British Pathe

Credits read: "A War Office Production. Supervised by an Officer. Appointed by the Adjutant General to the Forces - Crown Copyright. Produced for the Army Kinema Corporation by Associated British Pathe."

A fiction film made to encourage soldiers to stay in the forces.

Begins with a...

Credits read: "A War Office Production. Supervised by an Officer. Appointed by the Adjutant General to the Forces - Crown Copyright. Produced for the Army Kinema Corporation by Associated British Pathe."

A fiction film made to encourage soldiers to stay in the forces.

Begins with a scene set in the Sergeant's Mess. Couples dance and men drink beer. Two old school soldiers discuss the fact that it is good that some of the young soldiers will decide to stay in the army although the war is over. Library footage is intercut with shots of the two old school soldiers as younger men. One of the men narrates the film, describing their army career and all the campaigns which they were involved in.

Archive footage used includes footage of World War Two combat including footage of Dunkirk, Middle East Campaign, Anzio - Italy, El Alamein, Burma Campaign, London Bells on V.E. Day, Hong Kong from Kowloon, Suez Canal crisis, Mau-Mau campaign in Kenya.

Reconstructions are used to show how the sergeants of the future are found. Soldiers are seen in training, two young soldiers are seen being put through their paces. One of them is forced to wade through a murky pool of water. "Orders must be obeyed immediately," says the Corporal. There is some jokey banter between the Corporal and privates. Corporal is told that he has been selected to go to the Battalion. He is rather worried about what his fiancee will think about that. He is told to invite her to the Passing Out Parade so that she can see what Army life is all about.

We see friends and family watching the Passing Out Parade. Janie Dalton (Corporal Brown's fiancee) is amongst the crowd. Sequence follows showing how Janie is persuaded that the army is a great job for her man. Pete is made a Sergeant and he takes Janie to a party in the Sergeant's mess. Janie meets other soldiers and soldier's wives. They all chat and reminisce about their army careers. Janie learns that the Sergeant's Mess is more than just a building with a bar in it.

Corporal Brown attends a weapons course at Hythe. Various shots of Brown learning techniques at the Small Arms School. Night sequence - men are being put through a night exercise. There is a montage sequence showing how disgruntled some of the soldiers and their wives are that they have to move so often.

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