Tawny Pipit

Tawny Pipit is written and directed by both Bernard Miles and Charles Saunders, and Miles also stars in the piece. It also stars Rosamund John, Niall MacGinnis, Jean Gillie, Christopher Steele, Lucie Mannheim, Brefni O'Rourke and George Carney. Music is by Noel Mewton-Wood and cinematography by Eric Cross.

The village of Lipsbury Lea suddenly springs to life when it is discovered that a pair of rare Tawny Pipit's are nesting in one of the local fields. As outside forces threaten to destroy one of nature's great achievements, the villagers rally around to stand defiant in Mother Nature's corner.

Dated? Yes absolutely. Even twee? For sure. Unsubtle propaganda? Too right mate! Wonderful? Yes indeed.

Anyone would think we were fifth columnists!

The Brits were great at this sort of thing, at showing a slice of old fashioned life, where quaintness rules the day and nature's wonderful pastures envelope an assortment of colourful characters rallying around for a collective cause. Tawny Pipit is basically a metaphor for standing up to the bad guys, in this case during war time, Nazi Germany. The message is simple, if we stand together then you shall not have her!

All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small.

The backdrop is quintessential Britain, a place of rolling hills, country lanes, of one public house, one grocery shop, one post office, one vicar who actually serves a purpose to the community and one copper who no doubt gets around on his bicycle. Into this British ideal comes those villagers, each with their own ticks and traits, be it stoic men of straight backs refusing to bend an inch, or pretty ladies doing their bit for the cause - such as stopping tanks in their tracks! And of course pesky villains who would gladly steam roller a birds nest or filch the eggs for financial gain. You shall not pass, unity is powerful. Doesn't matter if it's 1944 or now, it's whimsy with relevance and it's a jolly good show. 7/10

The real essence of this delightful rural comedy: Civlized societies defend their weakest members and value every person, including eccentrics.

Remember that in the '30s, many people saw totalitarianism as being the new. organized, "efficient" way - whilst western Europe was disorganized. The West's governments were seen as being to hidebound and conservative, lacking answers to the chaos of the Depression.

Tawny Pippit showed that our "old-fashioned" system had the right stuff, because it valued freedom, the right to be different and protection of the weak, and showed that countries facing challenges can succeed, even if seeming dis-organized, through shared morals & commitment coming from the people themselves and not dictated - it proved that in the end, good government is the servant of the people.

A film that I have only recently discovered. I taped it late one night and copied in onto another tape cutting out the adverts. What a marvelous little film this is with the subliminal message that nobody is going to change the English village way of life. I made a point of visiting Lower Slaughter yesterday and the village is identical to how it was 62 years ago. The mill wheel and the bridge behind it remain the same, great film, great location and a marvelous slice of social and cinema history. I am sure that I saw a Tawny pipit in the distance.Unlike the Titfield Thunderbolt which shows an England that does not exist anymore this great film shows locations that remain the same to this day.

The film was largely shot in Lower Slaughter and is a fascinating historical record of the Cotswolds during WW2. Today Lower Slaughter is a much visited village; the buildings are largely unchanged and the mill wheel still turns, if only for show. In "An eye for a Bird" 1970 Eric Hosking, who was the ornithological advisor for the film wrote : "It was decided that it was quite impossible to contemplate filming an actual tawny pipit; it nests mainly on the Continent where the war was raging. It was decided to photograph a pair of ordinary meadow pipits and keep to shots which showed the back view only; the tawny has a plain breast and the meadow a speckled one, but their back plumage is very similar."

Truly beautiful and atmospheric British film made in rural UK during WW2, Tawny Pippit shows the delicate balance sought during a dangerous time. All the adjectives apply as it is charming and delightful and especially emotional given the war was raging and this gently kind film offers an insight into the human condition. Other films like A BOY A GIRL AND A BIKE or the 1959 version of THE 39 STEPS allow international viewers to really appreciate the Brit humor of the countryside. There is a German film made in the alps late during the war about a shepherd and the fauna and flora as a paradise balance to the war raging nearby (I don't know its title) and TAWNY PIPPIT is almost a British counterpart. Young viewers might find it all a bit Dad's Army, but mature viewers will get the lovely feeling this films wants you to have.