Summary: A review of the Ypres battlefields about ten years after the First World War.
Description: The film describes the ground as "more than famous - sacred" and the record as having been made "with homage and reverence". It starts with the view about a mile out from Ypres on the Menin Road, facing Menin. Then Hellfire Corner, with Hill 60 visible behind it, "The Crater" and Hooge, with the Menin Road running through it. The ruins of White Château (Potize Château) with the new château built beside it. The village of Gheluwe down the road towards Menin still shows some damage from shells. A tram runs through the main street. A German pillbox still stands in the village, and nearby is the German military cemetery. Just off the road in Inverness Copse is the rusting remains of a Mark V Star tank in a flooded mine crater. A general view of the Ypres ridges. The Ypres-Comines Canal just south of Ypres, showing one of the boundary stones marking the furthest German advance in 1918, with the Saint Eloi mine craters visible in the distance. The Messines ridge, showing the remains of pillboxes, and the ruins of Messines itself with children playing in them. The spot on the Wytschaete road north of Messines where 1st London Scottish first came into action on 31st October 1914, marked by a monument. Neuve-Eglise, south-west of Messines, where people are working to repair the damaged buildings and the crossroads at the centre of the village is still pitted with bullets and shellholes. Mount Kemel, Ploegsteert Wood and Hill 63, covered with old defences, are visible in the distance. Ploegsteert village has been rebuilt and the church spire can be seen from the camera position on Hill 63. The wood is growing back. Below the hill is the defensive bunker "Gray's Inn," and going northwards "The Strand" and "Hyde Park Corner". Nearby is the British cemetery at Mud Corner and the colonial cemetery at Toronto Avenue (actually mostly containing Australians). As people work to clear the wood they uncover British and German equipment from the war.
Production Details: Ideal Film Company (Production company)
Ward, W (Production individual)
Grainger, F (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations:
Keywords: casualties, British dead [relic] (object name)
casualties, German dead [relic] (object name)
casualties, British graves - formal (object name)
casualties, German graves - formal (object name)
defences, German - emplacement: pillbox (object name)
journalism and record, British - cameraman (?) (object name)
armour, British - tank: Tank Mark V Star & [wrecked] (object name)
reconstruction, Belgian (object name)
society, Belgian - history (object name)
society, British - history (object name)
transport, Belgian civilian - bus: tram (object name)
Menin Road, Ypres, West Flanders, Belgium (geography)
mud (concept)
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: 927 ft; Running time: 16 mins