In Which We Serve (1942 Noel Coward, David Lean)

Terrific clashes of action and domesticity in Coward's propaganda film, useful in post-Brexit days as a reminder we once were brave, strong, independent, resourceful, could actually build things blah blah.

Brilliantly edited film also knows when to leave single takes alone, viz. Mills meeting Walsh on a train (prefiguring both This Happy Breed and Brief Encounter):

"What's your name?" she asks, and we cut to the outside of the speeding train - a lovely edit. Then later, between Coward and Johnson, the delicious line "I refuse to be made sentimental in the midst of a Great Western lunch".

Film can easily be accused of a sentimentality and rose-coloured view of British, but is surprisingly modern in its jagged structure, punctuated by watery dissolves.