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Summary: An edition of the British official newsreel "World Pictorial News", produced by the Ministry of Information, Middle East.
Description: I. 'NEWS FROM ENGLAND.' Very large civilian crowds gather at York for the first St Leger horse race held since the cessation of hostilities. Large numbers of civilian cars stand in the racecourse car park as a result of the recent reintroduction of the basic petrol ration. Extended footage of the horse race follows with the winning jockey Tommy Lowrey also being shown.
II. 'HARVEST TIME.' An item concerning the gathering of the harvest in Britain and Germany. Male and female farm workers pitchfork a grain crop into a mechanical winnowing machine. Italian ex-prisoners of war help to gather the harvest, pitchforking hay onto a haystack. Young agricultural workers (holidaying volunteers ?) pick ripened plums from trees. German prisoners of war work in a vegetable patch while British female farm workers pick up potatoes that have been unearthed by a Blackstone Digger No.1 agricultural machine. In Germany prisoners of war are inducted into agricultural squads to help gather the harvest. The prisoners have their papers checked and fingerprints taken by British military police, prior to having all Nazi insignia and badges of rank removed from their uniforms. A German civilian overseer shouts instructions from a podium to the gathered prisoners. German prisoners of war fell trees in a dense pine forest.
III. 'DANCES- OLD AND NEW.' Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Douglas C-47 Dakota aircraft fly at low-level over the Imphal Valley in India. RCAF C-47 Dakota "My Best Bet" is shown in flight. Off-duty Royal Air Force (RAF) officers negotiate twisting mountain roads in a Jeep in order to visit a site where the State Dancers of the Maharajah of Manipur are performing. Extended footage shows off-duty servicemen watching attractive female dancers performing traditional dances. This form of traditional dancing is contrasted with equally extended footage of a "Jitterbug" competition held in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia.
Production Details: Ministry of Information, Middle East (Production sponsor)
World Pictorial News (Production company)
Martin, Charles (Production individual)
O'Malley, Patrick (Production cast)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: Lowrey, Tommy (person)
Keywords: recreation, British civilian - sport: horse racing (object name)
agriculture, British - arable (object name)
prisoners of war, Italian - custody (object name)
prisoners of war, German - repatriation (object name)
agriculture, German - arable (object name)
society, German - domestic (object name)
arts, Indian - dance (object name)
recreation, Australian civilian - dance (object name)
GB, England & York, Yorks <racecourse> (geography)
Imphal, Manipur, India (geography)
Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W
Sound format: Sound
Soundtrack language: English
Title language: English
Subtitle language: Arabic
Technical Details: Format: 35mm
Number of items/reels/tapes: 1
Footage: 861 ft; Running time: 9 mins