WAR OFFICE OFFICIAL TOPICAL BUDGET 370-2 (French version, fragment)

This film is held by the Imperial War Museum (ID: IWM 652b).

Synopsis

I. Newsreel item on British soldiers receiving the surrender of Turkish troops, Mesopotamia, probably May 1918.

The handful of Turks come in from the desert and walk past a British 4.5-inch howitzer. Camels and wagons carry other prisoners across a river. A large group of the prisoners is collected together.

II. Newsreel item on an Italian Carabinieri band playing in central London, September 1918.

Nurses and convalescent soldiers leave Charing Cross Hospital and drive down the Strand to hear the Italians play. The bandsmen themselves arrive by horse-drawn charabanc wearing their full dress uniforms, and mix with British bandsmen, also in full dress. The Italians play their instruments outside the gates of Buckingham Palace.

III. Newsreel item on a Canadian military sports in England, September 1918.

The sports start with a water-joust in wheelbarrows. There are three successful attempts at the joust and one almost perfect success. A race in which ladies are carried in wheelbarrows. A second wheelbarrow race in which the soldiers pushing are blindfolded, followed by wrestling on horseback.

IV. French language version of a newsreel item on German damage to Bthune (?), Western Front, September 1918.

Long distance views of smoke rising over houses, described as Bthune, set on fire by the Germans, "these burning houses are proof of their love of destruction". Shells start to fall between the houses and isolated cottages.

Notes

Production: see IWM 651a for production details

Subtitles: there is only one subtitle caption, for the last item of the issue

Summary: compare the item on Bthune with IWM 295. See also IWM 68 for Mesopotamia and IWM 342 for the Carabinieri band. Note that an English language variant or continuation of item IV is IWM 461b

Technical: this fragment is currently held on the same reel as IWM 652a, the can is marked as IWM 652

 

Titles

  • PICTORIAL NEWS (OFFICIAL) 370-2 (French version, fragment) (Alternative)
  • WAR OFFICE OFFICIAL TOPICAL BUDGET 370-2 (French version, fragment)
 

Technical Data

Year:
1918
Running Time:
5 minutes
Film Gauge (Format):
35mm
Colour:
B&W
Sound:
Silent
Footage:
293 ft
 

Production Credits

Production Countries:
GB
Sponsor
Ministry of Information
Production company
Topical Film Company