Summary: French newsreel of French and Italian forces in the rear areas of north Italy, November 1917.
Description: A French motor supply convoy passes through the customs posts at the Franco-Italian frontier in the mountains, and drives on through the centre of Turin. A Chasseur battalion with its pack mules marches through the crowds of people in the centre of Brescia. M Paul Painlevé, the French War Minister, returning from the Interallied Conference at Rapallo calls at Brescia to talk with French and Italian soldiers, including the Commander-in-Chief of the French contingent, General Fayolle. He is presented by Italian factory girls with a bouquet of flowers. At Brescia station French and Italian troops wait and watch the trains. A munitions and troop train draws in and some French soldiers leave the station from it. Italian ladies pass down beside the waiting trains handing out small gifts to the soldiers. Italian soldiers wave a French troop train out of the station. In the Piazza del Duomo in Milan French and Italian soldiers fraternise among the civilians. Garibaldists and members of local societies turn up in uniform to accompany the funeral procession of a French soldier accidentally killed in Italy. (This scene is repeated in far greater detail at the end of the film.) French marching columns with horse transport arrive in Verona and disperse to their billets, watering their horses and arranging their transport in the city. A dragoon regiment marches through the crowds in the Piazza del Municipio. (At this point the funeral scene repeats.) The crowds cheer the dragoons through the piazza and past the statue of Victor Emmanuel I on horseback.
Production Details: Section Cinématographique de l'Armée Française (Production company)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: Painlevé, Paul (person)
Fayolle, Emile (person)
French Army, [Chasseurs] (regiment/service)
French Army (regiment/service)
Royal Italian Army (regiment/service)
Garibaldists (regiment/service)
French Army, [dragoons] (regiment/service)
Keywords: supplies, French, movement [RA] - misc (object name)
animals, mammals: mule (object name)
society, French military - friendship (object name)
society, Italian military - friendship (object name)
society, Italian - friendship (object name)
society, Italian - charity (object name)
buildings, Italian - commercial: railway station (object name)
transport, Italian military - rail (object name)
ceremonies, French - event-related: funeral (object name)
ceremonies, Italian - event-related: funeral (object name)
31/3(45) (event)
Italy & <Alpine region> (geography)
Italy & Turin, Piedmont (geography)
Italy & Brescia, Lombardy (geography)
Italy & Milan, Lombardy (geography)
Italy & Verona, Veneto (geography)
Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W
Sound format: Silent
Soundtrack language: None
Title language: French
Subtitle language: French
Technical Details: Format: 35mm
Number of items/reels/tapes: 1
Footage: 585 ft; Running time: 10 mins