Short documentary on the use of the V-1 Flying Bomb during the German bombings of London.
Direction
Jennings captures Londoners' faces between explosions—no acting required.
Editing
Rhythmic cuts mirror the V-1's terrifying pulse-jet drone.
Sound
Original audio of the 'buzz bomb' cutout—silence before impact.
Director
Humphrey Jennings
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Jennings filmed during actual attacks, sometimes ducking into shelters mid-take. The 'buzz bomb' sound was so distinctive that Londoners called them 'doodlebugs'—and learned that silence meant the engine cut out and impact was imminent.
Part of the British 'documentary movement' that shaped wartime morale and later influenced Italian neorealism. Jennings was a poet and painter before filmmaking—explains the brutal beauty here.
GB
