WORKER AND WAR-FRONT MAGAZINE ISSUE NO 3 [Main Title]

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  • Title: WORKER AND WAR-FRONT MAGAZINE ISSUE NO 3 [Main Title]
  • Film Number: UKY 452
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: A newsreel highlighting the part played by ordinary working men and women in Britain's war effort featuring reports about the speedy unloading of ships' cargoes by Britain's dockers, the unexpected benefits of the scrap metal drive for ordinary Britons, the political cartoonist David Low introducing Soviet war cartoons and a short comedy routine by the cast of the BBC 'Hi Gang' radio show.
  • Description: START 10:00:00 Intertitle 'Turn Round. Dockers beat all records'. A report saluting the dockers and stevedores of Britain setting new records in the fast turnaround of ships bringing vital cargoes across the Atlantic beginning with shots of dockers in Liverpool Docks (?) gathering in large numbers around the camera and in the cargo hold of a ship. Shots showing food supplies from Canada and the United States in caskets and in wooden crates as they are unloaded and dockers gathering with their work gang leader "Killer" Quinn. Shots showing stevedores at work as a pallet of sacks is lifted out from a ship's cargo hold by a dockside crane, the crane operator at the controls, a docker on board the ship giving him directions, men inside a cargo hold and in a nearby railway depot handling bulky cargoes and a pallet of wooden food crates being lifted out of a ship's cargo hold as the commentary proclaims, "They've got a slogan in dockland - quick turnaround". Over shots showing a ocean-going Type IX U-Boat allegedly in action against a British merchant ship with its 10.5cm deck gun (in reality a training exercise with a target vessel in the Baltic in 1939-1940), U-Boat officers on bridge watch in the North Atlantic and an Allied merchant ship sinking by the stern (genuine combat footage), the commentary reminds its audience of the vital necessity of defeating the Nazi blockade and the contribution Britain's dockers are making in the struggle against Fascism. Studies of dockers at work moving crates and sacks in the docks, in a group with "Killer" Quinn, who appears to be collecting small wallet-like objects off them (union cards ?), and posing for the camera as the commentary remarks that many of the dockers are over fifty years old. 10:03:17 Intertitle 'Blessings in Disguise'. A report filmed in the summer of 1942 that celebrates the opening up of parks and private gardens in London as an unforeseen but very welcome by-product of the removal of fences as part of a nationwide scrap metal drive beginning with a short sequence showing the situation pre-war; a sign informs visitors of the opening and closing times of a municipal park, a tall wrought iron fence around a garden somewhere in London (?), a young woman taking her terrier dog around the fenced-off garden and young children, their faces squeezed between the railings, unable to play there. A sequence showing council workmen removing a wrought iron fence around one particular town garden with oxy-acetylene cutters and children dashing through the gap. Over shots showing people - mainly women - sitting in the open air either on their own or in small groups in parks and gardens in London, including Leicester Square, the commentary cautions that this accident of war may not survive the return of peace and calls on the public to treat these temporary public amenities with respect so that maybe the British people shall keep "the freedom of the open spaces". 10:04:39 Intertitle 'Soviet Cartoons. High praise from Low'. Famous New Zealand-born political cartoonist David Low in synchronised sound introduces the viewers to Soviet cartoons and the important propaganda role they perform, using the example of three cartoons showing the typical Nazi German as an uncultured hyena, a war-mongering racist vulture and a blood-thirsty wild boar with sharp sabres instead of tusks. A series of Soviet cartoons linked by explanatory intertitles (viz, 'The Gallery of Beauty', 'The Lesson', 'The Nazi Abroad', 'The Hypnotic Experiment - Nazi Style') show Hitler and other members of the Nazi leadership in various unflattering guises (the most effective one features Josef Goebbels as a ranting Mickey Mouse), Napoleon confronting a crest-fallen Fuhrer after the German defeat outside Moscow in December 1941, how Soviet resistance is defeating Hitler's pincers, the brutal character of the Nazi regime, untruthful German propaganda, the heavy losses suffered by the Rumanians fighting alongside the Germans on the Russian front, resistance to German rule in Nazi-occupied Europe and food shortages inside Germany itself. David Low states that the British and Russians share the same ability to find humour even at the grimmest of times and hopes that this attribute will form the basis of a "lasting friendship and understanding" between the two peoples. 10:07:57 Intertitle. 'The Stars look up - to the War Workers of Britain'. A comedy routine filmed in a BBC radio studio featuring the "Hi Gang" cast, Vic Oliver, Bebe Daniels and her husband Ben Lyon, as a tribute to the workers of Britain. The routine consists of jokes and repartee between all three members of the show and Vic Oliver performing his standard act of playing the violin very badly. END 10:10:38
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: UKY 452
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: IWM Film: IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1942-11-1942-11
  • Production Country:GB
  • Production Details:Ministry of Information (Production sponsor) Paul Rotha Productions (Production company)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords:
  • Physical Characteristics:Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: English Title language: English
  • Technical Details:Footage: 995 ft; Running time: 10 mins 38 secs
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    UKY 452

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