Other titles:PICTORIAL NEWS (OFFICIAL) 362-1 (French version, fragment) [Alternative Title]
Summary: French language version of a newsreel devoted to a review of the British Empire's war effort, 1914-1918.
Description: The film starts with a declaration that the war was forced upon Britain by "Germany's sinister designs". It shows John French reviewing troops (possibly as Viceroy in Ireland in 1918, but intended as 1914) and British soldiers disembarking in France for the first time. Lord Kitchener visits New Army soldiers in France in February 1916. Australians of 2nd Division in bush hats march past. Gurkhas of 7th (Meerut) Division, also on the march in the pouring rain, and Lloyd George addressing a Canadian division from a car, all illustrate the increasing role of the Empire in the war. (Note the reporters recording the speech.) Highlanders led by a pipe band march through an English village, contrasted with an apparently unending marching column of 1918 veterans in their shrapnel helmets, typical of the current British Army. "Meanwhile and all the while" there are ships at sea, W Class destroyers and the monitor HMS Erebus in the English Channel.
Alternative Title:PICTORIAL NEWS (OFFICIAL) 362-1 (French version, fragment) [Alternative Title]
Production Details: Ministry of Information (Production sponsor)
Topical Film Company (Production company)
Personalities, Units and Organisations: French, John Denton Pinkstone (person)
Kitchener, Horatio Herbert (person)
Lloyd George, David (person)
British Army (regiment/service)
British Army, Highlanders (regiment/service)
Royal Navy (regiment/service)
Royal Navy, EREBUS (HMS), monitor (regiment/service)
British Army, Australian Imperial Force, Div 2 (regiment/service)
Indian Army, 7th (Meerut) Division (regiment/service)
Indian Army, Gurkhas (regiment/service)
British Army, Canadian Expeditionary Force (regiment/service)
Canadian Army, Canadian Expeditionary Force (regiment/service)
Keywords: propaganda, British - inspirational (object name)
operations, British military - movement: march (object name)
operations, British military - movement: ship (object name)
journalism and record, British - press (object name)
equipment, British - personal: bagpipes (object name)
ships, British naval - destroyer: W Class (object name)
ships, British naval - gunship: Erebus (object name)
01/3(4-15) (event)
12/3(26) (event)
France (geography)
GB, England (geography)
Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W
Sound format: Silent
Soundtrack language: None
Title language: None
Subtitle language: French
Technical Details: Format: 35mm
Number of items/reels/tapes: 1
Footage: 283 ft; Running time: 5 mins
