This film is part of Free
Sabotage!
Make Do and Mend – or else!
Overview
Make Do and Mend - or suffer the consequences! That's the message of this blink-and-you'll-miss-it wartime public information film, delivered with visual wit via the filmmakers' clever (and in itself economical) use of in-camera effects. The narrator is Bernard Miles. This film was one of a plethora of bite-sized government-sponsored informational 'trailers' thrown into WWII cinema programmes for free.
In this case it was an opportunity for the production company to try out new talent. Peter Pickering was an office junior at Paul Rotha Productions and a mere seventeen years old when given the chance to direct this, his first film. And for a first time effort it's pretty darn good. After the war Pickering went on to a long filmmaking career, primarily directing newsreel items and training films for the National Coal Board.
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