Summary: A little known anti-war film, in which a father shows his young son images from the Great War to impress upon him that war is not a glorious adventure but ‘"a hideous ugly thing, involving sacrifices on the part of the finest manhood of every combatant nation".
Description: Reel one: Contrast of boy playing happily at home with his lead soldiers and his father's terrible memories in flashback of the Great War battlefields, now overgrown and marked by signs warning of danger.
Reel two: Verdun. Empty fields and concrete bunkers . Discarded equipment and bombed houses. Fleury dt Douaumont. Digging up shell cases. A solitary boot. Huge piles of rusting helmets and discarded metal objects. Concludes with shop “Souvenirs de Ypres".
Reel three: Arras. Destroyed houses. Rebuilding a church in the town centre. Trenches. Azannes. Picture of simple graveyard over marching soldiers. Gun emplacements. Tangled ironwork and cratered landscape. Huge memorial with two roofed aisles and single central tower in white. Sleeping lion memorial by “Association de 130 decision” “Verdun 6 km” An imposing bridge and shots up the stairs to a memorial. “Yser Canal” . Surrounded by mechanical debris. Rebuilding of broken locks. Use of pump. Sucks up old rifle. Explosion of a large shell in a field. Very dramatic.
Reel four: Ypres. Ruin of a church. Destroyed trees and cross. Soldiers in the trenches. St Martin's Cathedral being rebuilt. Aerial view. War memorials. Sawmill making crosses for graves. Cemeteries. Stonemason at work. The father shuts the book and his son clears his toy soldiers away and puts the lid on the box.
Alternative Title:
Colour:B&W
Digitised:
Object_Number:MGH 5241
Sound:Silent
Access Conditions:
Featured Period:
Production Date:1930
Production Country: GB
Production Details: Swann, Fred (Production individual)
Nieter, Hans (Production individual)
Crapper, C (Production individual)
Stannard, Eliot (Production individual)
Mariott, Moore (Production cast)
Pavitt, Eric (Production cast)
