Courtesy of Scottish Screen Archive

The propaganda film Let Glasgow Flourish (1956) was made by members of the socialist Dawn Cine Group in response to (what was perceived as) the overly optimistic view of the state of public housing in Glasgow being promoted by the Corporation of Glasgow through a series of pubic information films called Progress Report.

The filmmakers used the city's motto 'Let Glasgow Flourish' as the film's title with deliberate irony. The film delivers their perspective on the experience of Glasgow's housing problem, reflecting on the living conditions of those families on the waiting lists for decent homes. In 1952, against a backdrop of a crisis in public housing recognised in films such as Glasgow Today and Tomorrow (1949), the city corporation brought forward proposals for selling off 652 council homes into private ownership. The people took to the streets to protest against the sale. The march was filmed by members of Dawn and this footage incorporated into a powerful propaganda film on the contradictions of the quality of life for those in the overcrowded slum tenements on the waiting list for a home, set against the lifestyle of the residents of the more affluent suburbs.

Kenneth Broom

Click titles to see or read more