The advance of the Kut Relief Force from Basra upriver until the fall of Kut-el-Amara, 5 December 1915 to 29 April 1916.

Basra, showing 'The Strand', followed by people in the bazaar and by light canoes, 'ballams', on the river (both scenes probably acted). Genuine film of troops in barges being towed upriver by paddle steamers, passing Ezra's Tomb, half-way between Basra and Kut. Marsh Arabs follow the boat. A bows-on shot of a British river gunboat, probably Insect Class. Troops on a paddle steamer with improvised mosquito nets. An acted scene of a soldier eating while surrounded by flies. Genuine scene of Arab 'mahaila' sailboats. Indian soldiers on board a paddle steamer. The British advanced position at Fallahiya on or about 5 April, showing a Napier light lorry and an Indian converted 1915 Fiat armoured car being unloaded from a ship, along with an 18-pounder being manhandled into position. Mule wagons with Indian drivers moving up. British troops in the trenches at Abu Rumman, captured on 5 April. A hospital ship docking at Fallahiya, and some of the 1,136 sick and wounded evacuated from Kut after the surrender disembarking and being taken to a field hospital. (Note the packing case in the field hospital scene, marked "OC Flying Column Oran". This might be Ora, near Fallahiya, but there is no record of a field hospital there.)

Notes

Distribution: the Sir William Jury papers in BFI Special Collections include a copy of an undated Scala Theatre programme for a show called AT THE FRONT. As prelude to THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME after the interval, the first half offered seven short subjects from other fronts and sectors, of which this film was one.

Remarks: an extremely interesting illustration of the limitations of 'war films' in the First World War, using a mixture of behind-the-lines material, fakes and acted scenes, prior to the establishing of an official organisation for obtaining front-line material. It is difficult to estimate just how much of this film is genuine, but probably not very much.