The IWM Film Archive is the oldest film archive in the UK, holding over 20,000 hours of film, video and digital material and covering the two World Wars and all conflicts involving British or Commonwealth Forces since the start of the Twentieth Century to the present. Our collection also reflects aspects of civilian life in wartime, military life in peacetime, military exercises and operations.
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Down Our Street
The combined effort of three housewives demonstrates to the audience how everyone pulling together could help to overcome the high stakes of war.
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Overview
Three women, all from one street but different class backgrounds, mysteriously congregate at one house. Their paths may rarely have crossed in pre-war society, yet the experience of war appears to have helped remove some of their class prejudices. After all, these three housewives now share a common interest, their sons all serve in the armed forces.
There is much evidence to suggest that the Second World War had a unifying effect on social attitudes in Britain, although to what extent remains a much debated issue. The notion of everyone pulling together, or a ‘people’s war’, is a theme that appears frequently in Ministry of Information films. It was also recognised that film propaganda had a role to play in maintaining a shared identity between government and ordinary people, not wanting any one section of society to feel isolated from the war effort.
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