UNITED NEWS [Series Title]

Edition of US-produced wartime newsreel, featuring an anniversary parade of the Mexican Revolution in Mexico City; a US Army 'wild west' show in Brisbane, Australia; United States Army Air Forces' gliders practising; the first birthday of the US Coast Guard's women's service; an exhibition tennis match in Sydney, and combat action in the Pacific theatre.

Part 1: United New main titles. 'Mexico marks 33rd anniversary of new social order'. Footage from a high vantage point showing a mass parade in Mexico City, marking the anniversary of the Mexican Revolution. A unit of signallers with semaphore flags passes. Civil dignitaries including President Manuel Ávila Camacho watching from a balcony. A float passes with dancers in Aztec/Mexica dress. Young women perform gymnastics en masse. In a square people spell out a message.

Part 2: 'Artillerymen stage wild west show for ANZACs' in Brisbane. Horses (of Australian Army?) pulling wagons gallop past. Military and civilian spectators. Men ride bucking bulls. Spectators, including those who have climbed a pylon or mast. Another attempt to ride the bull.

Part 3: 'Glider troops prepare for airborne invasion'. Tracking shot from a vehicle showing parked United States Army Air Forces CG-4 Waco gliders on a runway. A glider is attached to a C-47 Skytrain (Dakota) transport aircraft (serial 119495). A glider, possibly named Purple Peril, is towed into the air. Another glider is towed past; as soon as it passes ground crew rush to hook up the next glider as a Dakota taxis towards them. Looking down the runway with a Dakota towing two gliders approaching camera. Looking up at a formation of Dakotas with gliders in tow. Aerial and ground footage of gliders. Gliders peel away. Glider coming in to a gentle landing. Glider 277010 makes a good landing. A glider makes a good landing on water. Another glider ditches, making an enormous splash; the crew can be seen bailing out. General Hap Arnold, USAAF, watches the recovery of the ditched glider from a small boat. American airborne troops, still grinning, wade ashore. Another glider coming in to land. A glider named 'Dallas Doll' landing with troops running past in foreground (the words 'Minnesota and New Mexico' are chalked on the side of the glider) and the first soldier can be seen jumping out of the aircraft. High shot; troops run from a glider.

Part 4: 'US Coast Guard women hold 1st birthday review'. Women of the US Coast Guard on parade. Women saluting. Eleanor Roosevelt, the First Lady, with women officers of the various women's services in Washington, D.C. March past.

Part 5: 'Tennis stars play in Australia for service men'. Four male tennis players (Adrian Quist, John Bromwich, Jack Crawford, Frank Kovacs) before a game in Sydney, Australia. Game of men's doubles in progress. Military and civil spectators. Game in progress.

Part 6: 'Latest films of the war in the Pacific'. Interior; an office where a naval officer hands a message to Admiral Chester Nimitz. Close-up Nimitz. Animated map showing the Pacific; an arrows appears and points at New Guinea, while another points to Rabaul, two more in Burma, and two to the Gilbert Islands. Footage from an American warship at sea. Wide shot of a North Carolina Class battleship firing its second main battery at very high elevation. More of triple turrets being fired. Four secondary guns (two twin turrets) being fired. Another ship fires. On land in the Solomon Islands; a hut amongst trees with American troops. Admiral William 'Bull' Halsey and Vice-Admiral Theodore Stark Wilkinson. A flypast by a large formation of naval aircraft. More naval gunfire, including a battleship with a spectacular broadside muzzle flash. Aerial footage; a B-24 Liberator heavy bomber drops bombs. Bombs exploding on jungle below. Footage from a beach, apparently at Bougainville; a amphibious tracked carrier named Michigan Wolverine beaching. US Marines coming ashore. Unloading stores from a landing craft in heavy surf at Empress Augusta Bay. A jeep tows a light anti-tank gun from the water. A jeep tows a light gun from a landing craft. US Marines filing off a landing craft. Troops moving through jungle. Dead Japanese soldier. Troops moving through jungle. United News end title.

35mm