Wendy Webster, in her analysis of West Indies Calling, illustrated three ways in which the film was ‘highly unusual’. First, Webster noted that in showing ethnic diversity on the home front, the film disrupts ‘the boundaries between Empire and metropolis where “home” was shown as white’. Secondly, the film offers a ‘rare example of imagery that includes black women’s active involvement in the War’. Furthermore, it offers an ‘equally rare example’ of a ‘“people’s Empire” that foregrounds black people on active service in Britain’ (Webster, 2005, 333).

While this is undoubtedly unusual, there are a number of films produced by the Colonial Film Unit that offer such depictions. For example Springtime in an English Village (1944) – a film in which an African girl is crowned May Queen in a Northamptonshire Village – depicts black people within a traditional British village. Other Colonial Film Unit titles depict West Indians in Britain – for example West Indians with the R.A.F. in Britain and Your People in Britain – while the efforts of black women are also shown in, for example, Nurse Ademola (1943). Yet, what makes West Indies Calling especially unusual is its intended audience. While the Colonial Film Unit productions played exclusively overseas, West Indies Calling brought these images to a British audience.

It is evident from the introductory speech – ‘Do you know what part of the world they come from?’ – that this is a film intended for a British domestic audience. This is reinforced by the commentator throughout, as he remarks that lumberjacks from British Honduras have ‘come over here to help your own forestry and timber workers’. Yet, the broadcasts, and the material from which the film was cut, originally addressed West Indian audiences and, as such, much of the film relates this work in Britain to post-war West Indian society. Learie Constantine emphasises that the experiences of the West Indian factory workers ‘will mean a lot during reconstruction after the war when plans for a new era of life in the West Indies must be put into effect’. Ulrich Cross explains that West Indian pilots had little experience of flying before the war, but this could provide a ‘new career for many’ afterwards. For West Indian audiences the broadcasts encourage support for the war by illustrating the domestic benefits and social changes that this support will bring in the post-war West Indies. For British audiences, the film not only promotes continued imperial co-operation (the West Indians have ‘come over to help us’), but also endorses Britain’s role in helping and ‘developing’ its colonies.

From the outset the film promotes an image of diverse groups united within the Empire. The film’s introduction recognises the diversity within the West Indies – ‘they call themselves West Indians but they are of a dozen different races’ – and then shows these different groups together at a party, shaking hands and dancing. Over shots of West Indians in a canteen with people from a variety of nations, Ulrich Cross explains that ‘friendships are being made between people who before the war knew little or nothing about each other’. Again, his message espouses post-war social change for the West Indians, as he adds that ‘we find it impossible to believe that these friendships will just fade out when the war is won’.

In its review of West Indies Calling, Monthly Film Bulletin complained that the film did not show the home life of the West Indian speakers. The speakers are presented in a public sphere – not as cultural curiosities or ethnographic subjects – behind the clearly marked BBC microphone, which signifies their acceptance within established British society. The film does represent distinctive aspects of West Indian culture (e.g. the calypso), but it then incorporates them into an imperial identity. In their content, the calypsos relate to war – one begins with the line ‘a painter had a craze to rule the world’ and manages to rhyme ‘sad’ with ‘Stalingrad’ – as this distinctive West Indian cultural form is now reappropriated to present an imperial message.

In promoting a message of unity and showing West Indian acceptance within British society, the film completely ignores the racism and discrimination experienced by many West Indians during the War. Learie Constantine had first-hand knowledge of this discrimination and campaigned against this in his role as a welfare officer. Yet, here he talks of the West Indians being ‘taught side by side with English men and women’ as the film – and the BBC broadcasts – sought to promote ‘unity rather than diversity’.

Tom Rice (August 2008)