History Film / TheirFinest

* NiceHat: This being London in the blitz, there isn't too much elaborate fashion but some sneaks in there, especially in the film costumes.

* RecycledScript: The government films Catrin writes are an example. The scripts are identical, but with with the actors obscuring their mouths so the appropriate words can be dubbed in (e.g. one film recommending growing carrots in a victory garden but saying something else entirely in another).

* StockFootage: Some Ministry films have actors always cover their mouths or turn away from the camera when delivering lines so that they can dub in dialogue for whatever bit of the war effort they're trying to promote.

* {{Luvvie}}: Hilliard, a self-important and fussy ex-matinee star.

Catrin Cole is a former secretary who took over some writing duties in the Ministry of Information as the men in the department got called up, attracting the notice of the film division with a newspaper cartoon she wrote. The film writers task her with researching the story of two sisters who reportedly piloted their father's boat to Dunkirk and back, in hopes of doing a film of it. Catrin discovers that the boat actually failed before it ever left English waters and the twins, Rose and Lily, are both reticent women under the thumb of an abusive father. But needing the job and not wanting to be sent back to Wales by her struggling artist husband, Catrin lies in reporting the account. It nearly gets her fired when discovered, but her male colleagues and her boss argue to make it anyway. She clashes with Tom Buckley, another screenwriter who is skeptical about women's value in writing, but they slowly begin to respect and even like one another.

Meanwhile, the actor Ambrose Hilliard argues with his agent over being cast as the drunk uncle, having made his name as the dashing hero in a series of detective films but too arrogant to accept that he's aged out of those roles. When a bombing hits close to him, he accepts the role. As filming commences, the friction between the Ministry people, the crew, and the actors gradually fades and they become close.

* MoodWhiplash: Catrin is caught outside when a bomb falls and picks her way through the rubble in horror at the bodies around her until she realizes they're mannequins from a storefront and starts to giggle in relief... and then she finds a real woman's bloody corpse, and throws up.

* WhiteDwarfStarlet: Hilliard is a male version. He starred in a popular series of detective films about a Literature/SherlockHolmes type of character and is still stopped on the street by fans, but he hasn't been offered a role in some time. When his agent Sammy hands him the script for "The Nancy Starling," Hilliard initially thinks he's playing the ''hero''.
* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler:Catrin comes home to find Ellis in the middle of having sex with another woman and realizes that this will always be the way for him--seeking out younger women who are overawed.]]

* ShoutOut: To various stars of the era from Creator/ErrolFlynn, Creator/CaryGrant, to the Britain's own, Creator/RobertDonat. The twins wonder if Catrin has met the latter and are excited when they get a photograph from Eric of Donat.

* ShoutOut: To various stars of the era from Creator/ErrolFlynn, Creator/CaryGrant, to the Britain's own, Creator/RobertDonat. The twins wonder if Catrin has met the latter and are excited when they get a photography from Eric of Donat.

* AdaptationalHeroism: Lily and Rose's alcoholic, abusive father is changed to a comically drunken uncle with a tragic past, who accompanies the twins (albeit accidentally) and is killed trying to fix the propeller.

Catrin Cole is a former secretary who took over some writing duties in the Ministry of Information as the men in the department got called up, attracting the notice of the film division with a newspaper cartoon she wrote. The film writers task her with researching the story of Rose and Lily, who reportedly piloted their father's boat to Dunkirk and back, in hopes of doing a film of it. Catrin discovers that the boat actually failed before it ever left English waters and the twins are both reticent women under the thumb of an abusive father. But needing the job and not wanting to be sent back to Wales by her struggling artist husband, Catrin lies in reporting the account. It nearly gets her fired when discovered, but her male colleagues and her boss argue to make it anyway.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:Tom is killed by a total accident when someone leans on a rickety lighting rig and it topples over.]]

* GirlsNeedRoleModels: Early on, Catrin and Tom argue about having Rose fix the engine in the film. She says that women need to see themselves able to be heroic, but he insists that women don't want to ''be'' heroes, they want to ''have'' the hero rescue them. [[spoiler:After the accident with the lighting rig kills him and injures all the actors who would have played the engine-fixing part, Catrin quietly makes the suggestion again and Rose frees the engine in the final cut.]]

* TookALevelIndKindness: Hilliard, after [[spoiler:Sammy's death]], gradually begins to shed his prima donna attitude and develops a sense of respect and affection for his costars and the crew while filming in Devon. When Sophie is convinced that he's worth keeping as a client, she offers to get him the special accommodations he'd always demanded (separate rooms and no interaction with the crew, especially electricians for some reason), Hilliard looks ashamed to be reminded.

A former secretary, newly appointed as a scriptwriter for propaganda films, joins the cast and crew of a major production while the Blitz rages around them.

* AscendedFanboy: Lundbeck is a huge fan of Hilliard and has practically memorized all of his detective films.

* WhiteDwarfStarlet: Hilliard is a male version. He starred in a series of detective films about a Literature/SherlockHolmes type of character and is still stopped on the street by fans, but he hasn't been offered a role in some time. When his agent Sammy hands him the script for "The Nancy Starling," Hilliard initially thinks he's playing the ''hero''.

* ClicheStorm: The film they're producing isn't at all subtle, being written specifically as propaganda to keep people from despairing and get the Americans in the war.

%% TheForties: The setting.

%% TheForties: The setting.
%% WorldWarII:

* NiceHat: This been London in the blitz there isn't too much elaborate fashion but some sneak in their, especially in the film costumes.

* Musicofthe1940s is used for the soundtrack.
* NiceHat This been London in the blitz there isn't too much elaborate fashion but some sneak in their, especially in the film costumes.
* TheForties The setting.
* WorldWarII

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