WAR OFFICE OFFICIAL TOPICAL BUDGET 310-1 [Main Title]

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  • Title: WAR OFFICE OFFICIAL TOPICAL BUDGET 310-1 [Main Title]
  • Film Number: NTB 310-1
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: I. German POWs in France are employed in reconstruction work. II. French tanks pass through a ruined village. III. The ruins of Craonne in the Champagne region. IV. Mob storms a church to break up a pacifist meeting.
  • Description: I. 'WAR'S DEVASTATION. German prisoners employed in reconstruction work at Ribécourt 35 Kilometres behind the firing line.' LS pan as men move about with wheelbarrows shifting earth - ruined village buildings in the background. Tented POW encampment in the grounds of a château - tanned POWs walk towards and past camera. The men wear uniform jackets or fatigues some stamped with an identifying mark (PG for Prisonniers de Guerre) and number. The men fall in. POWs at work repairing the road surface and clearing debris in Ribécourt - in the background is the quaintly named 'Hotel de Cornet d'Or'. French guards stand about, rifles slung. POWs clean stones of mortar for re-use, construct a wooden-frame building, saw timber by hand and using a power jig-saw. 'PRISONERS' TOILET. The labours of the day ended, the prisoners take a dip.' Men sit on a wooden jetty washing in the river - a barge is alongside. II. 'FRENCH TANKS. French Land Cruisers on their way to the front.' HA.MS as two Saint Chamond tanks move through a ruined village. The leading vehicle, named 'Teddy', negotiates a corner. (These are early models with flat roof and 75mm Saint Chamond TR gun.) III. 'THE CHAMPAGNE REGION. The Ruins of Caronne (sic). The bombardment of the Californie Plateau.' Various shots as men move among shattered trees and the remains of buildings. LS pan over land gently sloping away from the camera-position - trees broken by artillery fire in the foreground. LS up denuded slope as shells explode on high ground - a graphically devastated landscape. IV. 'PACIFISTS ROUTED AT BROTHERHOOD CHURCH. A pacifist meeting held at Kingsland was broken up by the forces of loyalty and patriotism. The crowd breaking into the Church.' MS of church building surrounded by a hostile crowd - one patriot is battering at the closed doors while others throw stones and kick at the windows. Having smashed one of the windows a man climbs inside but is forced to withdraw. Mounted police sit idly by watching events. Men try once again to enter by the broken window, but are kept out by one of the congregation wielding a length of wood - those outside try to seize the defender's weapon and throw stones at those within. A second window comes under attack. The pacifists are still resisting vigorously, although losing ground, and the forces of law and order are still apparently asleep when the sequence ends.
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: NTB 310-1
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM (NTB 310-1)
  • Featured Period: 1914-1918
  • Production Date: 1917-08-01
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: War Office (Production sponsor) Topical Film Company (Production company)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: French Army (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: destruction, French military - area (object name) prisoners of war, German - custody: hygiene (object name) prisoners of war, German - labour (object name) reconstruction, French (object name) armour, French - tank: Saint Chamond Char d'Assault (object name) operations, British military - movement: road (object name) destruction, French military - area (object name) combat, French - artillery bombardment [D] (object name) politics, British - alternative: pacifism (object name) law and order, British - enforcement: crowd control & [abuse] (object name) politics, British - alternative: patriotic riot (object name) Ribecourt, Nord, France (geography) France (geography) Craonne, Aisne, France (geography) GB, England & Kingsland, Herefs (?) (geography)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent Soundtrack language: None Title language: English Subtitle language: English
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 289 ft; Running time: 3 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    NTB 310-1

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