Think of England review – far-fetched tale of state-sponsored second world war porn turns deadly serious

Richard Hawkins’s film imagines the British government commissioning pornography during the Second World War to boost troop morale, but the review says the premise is weakly supported and the story becomes an implausible, misjudged drama. Although the cast and some ideas show promise, the film handles sexual violence, post-traumatic stress and misogyny unconvincingly.

Set on a remote Orkney island, the film follows a group tasked with making three versions of a pornographic film for the Army, Navy and RAF. John McCrea, Ronni Ancona, Natalie Quarry, Jack Bandeira and Ben Bela Böhm play members of the production team; one scene of a director coaching an actress is singled out for its intimacy. The review notes that Britain’s Political Warfare Executive did distribute pornographic leaflets over Germany, but says this is distinct from the film’s alleged government project. The film opens in UK and Irish cinemas on 6 November.