A Film Canon

The strongest instalment in Capra's propaganda series, The Battle Of Britain strikes an artful balance between dwelling upon the paucity of British supplies and celebrating the wealth of British morale - that is, between stressing the unlikelihood and likelihood of British victory. In doing so, it defines democratic participation as more inclined to victory than fascist obedience, thereby encouraging an end to US isolationism: "For something had happened here that the Germans could never understand..." To this end, Capra and editor William Hornbeck craft a stunning narrative out of found footage and dramatic recreations, paying particular attention to the "twenty-eight days of terror", the Coventry Blitz, and the Second Great Fire of London. In this way, the horror and significance of the Blitz ultimately finds expression as a series of shocking, pregnant images, rather than in terms of the slightly florid script ("Six weeks to determine the history of a thousand years"), or Disney- animated sequences; that is, at the level of montage, as evinced in the use of fire to evoke both horror and heroism, depending on whether it relates to German or British air strikes.