Ration Books and Rabbit Pies: Films from the Home Front on DVD [read more]
Dig for victory
Continuing the BFI’s exploration of Britain on Film, this fascinating DVD collection brings together a selection of public information films, propaganda shorts and adverts from the Second World War, drawn from the BFI National Archive. Ration Books and Rabbit Pies: Films from the Home Front, released on 18 January 2016, contains films that give essential advice to a nation living in an age of austerity. Amongst the handy hints and tips, we learn how to support the war effort from home by rationing, staying healthy, growing vegetables, cooking and salvaging.
Highlights of the collection include Tea Making Tips (1941), with ‘the six golden tips’ for making the perfect cuppa; director/artist/animator Len Lye’s When the Pie Was Opened (1941); Did You Ever See a Dream Talking (1943) starring ‘silly ass’ comedian Claude Hulbert playing a Home Guard volunteer; Wisdom of the Wild (1940), a wartime twist on the long-running Secrets of Life natural history series; The Wicked Witch (1943), an advert for Rinso and A-Tish-oo! (1941), an instructional film on how to make a face-mask.
