Summary: The work of the Women's Royal Naval Service, presented in the framework of the story of a Wren's first posting.
Description: After initial shots of the Naval College at Greenwich, the girl is posted to a Naval Air Station on the South Coast (shots of accommodation; mess scene; Wrens cooking; folding and testing parachutes; also playing tennis, watching flag ceremony etc.) where she is to work in the communications room on a teleprinter (film of communications room, and of WRNS Despatch Riders). The second half of the film shows other aspects of WRNS work, by tracing the course of a fictional 'action' which the 'heroine' watches unfold on her teleprinter: FAA aircraft reports German battleship: officers and Wrens at HQ plot its position and plan the action - planes and ships leave to intercept. Meanwhile routine work continues in the communications room but news eventually comes in that the enemy is sunk. Film closes with recruiting appeal, over more film of Greenwich.
Production Details: Admiralty (Production sponsor)
Ministry of Information (Production sponsor)
Strand (Production company)
Moffat, Ivan (Production individual)
Taylor, Donald19111966British film producer and director. (Production individual)
Jago, Jo (Production individual)
Beaton, Cecil1904-01-141980-01-18Beaton was a fashion and portrait photographer and an Academy Award-winning stage and costume designer for films and the theatre. He was a photographer for Vogue in the 1920s and 30s. During the Second World War, Beaton was initially posted to the Ministry of Information and given the task of recording images from the home front. Post war Beaton did stage, set and costume design on Broadway and later designed costume for film. He had a stoke in 1974 which left him paralysed down one side creating limitations on his work. To ensure financial security in the late 1970s Beaton auctioned his life's work. (Production individual)
Addinsell, Richard (Production individual)
Mathieson, Muir (Production individual)
Rhind, Al (Production individual)
Gordon, Michael (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: Royal Navy, Women's Royal Naval Service (regiment/service)
Keywords: command and control, British naval air (object name)
communications, British military - message: motorcycle despatch rider (object name)
communications, British military - wire: teleprinter (object name)
equipment, British naval air - personal: parachute (object name)
operations, British naval air - routine (object name)
propaganda, British - practical: recruitment, Women's Royal Naval Service (object name)
society, British naval - sustenance (object name)
GB, England & London, SE <Greenwich - Royal Naval College> (geography)
Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W
Sound format: Sound
Soundtrack language: English
Title language: English
Subtitle language: None
Technical Details: Format: 35mm
Number of items/reels/tapes: 1
Footage: 743 ft; Running time: 8 mins
