The Next of Kin: Propaganda, realism or a film with a purpose?

This article describes use of realism in the World War II propaganda film, The Next of Kin, and the purposive approach to public information film making used by the director, Thorold Dickinson to convey a didactic message about careless talk in cinematic form. Through this historical exposition - based on archival research in Thorold Dickinson's papers in the UAL Archives and Special Collections - of a purposive and realistic form of public information discourse in wartime cinema, the paper adds to public relations (PR) historical knowledge of the filmic past.