Great War Films by Edward Walshe

IWM 319: PONT REMY SPORTS [MAIN TITLE]

Click here for the video.

Object description
The competition between Army Forestry Companies from Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand at the Forestry Camp at Pont-Remy, France, 15th September 1918.

Full description
The soldiers watch several forms of contest. A pillow fight between two men sitting astride a log suspended over water. A tree-stump felling contest, in which the four representatives each have to cut down a stump about three metres high. A similar competition to cut through a short log lying on the ground, won by the Australian whose fellows rush forward to cheer him. He poses in his shirt, shorts and bush hat with his axe beside the trunk. A third contest, including New Zealand Maoris, in chopping down medium-sized trees. Finally a 'log rolling' contest for men keeping balance standing on a log on the river, which they cross by rolling the log forward.

Production date
1918
Place made
GB
Dimensions
whole: Number Of Items/reels/tapes 1

Catalogue number
IWM 319

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C188260

IWM 150: SOLDIERS VOTING AND AMERICAN HEROES AT CAMBRAI[MAIN TITLE]

Click here for the video.

Object description
Men of Canadian 3rd Division voting in the Canadian General Election, and American Railway Engineers, Western Front, December 1917.
Full description
A poster lists the various "Electoral Districts in Canada". Polling took place between 1 and 17 December. Men of 7th Brigade, Canadian 3rd Division read the poster. The brigade is 49th (Edmonton) Battalion, 42nd (5th Royal Highlanders of Canada) Battalion, the Royal Canadian Regiment, and the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. Outside, a line of men of the brigade wait to vote. At 3rd Division Salvage Company at Norrent-Fontes, a hut has a sign painted over it, "Bring your salvage to this dump and vote for the Government !!! Both will help win the war". Underneath this is a sign reading "a vote against the Government means you are here for life; a vote for the Government means another man is coming to take your place". Next to this is a sign advertising Canadian War Bonds. A soldier of 42nd Battalion reads the notice on voting. II. American Railway Engineers of 'F' Company, 11th Engineers, who took part in the defence against the German counter-attack at Cambrai in November 1917, now at work repairing a track. The men pose for the camera in a group. A portrait shot of Sergeant McDonald and Private McDonald, who were captured and escaped after killing their guards. Posed group of the officers, led by Captain C Raymond Hulsart. The company on the march in full kit.

Production date
1918
Place made
GB
Dimensions
whole: Number Of Items/reels/tapes 1

Catalogue number
IWM 150

NTB 225-2: TOPICAL BUDGET (ITEM) [MAIN TITLE]

Click here for the video.
Object description
Canadian troops depart for the Front.
Full description
'CANADA'S CONTINGENT: H.R.H. The Duke of Connaught inspects, at Montreal, Canada's New Army upon their departure for the Front'. The Canadians parade before departure; flag raising ceremony takes place; the Duke watches as the troops march past in the snow.

Production date
1915-12-18
Place made
GB
Dimensions
whole: Number Of Items/reels/tapes 1

Catalogue number
NTB 225-2

IWM 1062-19: MR LLOYD GEORGE AND SIR SAM HUGHES REVIEW THE CANADIAN 4TH DIVISION AT BRAMSHOT [MAIN TITLE]

Click here for the video.

Object description
The visit of the Canadian Minister of Militia and the British Secretary of State for War to Bramshot camp, 7th August 1916.
Full description
The men of the division march past Lloyd George and Hughes (who is in uniform). Prominent is the division's kilted regiment, 72nd (Seaforth Highlanders of Canada) Battalion. Lloyd George delivers a speech standing up in his car, with Hughes beside him and reporters taking notes as he talks. Hughes calls for three cheers for Lloyd George and receives a spontaneous cheer himself. Hughes shakes hands with the division's officers.

Production date
1916
Place made
Canada
Dimensions
whole: Number Of Items/reels/tapes 1

Catalogue number
IWM 1062-19

Object description
Unedited film of 11th Battalion, Tank Corps, and of horse-breaking by men of the Canadian Corps, in rear areas of the battlefield during the Breaking of the Hindenburg Line, Western Front, September 1918.
Full description
Not far from the Droucourt-Quéant Switch Line, tanks of 11th Battalion make their way up a gradient in the fog. The leading Mark V Male tank is marked 'Kim' and has a left-handed swastika on its nose (after Kipling). It is followed by another Male tank, and a Female 'Kitty'. Horses of the Canadian Corps unsaddled in a shallow depression. Canadian ASC men are breaking in one horse to a harness for pulling a cart. A patrol of Canadian Light Horse moves forward. Back at the horse-lines, the horses are being groomed, and the horse being broken in has been hobbled with a form of running martingale. A posed shot of the horse with his head cradled by one of the drivers. Finally a village, mostly reduced to rubble. Shown clearly on a wall is "O U QEEANT" (sic), presumably the village of Quéant.

