Curator's Choice: Without Fear
Film: IWM (NAT 178) WITHOUT FEAR (1951)
Film Curator Michelle Kirby highlights a foreboding Cold War film from 1951 (part of IWM’s extensive NATO film collection), which warns of the perceived dangers of Communism
Orwellian overtones: Produced only a couple of years after George Orwell’s iconic book ‘1984’ was published, this animated early Cold War film echoes that literary warning, of a dangerous, dystopian future, set in a totalitarian state. Ironically entitled ‘Without Fear’, it adopts a fear-inducing tone, outlining the perceived dangers of a divided Europe, straying towards the wrong political destiny. This chosen clip relays a chilling message around where the path of police states, censorship and dictatorship ends. Other parts of the film argue in contrastingly upbeat Technicolor that Europe’s peaceful future and freedoms are possible, but will depend on unity, prosperity and democracy.
Still from Film: IWM NAT 2059. NATO documenary Versus (1971)
The IWM-held NATO film collection
The NATO film collection is one of the most historically significant collections in IWM’s Cold War and late 20th century archive, consisting of approximately 350 hours and thousands of reels of fascinating film; made by NATO, produced for NATO, or collected by NATO. It bears extraordinary witness to half a century of military, social, cultural and political moments in Europe, and offers a unique visual history and behind-the-scenes glimpse of the Atlantic Alliance, from the late 1940s to the 1990s. The clip from ‘Without Fear’ comes from the NATO sub-collection of Marshall Plan Films (1949-1954), depicting how ECA funding was used to rebuild Europe following the Second World War.
IWM's YouTube Channel. How NATO Change History Forever
Using NATO footage, one of our latest YouTube stories 'How NATO Changed History Forever', relays how NATO’s formation in 1949 is inextricably linked with the Cold War’s start. Covering 1945 to 1955, when the iron curtain fell in Europe and two ideological blocs squared up against one another in an increasingly frosty international climate, it explains the place of NATO in this emerging new world order.
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Contact the licensing team for further information. IWM has an in-perpetuity, exclusive, worldwide right to utilise the digitised NATO collection, including licensing broadcast quality video content to media professionals.