realistic for its time,some comments over the top

Looking at the comments I wonder if some of the people writing the comments watched the film with an open mind.

Of course the union is shown as being undemocratic and bullying but the directors are also shown as out of touch and uncaring(the scene where one of the directors does not know which contract they are talking about).

The comments from Derek Mcmillan make me think of DAVE SPART the far left rent a mouth from PRIVATE EYE magazine who never let the facts get in the way of his argument.

Mcmillan states that "the right" could afford to pay good actors to be in a propaganda film,but in fact the people who made the film were left of centre and the film is NOT an attack on trade unionism as a whole but only aspects of it (undemocratic voting,extremist leadership and so on.)

People like Mcmillan might not like it but this film was topical in 1960 because the issue of union power and corruption was one of current affairs and not fantasy.

Check out the history of the EEPTU,run by communists following fixed elections in the 1940s and 1950s.
Other unions managed to elect communist leaders,elected by members who hardly ever voted communist in general elections,but of course the leaders did not often tell people about their Stalinist views.
The film was made the year I was born but I have had similar experiences in unions I have been members of over the years.
Non commited people do not go to meetings ,do not vote in union elections and suddenly the leader of your union is somebody whose views you do not agree with.

I wonder if Brother Mcmillan is a union member?


I recall reading about an anti vietnam war demonstration in London in the late 1960s,the banner reading "ONE MILLION ENGINEERS AGAINST THE VIETNAM WAR" but there were only a handful of people marching under it.

Attenborough should be proud of his liberal conscience because this film is not right wing or anti union.