Production date
1918
Place made
Canada
Dimensions
whole: Number Of Items/reels/tapes 1

Catalogue number
IWM 316

Click here for the video.

Object description
Sir Robert Borden, Prime Minister of Canada, visits the British battleships in the Firth of Forth, February 1917.
Full description
Medium close-up as Sir Robert Borden comes onboard HMS Queen Elizabeth from a motor launch - Royal Sovereign Class battleship moored in background. Commodore Brand and Admiral Beatty are among a group of officers which receives him. Borden talks with Beatty and Madden on the quarterdeck. The party goes below through the quarterdeck hatch. Cut to medium close-up of Borden and party coming up the gangway of HMS Canada - Captain Nicholson (?) salutes them. Borden is introduced to the ship's officers and inspects a party of ratings. Cut to medium shot from focsle to A turret (canvas hatch tent in foreground): the guns are elevated and depressed. Medium shot of crewmen preparing paravane on focsle - in the background ship's whaler is hoisted inboard. Low-angle medium shot from deck to control top of foremast, and pan down to bridge and forward turrets - pan right to portside of focsle, where towing cable is secured to capstan and paravane is hoisted outboard.

Production date
1917
Place made
GB
Dimensions
whole: Number Of Items/reels/tapes 1
Catalogue number
IWM 591

Sir Robert Borden, Prime Minister of Canada - the first Prime Minister to have given the shaft to our Canadian Veterans.

[Insert any Canadian Prime Minister since Borden] - gave the shaft to our Canadian Veterans.

Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada - the latest Prime Minister to have given the shaft to our Canadian Veterans.

BRITAIN PREPARED : A REVIEW OF THE ACTIVITIES OF HIS MAJESTY'S NAVAL AND MILITARY FORCES [MAIN TITLE]

Click here for video

Click here for video:   https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060022728

DESCRIPTION
Object description
Film taken from on board a moving light railway train in the British rear zones of the battlefield around Arras, Western Front, 1918.
Full description
Only the brake-wheel can be seen of the train, and for part of the time a lance-corporal brakeman with his back to the camera. The track moves through the rubble, clay and destroyed villages of the area, passing a few soldiers on the way. At one point the ride is halted by sappers doing demolition work, at another the train halts next to a burnt out goods train. The train halts again to let another train pass over a set of crossing points, and to let soldiers load boxes from a lorry onto a goods truck. Otherwise the train is in motion for the duration of the film.

Production date: 1918

Catalogue number: IWM 237

At the 0:00 mark I have identified the location at the start: 93 Rue Roget de l'isle...this house exists today (Fosse No. 1).

At the 3:35 mark we are passing Le pont Viaduc des Mines de Lievin (Fosse No. 11)

Although Nursing Sisters focuses on two nurses in particular, Eleanor Thompson and Eden Pringle, it is a commemoration of the hard work and sacrifice of over 2500 Canadian women who served as nurses during the First World War. As always with Heritage Minutes though, they only have well, a minute, to tell their story. Naturally some details get lost although the way. So let’s take a closer look at Thompson, Pringle, and Canada’s WWI nurses at large.

Library and Archives Canada
Published on Feb 9, 2015

This film is a heritage item from Library and Archives Canada and is only available in English.

British film of the Canadian Corps on the Western Front, 1917-1918. Engineers, British or more probably Canadians, constructing and operating a narrow gauge railway. Part 1. Horse-drawn scoops flatten out the path, then complete sections of rail are laid with sleepers already attached. Flatcars are loaded with 8-inch shells and sent forward on the railway from the dump, past Piccadilly and Crucifix junctions to an 8-inch Mark V Howitzer battery. Part 2. Canadian soldiers in France voting in the general election on December 17, 1917. A village being shelled, probably in the Vimy area, filmed from some distance away. Canadians, probably 3rd Division, holding a pay parade in a shell-damaged village. A brigade paraded to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation on July 1, 1917 with a service, watched by Lieutenant-General Currie, the Canadian Corps commander, and General Horne, commander of First Army. Rubble and remains of the village of Vimy; a company of 42nd Battalion, Black Guards (Royal Highlanders of Canada) return from the village. 

Source: Library and Archives Canada. Lombard fonds, 1969-0030. IDC: 18425.

