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Concerned that images of disablement might induce discomfort in an
entertainment-seeking postwar audience, or adversely effect voluntary
recruitment to the Services, the Central Office of Information Films Division
conducted an audience reaction survey before making The Undefeated widely
available. After a three-day trial in 13 cinemas nationwide, the film was
greeted enthusiastically by sample audiences, helping to secure it a belated
commercial release. It subsequently won several awards and springboard the
career of its director, Paul Dickson. The British Film Academy named it Best
Documentary of the Year.
The film's success is thanks in part to Gerald Pearson's compelling lead
performance as Joe Anderson, a young glider pilot who lost both legs and the
power of speech in the war. Perhaps because he suffered a similar fate to his
character's - Pearson had both legs amputated after the war - he is able to
enact Joe's rehabilitative journey with such spirited authenticity.
Like all directors working in the public sphere, Dickson was charged
with providing entertainment while simultaneously promoting the activities of
the film's sponsor, in this case the Ministry of Pensions. Dickson's balancing
of highly-charged personal drama with impersonal, authoritative explanations of
the Ministry's work is commendable, but in fulfilling its informational purpose,
the narrative inevitably slackens in places, notably in the interviews between
pensioners and officials, which were obviously conducted with the sole purpose
of explaining the work of the Ministry's hospitals. Cinematographer Ronnie
Anscombe's inspired first-person camerawork invites the viewer to engage
emotionally with Joe's rehabilitative journey and to share in his personal
triumphs. Extremes of human experience are handled sensitively in an atmosphere
of realism and Dickson, who also co-wrote the script, succeeds in steering the
film beyond the reaches of sentimentality.
Most people in 1950 would have known someone who was either killed or maimed
in the Second World War and the conclusion of the COI's audience survey captures
something of the collective consciousness of a populace still mourning the loss
of nearly half a million citizens: "About quarter of the audiences found that
the film made them feel in some degree uncomfortable or ill at ease... this did
not usually result in an unfavourable estimate of the film as a whole and many
seemed to regard these feelings as salutary, in that it gave them an opportunity
for expressing sympathy and gratitude in respect of men who, they thought, might
be too easily forgotten".
Katy McGahan *This film is included in the BFI DVD compilation 'Land of Promise: The British Documentary Movement 1930-1950'.
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1. Waving away (1:00)
Monthly Film Bulletin review
