A Diary for Timothy (1945), by Humphrey Jennings, is a propaganda period piece that, seen today, convincingly transmits the brave face worn by Great Britain despite the pain and sacrifice of World War Two. The film's narration, by E.M. Forster (spoken with tenderness and occasional irony by Michael Redgrave), is an essay on "The Future" addressed to a newborn baby (top still) who was born in September 1944. Forster's commentary is punctuated by a series of BBC bulletins about the war's progress. The film dramatizes the contributions to the war effort made by several invented characters, among them a coal miner, a farmer, and a war-bruised soldier. Basil Wright, who had made films for documentary icon John Grierson, was the producer.