Library and Archives Canada
Published on Jul 28, 2014

Pathé United Kingdom

British Newsreels often featured aspects of Canada's contribution to the war effort. This film features scenes as varied as a huge pro-Allied forces demonstration in Petrograd during a snowstorm, sick soldiers on an outing in Montréal, and a Victory Loan parade in Winnipeg. Other footage of Canada's war effort was also produced by the Canadian War Records Office.

IDC: 57513.

Library and Archives Canada
Published on Jun 10, 2015

This film is a heritage item from Library and Archives Canada and is only available in English.

The film shows soldiers on a march, described as the Mobilization of the 127th York Rangers Overseas Battalion at Newmarket and trek to Eastman Kodak Barracks, Mount Dennis, April 10, 1916. The subtitle reads: "At Newmarket and Trek to Eastman Kodak Barracks - Mount Dennis Apr.10.1916." A long stationary shot shows a column of soldiers in company formations and bands marching past from Newmarket Square, with Toronto Company leading. Some of the banners held by soldiers, indicating the company names, read: "Toronto Company," "Mimico," "New Toronto," "Humber," "Woodbridge," "Aurora," "Whitchurch," "Richmond Hill," "North Toronto Depot," "Todmorden Depot," "Scarboro," "Markham," "Unionville," "Stouffville." Officers on horseback lead the above companies. Similar shots show mobile field kitchens drawn by horses, with supply wagons following, and the column marching on Yonge Street toward the camera.

Source: Library and Archives Canada. Graphic Consultants fonds, 1972-0105, IDC 318506.

Library and Archives Canada
Published on Oct 1, 2015

This film is a heritage item from Library and Archives Canada and is only available in English

The Ontario Board of Censors destroys 9 miles of nitrate film. Members of the Censor Board look on as the Toronto fire chief sets piles of film on fire. The seven men and a woman cringe back in fear as the nitrate film leaps into a blazing inferno. They wrestle each other in a congratulatory fashion at a job well done. Shown left to right are G. Anderson, R. Wilson, and G. Burns, members of the Ontario Censor Board, as they examine the ashes and declare the burning a success.

Source: Library and Archives Canada. William James, Sr. fonds, 1974-0144, IDC 130532.

Library and Archives Canada
Published on May 15, 2014

Canadian War Records

This film documents the military funeral for Colonel Agar Adamson, Commander of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, who died November 21, 1929. In 1915, Colonel Adamson took temporary command of the Princess Patricia's Light Infantry when Colonel Francis Farquhar was killed and Gault disabled. Adamson won the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) at Ballewaerde for directing the defence with the utmost of courage, though in great pain from a shrapnel wound. Footage includes shots of the funeral procession marching to Trinity Square and to the grave; a final salute by a bugler and rifle shots to salute the colonel.

IDC: 20495.

Library and Archives Canada
Published on Nov 3, 2014

This film is a heritage item from Library and Archives Canada and is only available in English.

On March 19, 1919, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) detrain in Ottawa after 4 years 6 months and 16 days of service overseas in the First World War. The film opens with a wreath honouring the dead and a portrait of Princess Patricia. The troop ship Carmania, loaded with the PPCLI, docks. Colonel Hamilton Gault watches his men disembark. The troops then board trains for Ottawa. The Mayor of Ottawa and other city officials welcome the regiment at the train station. The men then leave the station and parade through the downtown streets. The Governor General (the Duke of Devonshire) reviews them and gives a speech which is cheered by the troops. He then meets the regiment's officers. The men parade through the streets again as thousands cheer. The PPCLI's Black Watch and Machine Guns are seen observing Remembrance Day at the Toronto Cenotaph. Captain Sidney Lambert of the PPCLI officiates. 

Source: Library and Archives Canada. J. Sowman fonds, 1969-0029. IDC: 51630.
 

Library and Archives Canada
Published on Dec 1, 2014

This film is a heritage item from Library and Archives Canada and is only available in English.

