Summary: Second World War British Ministry of Information newsreel trailer using a stage magician to encourage people to save fuel.
Description: The film opens with a stage magician performing conjuring tricks with lighted cigarettes. He then speaks to the camera "now I am going to show you something rather more difficult". The film cuts to the same magician, now wearing a dressing gown, standing in a studio set kitchen. The conjurer then "changes" the gas hob heating a kettle and the electic fire into piles of coal using the magic word "abracadabra". He explains that gas and electricity companies turn coal in to the power (brief stock shots of power stations and a foundry) and that the coal gives "power to the factories for making the munitions of war" "so whether you are saving gas or electricity you are really saving fuel". The film ends with the conjuror unfolding a towel on which is written SAVE COAL FOR BATTLE.
Alternative Title:
Colour:B&W
Digitised:Yes
Object_Number:NPB 13592
Sound:Sound
Access Conditions:IWM
Featured Period:1939-1945
Production Date:1944
Production Country: GB
Production Details: Ministry of Information (Production sponsor)
Ministry of Fuel and Power (Production sponsor)
Merton Park Studios (Production company)
Hammond, A C (Production individual)
