A YANK COMES BACK [Main Title]

Documentary-type film featuring Burgess Meredith, telling the story of an ex-GI who returns to Britain to see how the country is coping in the aftermath of war.

The film begins with a cartoon of the GIs in Britain during the war. One in particular, Burgess Meredith, has come back to make a movie of post-war life and is accompanied by two friends. He is seen arriving at the airport and going to the Government Information Office. The next segment shows Meredith outside Buckingham Palace. A train from Paddington Station takes him to Cardiff, the purpose being to visit a coal mine and indicate the importance of coal. Next stop is the steel mills, where he discusses the production of steel. The National Gas Turbine Establishment is shown, not as a production factory but a place of research. At a Juvenile Employment Office he talks to the employment officer and some children. The advantages that children now have are also shown. A search for a 'typical' English housewife is made. A 'typical' farmer talks about conditions and government controls. A survey of the textile industry shows that exports are good. The film shows ways in which the English enjoy themselves. All of this is supposed to have been preliminary footage but Meredith realises now that he has no script. In the projection theatre he sees the material already shot and adds a postscript saying how well the British have coped after the total destruction of war.

35mm