The Silent Village

  • 1943
  • United Kingdom
  • 36 minutes
  • English
courtesy of BFI National Archive
courtesy of BFI National Archive
courtesy of BFI National Archive
courtesy of BFI National Archive
courtesy of BFI National Archive
courtesy of BFI National Archive

A film in memory of Lidice, a Czech mining village razed to the ground by the Nazis in reprisal for the murder of Reinhard Heydrich, acting Reich-Protector of Bohemia-Moravia, by two Czech agents. Jennings transfers the story of this massacre of a hundred and seventy-three men to Wales, setting it in a similar working-class village, Cwmgiedd. The villagers closely identified with the tragedy and successfully transposed and re-enacted it within a British context.

  • Production : Humphrey Jennings; Crown Film Unit; British Ministry of Information
  • Editing : Stewart McAllister
  • Sound : Jock May
  • Photography : H.E. Fowle
  • Screenplay : Humphrey Jennings
  • Copy Contact : British Film Institute