UNITED NEWS [Series Title]

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  • Title: UNITED NEWS [Series Title]
  • Film Number: UNY 129
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: Edition of US-produced wartime newsreel, featuring President Roosevelt's return to Washington after his victory in the 1944 presidential election, an item on the US Army postal service, a report from the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and the running of supply lorries along the 'Red Ball Express' in liberated France.
  • Description: Part 1: United News main titles. 'Pres. Roosevelt returns to Washington'; view down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol with a line of motorcyclists leading the Presidential motorcade. Roosevelt, sitting in the back of his car, gives a radio interview; he thanks the people for the welcome. Vice-President Elect Truman and Vice-President Henry Wallace sit in the car with him. Roosevelt's car passes. Further views of the motorcade. Arriving at the White House. Armistice Day 1944; a naval guard of honour presents arms at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior at Arlington National Cemetery. Roosevelt stands with the aid of his car door, with Henry Stimson (Secretary for War) and James Forrestal (Secretary for the Navy); Roosevelt watches as wreathes are laid on his behalf by his aide , General Edwin Watson. Part 2: 'US Post Office rushes mail to troops abroad'; exterior panning view of a large building marked 'New York Port of Embarkation - Army Post Office'. A mail train arrives at the post office and is unloaded. Sacks of mail are trolleyed away. A warehouse piled high with mail sacks. A sign board. A small train of trolleys laden with mail is driven away. Parcels are sorted into wheeled canvas bins; some of the parcels are thrown considerable distances. In the field American troops receive parcels. A group of sailors open a parcel containing sweets. Parcels are distributed from a Christmas tree. Exterior with a sentry marching past a Christmas tree. Part 3: 'Sea battle of the Philippines'; exterior at a stores dump on Leyte in the Philippines with jeeps and DUKW amphibians passing. MacArthur shakes hands with an American soldier. A crowd has gathered. MacArthur and another in conversation over a map. American troops with a burning hut in the background; a DUKW passes slowly. A wounded man has a sling tied. Wide shot with Sherman tank parked on muddy ground. A Stuart light tank named 'Dinah' struggles through mud. A Landing Vehicle Tracked (LVT) tows a trailer through mud. Lorry passes. An aircraft carrier at sea with escorting vessels. View of a different aircraft carrier with an escorting cruiser in the background. On deck of a carrier with bombs being trolleyed across the flight deck. Aircraft on deck. Aerial view of Philippine islands. Animated map shows two Japanese naval forces navigating the Philippine islands, with Kinkaid's 7th Fleet around Leyte and Halsey's 3rd Fleet approaching from the north. Map with 7th Fleet dividing into two parts, one part going towards the Surigao Strait and the other to the north as Halsey approaches. Aircraft in flight. Map with Japanese force approaching 7th Fleet. Animated graphic shows American forces arranged in a u-shape in the Surigao strait, firing on approaching Japanese ships from three sides. Ships firing. Pilot David McCampbell sitting in the cockpit of 'Minsi III' which is marked with at least 21 victory tallies. Aircraft take off. Aerial views of ships below. A slow motion, apparently composite, shot of an oil fire seen from a ship. An observer in steel helmet uses binoculars. Japanese aircraft amidst tracer fire. A Japanese divebomber is set on fire and crashes after missing a carrier with its bomb. Aerial view of an aircraft carrier with four twin turrets starboard. US Navy aircraft carrier USS Princeton on fire. An aircraft taxis on a flight deck with Princeton burning in the background. A towering cloud of smoke in the distance. Observer. An aircraft, trailing white smoke, lands on a carrier. A second aircraft, missing an undercarriage leg, lands but damages its propeller. Admiral Nimitz addresses camera; he speaks of his pride in the men under his command and that 'our advance westwards is growing and it will not stop until the Tokyo warmakers are utterly defeated'. Part 4: 'Miracle highway speeds supplies in Europe'; lorries drive off a landing craft on the coast of France. Parked lorries. Jerry cans are filled with petrol. Black American troops put the jerry cans aboard a lorry. Petrol tanker lorry drives off. Lorries drive through a ruined town, directed by an American military policeman. Driving at night; only headlights can be seen. A group of officers including a Brigadier General in discussion by the roadside over a map. Animated map showing France, Belgium and Germany, the Western Front and the line of road communications running in a loop from Cherbourg. Lorries on the road, including a shot of a roadsign marked with the dot of the 'Red Ball Express'. At a rest halt drivers dismount. Signs 'clean windshield', 'check wiring', 'clean spark plugs'. Mechanic at work in a tent. Sign 'check battery', 'check tires'. Changing a tyre. Drivers queue up at a tent marked 'coffee for drivers'. A group of black American lorry drivers drink coffee and smoke cigarettes. Taking jerry cans and refuelling lorries before setting off again. Lorries underway. Unloading and stacking various stores. End title.
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: UNY 129
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1944-11-17
  • Production Country: United States of America
  • Production Details: Office of War Information (Sponsor) United Newsreel Corporation (Production company)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Roosevelt, Franklin Delano (person) Truman, Harry S (person) Wallace, Henry Agard (person) Watson, Edwin M (person) Stimson, Henry L (person) Forrestal, James (person) Kincaid, Thomas Cassin (person) Halsey, William F (person) United States Navy, Third Fleet (regiment/service) United States Navy, 7th Fleet (regiment/service) McCampbell, David (person) United States Navy, USS PRINCETON, aircraft carrier (1942) (regiment/service) Nimitz, Chester William (person)
  • Keywords: United States Home Front 1939-1945 (theme) Battle of Leyte Gulf 1944, Philippines, Pacific War 1941-1945, Second World War (event) North West Europe, Second World War (event)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: English
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 975 ft; Running time: 11 mins
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    UNY 129

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