Words for Battle

1941 · 8 MIN · IMDB 6.6 · 273 VOTES · DIR. Humphrey Jennings

Overview

Poetry by Rudyard Kipling, John Milton, and William Blake, and excerpts from speeches by Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill, all read by Laurence Olivier, illuminate documentary footage of England during its defense against the Nazi blitz in World War II. This short film serves as both propaganda and as a rallying cry to the British people.

Documentary1940s

Dialogue Timeline — 78 lines

A SAMPLE ACROSS THE RUNTIME — EVERY LINE IS SEARCHABLE

00:00:43 For the air is most temperate and wholesome
00:00:56 The earth fertile with all kinds of grain
00:01:09 Abundant with pasture, replenished with cattle, both tame and wild.
00:01:22 and well-built villages.
00:01:53 and shaking her invincible locks.
00:02:14 at the fountain itself of heavenly radiance.
00:02:34 And in their envious gabble would prognosticate a year of sects and schisms.
00:03:00 O! clouds unfold
00:03:13 Till we have built Jerusalem
00:03:52 reeking into Cadiz Bay.
00:04:07 dawned Gibraltar grand and grey
00:04:26 Turn to God to praise and pray
00:04:46 lt came to them very late
00:05:01 lt will not swiftly abate
00:05:12 When the English began to hate
00:05:32 we shall fight on the landing grounds
00:05:46 And even if this island were subjugated and starving
00:06:02 the new world with all its power and might
00:06:24 That we here highly resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain.
00:06:45 shall not perish from the earth.

Cast & Characters

Laurence Olivier Narrator Winston Churchill Self Joseph Goebbels Self Adolf Hitler Self

Dialogue Record

Lines indexed78
Dialogue density9.8 lines / min
First line00:00:43
Final line00:06:45

Production Record

DirectorHumphrey Jennings
LanguageEnglish
IMDb votes273