BRITISH SOLDIERS INTERNED IN HOLLAND [Main Title]

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  • Title: BRITISH SOLDIERS INTERNED IN HOLLAND [Main Title]
  • Film Number: IWM 455
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: The treatment of British soldiers interned in Holland by the Dutch authorities, 1918.
  • Description: The troops interned in Holland include members of the original BEF of 1914, crashed airmen, shipwrecked sailors and men in the process of repatriation from German prisoner of war camps. A large group is posed outside the camp huts. The next clear scene shows the men's dormitories, with soldiers reading and mail being distributed. The men learn new trades, working at desks, reading, in the carpentry shop or repairing boots. On the seafront they fraternise with girls in Dutch national costume. The remainder of the film is taken up mainly by a sports meeting between the interned British and members of the Dutch armed forces at the Hague. Some of the British spectators are wearing hospital blues. The sports include sprints, a hurdling race and a pole-vault. Other entertainment comes from a black-face comedian who clowns for spectators and the camera, and mock-conducts the military band. Back in the internment camp, the men dig the gardens and practise woodwork. One posed group is of a few members of the original BEF. The final scene shows some of the internees in a café at Scheveningen talking and drinking with Dutch civilians.
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM (IWM 455)
  • Featured Period: 1914-1918
  • Production Date: 1918
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Ministry of Information (Production sponsor)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: British Army (regiment/service) Royal Netherlands Army (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: prisoners of war, British - custody: [+] (object name) society, Dutch - fashion (object name) society, Dutch - domestic (object name) society, Dutch - friendship (object name) society, Dutch military - friendship (object name) society, British military - friendship (object name) recreation, British military - sport: athletics (object name) recreation, Dutch military - sport: athletics (object name) The Hague, South Holland, Netherlands (geography) Scheveningen, South Holland, Netherlands (geography) Race (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: 968 ft; Running time: 16 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Notes: Summary: the film is badly disjointed, tending to jump or stay too long on one subject, making it difficult to follow. It was probably made by a Dutch firm, and possibly even for the Dutch government Remarks: long, dreary and poorly composed. Also, with a very little change in the captions, this could easily have been a German propaganda film. In its anxiety to stress that interned British troops are being well treated, it carries the implicit message that desertion or escape to a neutral country would bring a life of considerable ease
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    IWM 455

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