SO THIS IS INDIA - AIRCRAFTMAN FLOWER ARRIVES AT RAF REDHILLS LAKE, MADRAS, INDIA [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: SO THIS IS INDIA - AIRCRAFTMAN FLOWER ARRIVES AT RAF REDHILLS LAKE, MADRAS, INDIA [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: ABY 92
  • Other titles: ROYAL AIR FORCE OPERATIONS IN SOUTH EAST ASIA DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated Series Title]
  • Summary: A further instalment for 'So This Is India' sees Aircraftman Flower arrive at RAF Redhills Lake, Madras (Chennai) India.
  • Description: Aircraftman Flower looking out from an aircraft (an RAF Consolidated Catalina) in flight. Air-to-ground view of coastline with moored Catalina flying boats. Air-to-ground view of Madras (Chennai). At an RAF station an man raises a barrier for a Chevrolet CMP lorry. Shot from inside a small office looking out through a window. Flower hands his papers over. Interior shot of airmen's quarters. Flower arrives with a local Indian bearer carrying his kit. The bearer puts Flower's kit down on an empty charpoy (a bedstead with interlaced strings rather than slats). Flower struggles to put up a mosquito net. Close-ups on other amused airmen watching Flower struggle. Several comic takes of Flower getting into bed only to have his mosquito net collapse on top of him. External view of Flower's billet. Flower sits outside eating a banana; he goes to take a bite but discovers he's already finished it. He tosses the empty skin aside and reaches up to pull another banana from a nearby tree. A char wallah ('tea man') approaches, and Flower hands him his mug to be filled with tea. Flower doing his ablutions outside his billet. He bends down to fill a mug with water from a small 'chatti' or spherical earthenware urn before going back to brushing his teeth. A local Indian man energetically shines a shoe. Locals mending clothes. Flower gets measured up by a tailor. Exterior shot of shower block. Flower taking a shower. The water cuts out and Flower leans out of the cubicle to berate an Indian boy working a stirrup pump. Flower meets a very tall, turbaned Sikh airman, who offers to show him around. On a promenade by the sea a sign reads 'Danger Sharks'. A close-up of the sign shows smaller text legible with the rather alarming message that 'Persons bathing in the sea risk being eaten by sharks'. The message is repeated twice below in different languages (Tamil (?) and Urdu). Flower and his Sikh companion walk along a riverfront and stop outside a small, five-tiered temple covered in intricate carvings. The Sikh airman points out a taller tiered building in the distance. Indian women washing in the river. Flower passes a cinema with hoardings advertising 'Kadambari' (director Nandlal Jaswantlal, 1944). A small roadside hut. Flower arrives and a barber begins cutting his hair with clippers. The barber administers a vigorous scalp massage, eliciting a less-than-relaxed expression from Flower. Flower walks along a road; a passing lorry kicks up a cloud of dust and Flower coughs. Repeat view of guard raising barrier for lorry at RAF station. Flower approaches a window at the station's RAF Police guard room (reverse angle to earlier interior shot of Flower approaching window). Airmen board a lorry. Flower watching a game of tennis in progress.
  • Alternative Title: ROYAL AIR FORCE OPERATIONS IN SOUTH EAST ASIA DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR [Allocated Series Title]
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: ABY 92
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1945-02-20
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Air Ministry, Directorate of Public Relations (Production sponsor) Royal Air Force Film Production Unit (Production company) Connochie, T D (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Royal Air Force (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: Red Hills Lake, Madras Presidency, India (geography) Madras, Madras Presidency, India (geography) Burma 1942-1945, Second World War (event) Royal Air Force 1939-1945 (theme) Far East 1939-1945 (theme) India 1939-1945 (theme)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 1037 ft; Running time: 12 minutes
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    ABY 92

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    ABY 73 (SO THIS IS INDIA [Allocated Title]) ABY 74 (SO THIS IS INDIA - ADDITIONAL FOOTAGE [Allocated Title]) ABY 90 (SO THIS IS INDIA - AN RAF THUNDERBOLT SQUADRON MOVES FROM BENGAL TO IMPHAL VALLEY, INDIA [Allocated Title]) ABY 91 (SO THIS IS INDIA - AIRCRAFTMAN MURRAY GOES FORWARD [Allocated Title]) ABY 79 (SO THIS IS INDIA: ROMAN CATHOLIC SERVICE IN PAGODA AT SADAUNG, BURMA [Allocated Title]) ABY 109 (SO THIS IS INDIA - TRAIN SEQUENCE [Allocated Title]) ABY 105 (SO THIS IS INDIA - AIRMEN ON LEAVE IN DARJEELING [Allocated Title]) APY 37 (LIFE IN AIR COMMAND SOUTH EAST ASIA [Main Title])
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