A scholarly examination of editorial attitude in the non-fiction British cinema and newsreels of the thirties towards the rise of Nazism and Fascism and the events which led to the outbreak of the Second World War. A study in how what claims to be news can be very misleading, and hindsight is a precious commodity
Jonathan Lewis and Elizabeth Taylor-Mead
COMMENTThe film is substantially assembled from Archive material, especially newsreel footage from the main players, Movietone, Paramount, Gaumont and British Pathe. Taking a critical look at the language, choice of images, camera position and editing deployed, these newsreels are accused of being complicit in establishment blindness towards the threat of Fascism
This is not just documentary as revisionist history, but also an admittance of bad (or no) editorial judgement. We see that Hitler and Mussolini's activities were portrayed to the watching public as none of their business at best, and as worthy of admiration at worst. Only the March of Time series attempted to go against the grain, but that too was met with censorship and claims that the war-weary public were not interested in serious politics
In its non-archive sections, 'Before Hindsight' is very much of its time, with paternal presenter James Cameron sitting behind a desk, reading from a paper script in front of him, guiding us in the right direction. There is a certain irony here, bearing in mind the admissions in the film that the British censor and newsreel editorial boards conspired to tell the public what they thought it needed to hear at the time. Are we now simply being told the opposite because those who control our information deem it an appropriate time? This is an irony not lost on a very young Jonathan Dimbleby, who warns correctly that today, we would judge 1977's coverage of South Africa and Northern Ireland to be similarly skewed and misleading.
Coverage of the current 'War on Terror' and the Middle East is likely to be interpreted similarly in a further 30 years, although in a mutichannel age, there is even less justification than in the 1930s climate of newsreel monopolies over information. It is this warning of truth being the first casualty of war and peace that makes 'Before Hindsight' an important and troubling watch today.
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