''Smith'' (1939) is a

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

directed by

Michael Powell Michael Latham Powell (30 September 1905 – 19 February 1990) was an English filmmaker, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger. Through their production company The Archers, they together wrote, produced and directed a serie ...

to promote a charity that helped ex-servicemen who had fallen on hard times, starring

Ralph Richardson Sir Ralph David Richardson (19 December 1902 – 10 October 1983) was an English actor who, with John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier, was one of the trinity of male actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. He wo ...

and

Flora Robson Dame Flora McKenzie Robson (28 March 19027 July 1984) was an English actress and star of the theatrical stage and cinema, particularly renowned for her performances in plays demanding dramatic and emotional intensity. Her range extended from q ...

Production background

Because the British authorities in 1939 wanted as many people as possible to enlist for

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, it was not a good time to be talking about ex-servicemen having problems. Although the film had a première at the

Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north bank ...

before an invited audience of MPs and charity workers, it was never shown to the public. A fiscal disagreement between the charity and the agent who was booking the film caused it to be pulled from distribution. ''Smith'' wasn't just thought to be lost, most people didn't even know that it even existed. It wasn't included in any filmography of Michael Powell, and Powell only refers to it briefly and obscurely in his autobiography. The film was discovered in 2003 through the detective work of Mark Fuller of

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

A Film called Smith
/ref> and a safety print was made by the

BFI The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

. This was shown at film festivals in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

in 2004 but it didn't have its first public screening in the U.K. until 15 October 2004 when it was shown in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

, 65 years after it was completed.

Plot

John Smith (

) fought for his country in World War I. But during the depression of the 1930s he found it hard to find work. Finally the bailiffs appear and take everything of value. His loyal wife, Mary Smith (

), tells John about a charity for ex-servicemen. John appeals to the charity, and they help him: They give him a loan to get him back on his feet and they train him in skills that are more useful than the ones he had before. A large part of the short film is taken up with a long speech by Major Lloyd from the charity as the camera shows us around. There are examples of ex-servicemen doing wickerwork and other small handicrafts.

The Charity

The film was made for and was about a charity called ''The Embankment Fellowship Centre''. Part of the detective work to locate it was necessitated because in the intervening 60-plus years since the film was made, the Embankment Centre had merged with and been absorbed into other similar charities to form ''The Ex-Service Fellowship Centres''. In 2007 the name was again changed to Veterans Aid, and ''Smith'' can currently be seen in its entirety on their website.Veterans Aid – History

References

Bibliography

* Powell, Michael. ''A Life in Movies: An Autobiography''. London: Heinemann, 1986. .

External links