DO NOT MISS **** CHANNEL 4 TONIGHT 8.00 PM DO NOT MISS !!!!!!

[NEMO]

Channel 4 tonight 8 pm.

Messages home / lost films of the British army , THESE HAVE BEEN LOST FOR DECADES and found in the cellar at Manchester town hall , they are original period films of British soldiers in the far east sending messages homes to loved ones.

My pal has seen a private screening and says if ya can get through it with out filling up it will be an achievement .......apparently its just brilliant

[Staffsyeoman]

They have played a little fast and loose; the films have been known about for longer than the film suggests. I went to an academic conference on British film and the Second World War in 2011 - and the North West Film Archives showed some of the "Calling Blighty" series. That does not detract from their power, though - and at least C4 has the funds to put them on screen. I always wondered how many of them never made it home.

[Peter Brydon]

Most interesting, the quality of the war time films was incredible.

There were a number of clips showing 3 soldiers together ( see attached pictures from the telly ) and the commentary seemed to suggest that one man was a member of the Kings Own but the man in the middle is wearing the badge of the Kings Liverpools and the man on the left is wearing a Chindits sign on his right arm ( which was referred to in the commentary ) and the man on the right is wearing what look like a Sind District sign on his left arm and I wonder if they all might be members of the 13th Kings Liverpools.

I will be watching the programme again on 4 on Demand over the next few days to see if I missed any more clues about the 3 soldiers regiment (s).

P.B.

[Mike_2817]

Originally Posted by Staffsyeoman

They have played a little fast and loose; the films have been known about for longer than the film suggests. I went to an academic conference on British film and the Second World War in 2011 - and the North West Film Archives showed some of the "Calling Blighty" series. That does not detract from their power, though - and at least C4 has the funds to put them on screen. I always wondered how many of them never made it home.

Indeed so, the films were first re-discovered during the renovation of Manchester Town Hall in 1984, and the NW Film Archive (part of Manchester University) first needed to conserve and copy the film onto new film stock as it was on volatile cellulose nitrate base film which is relatively unstable, but decomposition was the main problem, and probably some of the film was already beyond salvage.

The project started again last year (2015) when the NWFA decided to do a project for the 70th anniversary of VJ Day, and this new film, along with some of the original Calling Blighty issues, was screened on Monday 23rd November 2015 at HOME – Manchester’s new cross arts venue, which is shown in the C4 film.

[BWEF]

I have not seen this yet but I do believe that this scheme extended to other places.

I have seen one in which people from the Brighton area sent messages home and another that was, if I remember correctly, servicemen from the Norwich area sending greetings to their family.

[Mike_2817]

Yes they were film for & and shown in regions all over the country.

Here's one from the Wessex Film Archive

http://www.movinghistory.ac.uk/homefront/films/wx8.html

[Mike Jackson]

Originally Posted by Peter Brydon

Most interesting, the quality of the war time films was incredible.

There were a number of clips showing 3 soldiers together ( see attached pictures from the telly ) and the commentary seemed to suggest that one man was a member of the Kings Own but the man in the middle is wearing the badge of the Kings Liverpools and the man on the left is wearing a Chindits sign on his right arm ( which was referred to in the commentary ) and the man on the right is wearing what look like a Sind District sign on his left arm and I wonder if they all might be members of the 13th Kings Liverpools.

I will be watching the programme again on 4 on Demand over the next few days to see if I missed any more clues about the 3 soldiers regiment (s).

P.B.

I agree with you about the Sind District sign - well spotted! I was very impressed by the length and detail of the citation for the NCO's Military Medal. Someone took their duty in writing the citation very seriously - I had somehow assumed that under the circumstances citations would have been say five lines of text at most - given the circumstances under which they were written. Mike