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.
