennie as George, Royal Air Force
• John Mills as Tom, Royal Air Force
• Frank Cellier as Schneider
• Robert Morley as the senior Nazi Official, von Geiselbrecht
• Alfred Drayton as Direktor
• Marius Goring as German propaganda officer
• Austin Trevor as U-boat Captain
• Morland Graham as Civil Servant
• Albert Lieven as Gunter
• John Stuart as Naval officer
• Joss Ambler as Stoltenhoff
• Michael Wilding as Captain
• George Woodbridge as Quisling
• Quentin Reynolds as American journalist
• Elliott Mason as German stationmistress
• Peter De Greef as RAF airman

The film's commentary is made by the journalist and former Liberal MP Frank Owen.

Release

The film premiered at the London Pavilion on 19 January 1942, and the premiere was attended by a group of members of Parliament interested in economic warfare.^[5] The film was not well received by The Times, whose critic in 1942 found that "this particular hotch-potch is, as propaganda, woefully unconvincing. It is splendid to give audiences a glimpse of the devoted work done by the Services […] but actors got up as comic Nazi business men distort the lessons the more serious parts of the film are trying to drive home",^[6] and modern film reviewers are not very much kinder to it.^[7]