The Western Isles / The Outer Hebrides - 1941 British Council Film Collection - CharlieDeanArchives

The sinking of the 'Atlantic Queen' and the survival of its crew is supposedly based off a real series of events where the S.S. Richmond Castle was torpedoed in the Atlantic Ocean, and crewman Angus Murray led the survivors' return to the UK in a lifeboat. Curiously, however, the sinking of the S.S. Richmond Castle occurred in August 1942, after The Western Isles was released.

Severe bad weather hampered the initial filming of The Western Isles, and extra funding was required to account for this.

In December 1941, the Ministry of Information stated that The Western Isles should not be distributed abroad, as it was counteractive to war effort. The Minister of Information, Brendan Bracken, personally wrote to the British Council, claiming that the film was "living proof of Goebbels' statements that the British are frivolous, or that they are fighting the war to perpetuate a way of living long since outmoded, or that they have lost the intellectual, moral and industrial lead which they once held." The British Council distributed the film nonetheless.

The film also examines the story of Harris Tweed during World War Two.

This film has been made available by the British Council Film Collection for non-commercial research and educational purposes . . The British Council Film Collection consists of 120 short documentaries made by the British Council during the 1940s designed to show the world how Britain lived, worked and played.
View, download and play with the Collection at www.britishcouncil.org/film .

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