SKELETON IN THE CUPBOARD [Main Title]

Second World War British Ministry of Information animated cartoon newsreel trailer reminding the public that bones are needed for salvage and are vital to the war effort.

The commentary introduces a ghost called George (skeleton wearing a cape) who haunts a disused brewery near Chalfont St Giles. George flies around the wrecked and empty building with nothing to do "it is dull for George - no there ghosts to play with, no one to frighten and no beer!". George wants to do his bit for the war effort and visits an office where three important looking men are studying a map (one dressed as an army general, one as a naval admiral and one looking like Ernest Bevin), the men turn to George and shake their heads at him. George goes to the cinema (the posters advertise Boris Karloff in "Aunt of Frankenstein"). He takes a seat in the crowded auditorium as a newsreel trailer on the need to save bones for salvage being shown. The film then cuts to the newsreel trailer which emphasises how vital bones are to the war effort, for the production of explosives, to make glue for the production of tanks, aircraft, ships and ammunition, and the production of bonemeal to feed pigs and poultry and fertiliser for the land. The newsreel trailer explains that the bones should be clean and dried in the oven whilst the oven is still hot and that 50,000 tonnes are needed each year. At the end of the newsreel trailer sequence the commentary continues "There you are said George, I knew they needed me". George flies out of the cinema and dives in to a dustbin marked "BONES" he emerges from the dustbin as a shell and flies over the city to a battlefield and chases Hitler towards Berlin. "Now George is in his happy hunting ground scarring the pants off of the Nazis". The film ends with a woman carrying a skeleton of a rabbit along her front garden path and depositing it in a bucket on the street marked "BONES ARE NEEDED FOR THE WAR EFFORT" with the commentary "Now Ladies and Gentlemen, there is a moral to this story - have you a skeleton in your cupboard? Give it to salvage and have a clear conscience".

35mm