The Next of Kin

This article is about the 1942 propaganda film. For the term, see Next of kin. For all other uses, see Next of Kin.

The Next of Kin
Directed by	Thorold Dickinson
Produced by	Michael Balcon
Written by	Basil Bartlett Thorold Dickinson John Dighton Angus MacPhail
Starring	Mervyn Johns Nova Pilbeam Reginald Tate John Chandos Stephen Murray Jack Hawkins
Music by	William Walton
Cinematography	Ernest Palmer
Edited by	Ray Pitt
Distributed by	Ealing Studios
Release dates	15 June 1942
Running time	102 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£50,000

The Next of Kin, also known as Next of Kin, is a 1942 World War II propaganda film produced by Ealing Studios.

The film was originally commissioned by the British War Office as a training film to promote the government propaganda message that "Careless talk costs lives". After being taken on by Ealing Studios, the project was expanded and given a successful commercial release.

After World War II and up until at least the mid 1960s, services in British Commonwealth countries continued to use The Next of Kin as part of security training.

Plot summary

The British army is preparing an attack on a German-held French port. German intelligence use agents in England to discover the intended target by piecing together information from different sources, including conversations overheard in pubs, railway stations, shops and other public places.

Originally, the commando raid depicted was intended to be a complete failure. However, the War Office were uncomfortable about showing such a defeat. In the final version, the raid is successful, albeit with heavy losses. Winston Churchill reportedly wanted the film banned as a threat to morale, but was eventually persuaded of the importance of its message.

Cast

• Mervyn Johns as No 23, Mr Davis
• John Chandos as No 16, his contact
• Nova Pilbeam as Beppie Leemans
• Reginald Tate as Major Richards
• Stephen Murray as Mr Barratt
• Jack Hawkins as Brigade Major Harcourt (billed as 2nd Lt. Jack Hawkins)
• Geoffrey Hibbert as Private John
• Philip Friend as Lieutenant Cummins
• Phyllis Stanley as Miss Clare
• Mary Clare as Mrs. Webster
• Basil Sydney as a naval captain
• Joss Ambler as Mr Vemon
• Brefni O'Rorke as Brigadier
• Alexander Field as Private Durnford
• David Hutcheson as an intelligence officer
• Torin Thatcher as a German general
• Thora Hird as an ATS driver with a puncture

Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne appear in cameos as two "careless talkers" on a train at the end of the film. The two men made many appearances together in British films of the 1940s, following their successful pairing as "Charters and Caldicott" in Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes.

See also

• The Thorold Dickinson Archive is held at the University of the Arts London Archives and Special Collections Centre [1].

External links

• The Next of Kin at IMDb