A newsreel consisting of a variety of stories. 1. The US Marines in Haiti. U.S. marines seen loading mules at their jungle encampment. A native guide leads them during their patrol. The patrol locates and captures a group of bandits of the "notorious bandit band of Charlemagne." They are shown returning to their cells. They help the guard by holding the door shut while he locks it. Next is an irised-in shot of the guard in the tower, holding a rifle, with a palm tree in the background. During their imprisonment the bandits make straw hats. Footage of President Dartiguenave, who has been president for four years. He appears on a balcony, as a line of soldiers to the right and left of him salute. He is also shown at the base of a staircase, officers to each side, saluting. 2. Prague, Bohemia: For the defence of their new republic, the populace gives a hearty ovation to the Czechoslovak Legionnaires which form the nucleus of the country's army. Czechoslovak Legionaries, wearing the uniforms of all nations represented, parade in a city square. The soldiers march through the streets of Prague before large crowds. A military band precedes the troops. Ten soldiers are lined up along a curb. Each wears a different uniform. There are more shots of the parade and a shot of the crowd waving hats enthusiastically. Next is a medium shot of President Masaryk, the first chief of the Czecho-Slovak Republic, posing for the camera. 3. Fireworks Usher in 1920 as Montreal Celebrates a New Year. Scenes in a Montreal street of fire crackers going off. There are long shots of a city street in winter. Smoke billows as adults and children rush around. Chinese Boy Scouts take part in the celebrations. The Boy Scouts are shown marching. The Chinese Masonic Hall can be seen in the background. Also shown are men standing along the sidewalk. 4. Cambridge, England: Balfour Installed as Chancellor of Cambridge University. The footage shows: a procession of University officials in academic robes, including Arthur James Balfour, passing before crowd and into building. Many of the men in the procession wear army uniforms beneath their academic robes. The procession continues inside the building.

Source: Library and Archives Canada. Dawson City Museum and Historical Society fonds, 1979-0191. IDC: 43600.

Library and Archives Canada
Published on Apr 13, 2015

This film is a heritage item from Library and Archives Canada and is only available in English.

This film promotes the adoption of children orphaned by World War One. The viewer is shown the farm, called "Vimy Ridge" located near Guelph, Ontario, where the Soldiers' Aid Commission, Child Welfare Branch send children up to age sixteen in the summer. The film shows children playing and dancing. It emphasizes the discipline and orderliness of the farm, showing children cleaning before inspection. It also shows the "healthy recreation" the children take part in, including boys playing soccer and boxing, girls playing baseball, and both attending picnics, excursions and bonfires. Some of the farm activities the children take part in include feeding chickens, taking a wagon ride and feeding a cow. Boys take a lesson in "tillage and agriculture" and participate in farm activities. On inspection day the Honourable W.H. Price, Major A.C. Lewis, M.P.P., and Mr. J. Warwick, Secretary, greet the children. The film concludes with an explicit plea for foster parents for the war orphans. The film shows children "perfect for adoption," and asks, "Won't you cooperate? 

Source: Library and Archives Canada. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Television : Non CBC Productions, 1981-0156. IDC: 279822.

Library and Archives Canada
Published on Apr 13, 2015

This film is a heritage item from Library and Archives Canada and is only available in English.

Newsreels consisting of a variety of stories. 1. New York City: Industrial Workers of the World, Thousands Strong, Flock Union Square To Hear Alexander Berkman, Anarchist. Monte Carlo, Monaco: Within The Shadow of Monte Carlo's Famous Bank, Tourists From The World Over Engage in The Annual Battle of the Flowers. 2. San Francisco, California: Governor Clark and Lieutenant-Governor McKelvie of Iowa, Official Guests Here, Review The Troops at the Presidio. 3. New York City: Crack Oarsmen of Columbia University Practice on The Hudson for The Intercollegiate Meet at Poughkeepsie. 4. Sennen Cove, England: In The Treacherous Shallows Here Where Navy Boats Are Wrecked, The Schooner Trifolium is Pounded to Pieces by a Gale and Tossed Upon The Beach. 5. Washington, DC: The Spacious Grounds at The White House are Thrown Open For the Children to Roll Eggs on Easter Monday. 6. New York City: Led by Miss Anne Morgan and Miss Gertrude Robinson Smith, 3,000 Working Members of The Vacation Savings Fund View The Giant Steamer Imperator at Dock.

Source: Library and Archives Canada. Dawson City Museum & Historical Society fonds, 1979-0191. IDC: 43668

Library and Archives Canada
Published on Apr 13, 2015

This film is a heritage item from Library and Archives Canada and is only available in English.

Newsreel with the following stories: 1. Hammersmith: New Zealand forces hold their own regatta on the Thames. 2. King's Lynn: American flying men hold gala sports. 3. Newmarket: The fourth war derby - won for the first time by a woman. 4. Aldershot, England: RMAC beats the first battalion in play in Army Cup final.

Source: Library and Archives Canada. Pathé Gazette fonds, 1973-0173. IDC: 23492.

Note:  During the First World War, the cinema newsreels were called the Pathé Animated Gazettes, and for the first time this provided newspapers with competition. After 1918, British Pathé started producing a series of cinemazines, in which the newsreels were much longer and more comprehensive.