Description
Object description
An edition of the British official newsreel "World Pictorial News", produced by the Ministry of Information, Middle East.
Full description
I. 'RUSSIANS AND JAPS AT POLLS.' Russian horseriders arrive at a tented polling booth in snow covered country. Brief footage shows a Dnieper (Dnipro) River dam under construction. Footage taken in the interior of an Eastern Russian tented polling booth shows women voting. Russian Navy ratings cast their votes at a polling station in Sebastopol (Crimea). Marshal Georgi K Zhukov casts his vote in Berlin. Interior footage shows Joseph (Josef) Stalin addressing clapping supporters at the Grand Opera House in Moscow. Japanese civilians listen to politicians canvassing from hustings as the commentary outlines Japanese preparations for their first democratic elections. An old Japanese man hands out electoral information leaflets to passing walkers. Japanese women queue up to vote for the first time. Women cast votes at a polling station. The commentary states "It was apparently not the wish of the people to turn the emperor off the throne." Interior footage shows ballot boxes being up-ended with their contents being tipped onto matting to await counting. Japanese police scuffle with demonstrators following the results of the election being announced.
Full description
II. 'NEWS FROM GERMANY.' An item outlining the German reconstruction of their railway system. The commentary states that 30% of German railway infrastructure and 50% of locomotives were destroyed by the Allies in the war. Brief footage shows damaged railway lines and rolling stock. German railway workers shovel debris from a flatbed railway car. German railway workers lay new track and overhead electrical cabling. Railway rolling stock is renovated at a depot. A train on the Stuttgart-Würzburg line pulls out of an unidentified railway station. An electric locomotive crosses a reconstructed via duct on the Stuttgart-Würzburg line.
Full description
III. 'NEWS FROM ENGLAND.' British Minister of Supply John Wilmot arrives at an undisclosed airfield location for a demonstration flight on a British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) Avro Tudor Mk I passenger airliner. Wilmot enters the aircraft and is later shown conversing with his Parliamentary Under Secretary in the spacious cabin interior. The Tudor aircraft then takes off (no civil registration markings visible). Exterior footage taken at Imber Court (Metropolitan Police Mounted Branch Headquarters and Training Establishment) in Surrey shows police horses being trained in preparation for London's Victory Day parade. Horses are trained in noise and crowd discipline as trainers dressed in civilian clothes wave banners and rattles in the horse's line of vision. Horses and riders hold a passing out ceremony at the end of the training period. Cut to the British Amateur Figure Skating Championships held at the Empire Pool in Wembley. Coverage of skating routines from Velda Osbourne, Daphne Walker and Cecilia Colledge follow.
Physical description
35mm