Battle for Music (1943)

Thye story of how the London Philharmonic Orchestra managed to stay together operating as a co-operative unit, with no government support, during WW II. During the course of the film, covering years of time, the baton is wielded by such conductors as Sir Adrian Boult, Constant Lambert, Warwick Braithwaite and Dr. Malcolm Sargent as the orchestra plays excerts from Mozart, Tchaikowsky, Greig, Beethoven, Wagner, Saint-Saens, Rachmanioff and others. About to disband for lack of financial support the musicians decide to remain together as a self-governing unit in order to bring good music to the provinces. Through the aid of novelist J. B. Preistly and others, they manage to survive the adversities of war and become a symbol of music's immortality.