Summary: Evacuation of children during the early years of the war.
Description: I. Blackboard showing the announcement of the evacuation with children's drawings.
II. Children get medically examined before evacuation, off-screen voice explains that the government's evacuation scheme is sending children from London to the countryside in the West. Brief shot identifies a location as Ancona Road School.
III. Children at the railway station. Off-screen voice tells what they were supposed to take with them, including warm clothes and their gas masks.
IV. Parents walk their children to collection points. Party organisers are shown at work. Off-screen voice explains that nobody knew where the transport would be going to.
V. Children on the train, view out of the window on the countryside which is for many London children the first time they have seen it. When the train stops, volunteers give water to the children.
VI. After they arrive at their destination (Torquay), the children are driven to a close local school, registered, fed and then sent in twos or threes to their new families. Welcoming scenes.
V. On the next morning the children write special "evacuation cards" to their parents to tell them their new addresses. Then they are distributed into their new classes.
VI. Children are shown playing outside, working on fields and playing on the beach (Torquay). Off-screen voice tells that they are experiencing a new world.
VII. Shift to "old world": a world map is shown, which focuses on northern Europe. Mothers from Norway, Holland, Belgium and France tell that they did not have time to evacuate their children and encourage the families in Britain to do so. The scene ends with the statement of a soldier saying that the armed forces would fight better knowing their children are safe.
The film ends with the line "Controlled Evacuation, planned and executed in good time, is right".
Production Details: Ministry of Information (Production sponsor)
Ministry of Information (Production company)
Dickinson, Thorold Barron (Production individual)
Dickinson, Desmond (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations:
Keywords:
Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W
Sound format: Sound
Soundtrack language: English
Title language: English
Subtitle language: None
Technical Details: Format: 35mm
Running time: 9 mins
