he was making unsophisticated films for an unsophisticated audience

I think the whole unsophisticated bit was a very necessary put on; a mask of innocence that was all part of a very willing suspension by way of a deeper collective catharsis. However low the budgets might have been, the craft was knowing and ultimately empowering with respect of a nation's morale at a time when such entertainment was experienced as part of large audiences & communities. Difficult to imagine that now, watching Bell Bottom George on our very private TV set some 67 years on from the event, even though one might still visit several of the locations used in the film (such as the old ferry ramp on the Jubilee Quay, which also featured in Fleetwood's other film, the psychological thriller Frozen made in 2005). These days that very unsophistication is part of the appeal - an escape (perhaps) into simpler times, for even though the scale of global carnage was a good deal higher than it is now, domestic strife (maybe) wasn't so much of an issue as it is now...