John Eldridge
2021Tank Patrol
John Eldridge
Norman Williams, Bill Elliott
Made in 1941, this stirring Ministry of Information dramatisation tells the story of a Crusader tank crew trapped behind enemy lines in the Desert. With no intercom, a wounded crewman and little fuel, they must fight their way through an Italian column to freedom.
Tank Patrol
Waverley Steps: A Visit to Edinburgh
John Eldridge
Waverley Steps - subtitled ‘a visit to Edinburgh’ - is an evocative minor classic. John Eldridge’s film takes the semi-documentary form of a collage of scripted vignettes, at first disconnected but gradually overlapping. With visual grace, and a certain wit, the film entwines a coalman’s working day with students’ revels by night, the proceedings of a court with the rituals of a courtship.
Waverley Steps: A Visit to Edinburgh
Wales: Green Mountain, Black Mountain
John Eldridge
William Griffiths, David Raymond
A documentary look at Wales's turbulent relationship with England, and its commitment to the defence of Britain during World War II through its industries, social rituals, rural life and future prospects
Wales: Green Mountain, Black Mountain
Conflict of Wings
John Eldridge
John Gregson, Muriel Pavlow
In rural Norfolk, villagers are spurred to action when it is announced that the nearby RAF station is taking over the Island of Children, a much-loved and untouched bird sanctuary, for rocket practice.
Conflict of Wings
Laxdale Hall
John Eldridge
Ronald Squire, Jameson Clark
A starchy parliamentary delegation is sent to a remote Scottish Highlands community, where the residents are protesting the poor condition of their road by withholding their taxes, and spend a few days among the locals.
Laxdale Hall
Village School
John Eldridge
A real Buckinghamshire schoolteacher - the kindly Mrs James - is the star of this persuasive WWII propaganda film. Shot on location in Ashley Green, it shows how evacuees from surrounding towns adapt to village life and wartime conditions. With its images of happy, healthy children, the film was clearly designed to give reassurance to city-dwelling mothers separated from their offspring.
Village School
A City Reborn
John Eldridge
James McKechnie, Bill Owen
Scripted by poet Dylan Thomas, this affecting docu-drama recalls the incendiary bombing of Coventry on 14 November 1940. The film focusses on reconstruction and morale: we see the city's rebirth through the eyes of a young local couple planning for their future, and an engineer interested in the new housing drive. This is one of several 1940s films introducing cinemagoers to the good old 'prefab'.
A City Reborn
