Last reel of an unidentified official British propaganda film to encourage saving which refers to the hopes of the world to be rebuilt in peace time (1943) [Allocated]
Summary: Last reel of assumed two reel film, is set in an English tea room, and we over hear a conversation between a soldier and his girlfriend just as they leave, when the woman says, '...we'll need all the money we can save'. Their conversation has also been overheard by a soldier (played by Jimmy Hanley, 1918-1970) and an older man, who are discussing the war and it's meaning. The older man comments on the couple's conversation: 'I think you're right, and that's what most people in a lot of other countries will want too. It's our job to see they get it..if they don't forget this time. Tell me, you haven't told me how you got your wound?' The young man then explains [over official combat footage and dramatised scenes] how he was posted to Burma, and moving into an area into being attacked by Japanese troops.They followed somoe Dominion troops and came across some war ravaged villages. They helped some Burmese villagers get to safety and he escorted a woman and her child. The party were strafed by a Japanese plane and he was shot in the leg. The woman and other Burmese villagers carried him to an aid post and she helped the Army medics nurse him. As a consequence, the man felt a great sense of gratitude for the help and kindness he received and the realisation that the troops supported by the home front had to work to ensure that the 'whole dirty business was finished properly and permanently this time.' Back in the tea room, he heads to an appointment in the hospital. When he leaves, the older man reflects on the meaning of this story, and the obligation of the people at home to build a better world: 'As I watched him go, I thought of what the last four years meant to him and for those others who went with him. Never losing the simple faith that somehow we'd find a way to give them everything they needed. That faith was their tribute to us. Let our [over a montage of scenes of people making weapons and shells in factories] salute to them prove that we at home will play our part, working, saving and supplying the means to build that new world on which they have set all their hopes.'
Closing titles over footage of British landing craft going ashore, 'The Beginning of the End. THE END'
35mm, B+W, Pos, comopt
Kodak 1943, Nitrate, 420ft
Recommendation: Accession and scan. Toby Haggith, 25/11/19