The White Eagle

Leslie Howard narrated this short feature about the Poles who’d been forced from their homeland by the Nazis. Now living throughout the UK, this illustrates how readily they integrated - despite a language barrier, and how determinedly they prepared for the day when they could take part in the liberation of their own nation. Along the way, we also see just how the British themselves were dealing with the destructive effects of the Second World War and by using archive of pre/post war Warsaw, General Sikorsky, King George VI and of their subsequent struggles this offers a sympathetic glimpse into how some of these dispossessed folk mucked in and tried to do their best to fight back. It’s a fairly standard propaganda piece but given many of the contributors were actual victims, it rings a bit more true than many of there wartime rousers that you might have seen.