UNITED NEWS [Series Title]

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  • Title: UNITED NEWS [Series Title]
  • Film Number: UNY 61
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: An edition of United News, showing General MacArthur in New Guinea, the use of dogs by the United States Coast Guard, activities in the China-Burma-India Theatre, Australians testing American jeeps, war production and the use of naval aircraft in anti-submarine warfare in the Atlantic.
  • Description: United News main titles. Part 1: 'Latest films from Gen. MacArthur in New Guinea'. A United States Army Air Forces B-17 bomber taxiing. MacArthur steps down. Close-up MacArthur. Footage from a vehicle driving through jungle; with local civilians and huts at the roadside. Local civilians carrying supplies, with shot of men crossing a rope bridge over a fast-flowing river. MacArthur at an airfield. A B-24 Liberator bomber named 'Connell's Special' (serial 41-23765, of 320 Bomb Squadron) being bombed-up. A briefing. Pilot looking out from his cockpit. Aircraft taking off. Aerial footage showing a ship below. Gunners manning their guns aboard the aircraft. Attacking a (Japanese?) merchant ship with gunfire at low altitude. Bombs falling. Cloudscape. Airmen in conversation. Part 2: 'Dogs trained for sentry duty help guard coastline'. Footage of Coast Guard dog handlers and horsemen at work. Commentary describes how the dogs are used to guard against enemy landings on deserted south-eastern US coastlines; 'saboteurs…have no chance with these highly trained canines'. Horses ('four-legged jeeps') are exercised on a beach. Part 3: 'News from the Orient': At Chungking Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek reviews a parade. Young men and women in various uniforms cheer as they pass. Portraits of Chiang, Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin are paraded; 'testify[ing] to China's fighting spirit' (from the commentary sheet). Chiang salutes. At an airfield Lieutenant-General Stilwell, American commander of the China-Burma-India Theatre and Chiang's chief of staff meets other officers. Close-up Stilwell. American troops moving their baggage. American soldiers with a small puppy. An American lights an Indian soldier's cigarette (the latter wears a RIASC (Royal Indian Army Service Corps) shoulder title); he grimaces at the taste. Americans buy bananas from a street seller. Change of location; somewhere in Bengal mules are loaded with stores (for a crossing of the Himalayan border via Tibet to China?). Mule train in snowy, mountainous country. Crossing a stream. In hill fog and climbing a mountainside. Passing through a village. Part 4: 'Australians test American ‘Jeeps’ on rough terrain'. Commentary describes 'a ride in a bucking jeep' as a thrill akin to King Richard's horse or the Wright brothers' plane. Footage of jeeps bouncing and jumping over rough terrain. One driver hits a jump much too fast; the jeep stands up on its nose, then starts to turn over. The driver jumps out just before it lands upside down. The commentary advises 'better take a parachute next time, big boy!'. Part 5: 'U.S. workers rush tanks and ships to fighting fronts'. A goods train passes carrying Stuart light tanks on flatcars. Inside the factory; a tracking shot over a line of Stuarts in production. Female workers placing pieces of tape over various parts of a tank to protect against water when the tank is exported. An M10 (Wolverine) tank destroyer passes. Stuart passes; it is driven by a woman. A Sherman passes, also with a female driver. More of goods trains departing. Shots of a large dockyard with ships under construction. Workers streaming onto the site. Night footage shows men working under floodlights. A man takes a red-hot rivet from a brazier and throws it, quite nonchalantly, to another man working at height on scaffolding. Shots of men metalworking with showers of sparks. Ships at sea. Part 6: 'U.S. planes blast Nazi submarines in sea battle'. Aerial footage with a Catalina flying boat over the Atlantic with a large convoy at sea. A submarine is sighted and naval aircraft are launched to attack it. Footage from gun cameras shows surfaced submarines under fire and being bombed. United News end title.
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: UNY 61
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1943
  • Production Country: United States of America
  • Production Details: Office of War Information (Production sponsor) United Newsreel Corporation (Production company)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Stilwell, Joseph Warren (person) Chiang Kai-shek (person) Soong, Mei-ling (person) MacArthur, Douglas (person) United States Coast Guard (regiment/service) Indian Army, Royal Indian Army Service Corps (regiment/service) United States Army Air Force, 320th Bombardment Squadron (regiment/service) Stalin, Josef (person) Roosevelt, Franklin Delano (person)
  • Keywords: Chungking, China (geography) New Guinea (geography) Atlantic Ocean (geography) Bengal Province, India (geography) Tibet (geography)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 819 ft; Running time: 10 mins
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    UNY 61

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