OUR EMPIRE'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM - PART 1 [Main Title]

Semi-contemporary material of Britain's entry into the First World War, from the Spithead review in June to the arrival of the BEF in France, 1914.

I. The film is outspoken, "The evidence - both documentary and otherwise - is now ample to prove that Germany forced this great and terrible War upon humanity to secure for herself the domination of the world."

II. The Spithead review of June 1914 shows a line of pre-dreadnoughts with HMS Implacable and HMS Vengeance, HMS Agamemnon and the Royal yacht Victoria and Albert. Two torpedo boats ride in the swell. A French Danton Class semi-dreadnought. The Japanese semi-dreadnought Kurama. The battle-cruiser HMS Indomitable. After salutes are fired HMS Victorious gets underway with dreadnoughts of the Majesty Class: HMS Magnificent, HMS Mars, HMS Illustrious and the armoured cruiser HMS Warrior. The Kurama again, briefly, with HMS Queen in the background. Rounding the stern of the dreadnought HMS Neptune. Views of the battle-cruiser HMS Lion, dreadnoughts of the Teméraire and Orion Classes, with HMS Dreadnought itself, in lozenge formation. The fleet did not disperse after manoeuvres. The King's declaration of war, followed by switchboard operators relaying the information. Winston Churchill, as First Lord of the Admiralty, reviews the fleet. HMS Lion is shown. The submarine E.23 submerges. A Felixstowe flying boat passes over HMS Firedrake.

III. An Army recruiting march in London with a German 77mm field gun captured by 19th Battalion, the London Regiment. A recruiting rally in Trafalgar Square. Civilian volunteers, wearing armbands, queue to be attested at the Central Recruiting Depot in Westminster. Newly raised troops cheer the camera. The new recruits include territorials of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and of the Queen's Regiment. Lord Kitchener inspects a Highland territorial battalion. The first of the BEF are transported across the Channel and disembark in France with their equipment (note what appears to be a 13-pounder 9cwt A anti-aircraft gun, introduced 1918).

IV. The film ends with HMS Queen Elizabeth patrolling the North Sea.

35mm