Tawny Pipit (film)

Tawny Pipit is a British war film produced by Prestige Productions in 1944. It tells of how a sleepy English village becomes the centre of attention when a rare bird's nest is discovered there.

Plot

During the Second World War Jimmy Bancroft (Niall MacGinnis), a fighter pilot just released from hospital, and his nurse (now his girlfriend) Hazel Broome (Rosamund John) are on a walking tour through the countryside. They arrive at the fictional village of Lipsbury Lea and being keen birdwatchers, discover that a pair of tawny pipits, which are rarely seen in England, are nesting nearby.

Staying in the village, they enlist the locals to protect the nesting site until the eggs hatch. The villagers do so with great enthusiasm, led by the fiery retired Colonel Barton-Barrington (Bernard Miles) and the Reverend Mr. Kingsley.

Unfortunately, the field where the nest is located (known locally as the pinfold) is due to be ploughed up by order of the county's War Agricultural Executive Committee (the "War Ag"), and a delegation to the Ministry of Agriculture in London fails to get the order rescinded. Fortunately, the Minister was Barton-Barrington's "fag" at his public school, Marlborough, and personally intervenes to save the field from being ploughed.

The eggs duly hatch, but not before a plot to steal them on behalf of an unscrupulous dealer is foiled by an alert army corporal (an amateur ornithologist) who is serving nearby.

Authenticity

James Fisher and Julian Huxley were credited as ornithological advisers for the film. Nevertheless, the birds shown in the film are not actually Tawny Pipits but Meadow Pipits.

Filming location

Location filming was done in Lower Slaughter in the Cotswolds. The precise whereabouts of the fictional Lipsbury Lea are not specified, but the local pub serves ales brewed in Burford, which is in Oxfordshire, close to the boundary with Gloucestershire, so it may be assumed that the village is supposed to be in one or other of those two counties.

Propaganda value

By the time the film was released (not until 1947 in the USA), the threat of invasion had subsided, but it was still seen as an effective piece of propaganda. It showed the love of the English for their country and all echelons of society uniting for the common good. A subplot shows Barton-Barrington presenting his Browning Automatic Rifle to Corporal Bokolova (Lucie Mannheim), a Russian soldier on a goodwill tour, whilst giving a fiery speech about some foreigners being 'jolly good chaps'.

Cast

Trivia

Stuart (Harry) Latham (Corporal Philpotts) was later the first-ever producer of Coronation Street.

References

• Tawny Pipit at the Internet Movie Database

External links

• Tawny Pipit at the Internet Movie Database