In his autobiography, studio chief Michael Balcon cites San Demetrio London (d. C. Frend, 1943) as an ‘outstanding example’ of the kind of film made at wartime Ealing: a story lifted from the news; an epic tale of human endeavour; and fine propaganda for a civilian arm of the services. The Studio had consciously moved away from the fanciful heroics and hackneyed romantic subplots of early wartime films like Convoy(d. P. Tennyson, 1940) and Ships with Wings (d. S. Nolbandov, 1941). In their stead, it embraced an approach to film production that simultaneously promoted the interests of wartime propaganda, integrated a documentary approach to narrative filmmaking, constructed a populist representation of the nation as community and contributed to an emergent sense of a genuine ‘national’ cinema.