Rent Royal Navy at War in Colour: A Sailor's View (1940)
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2h 0min
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- Synopsis:
Colour film footage of the Royal Navy during the Second World War is exceptionally rare. Official cameramen shot little colour footage and filming by members of the ship's crew was strictly forbidden. However, this rule was occasionally broken and a number of officers did shoot their own colour film while serving. Their 'home movies' now provide some of the most remarkable and important colour film of the navy during the war years. Royal Navy historian Roland R Smith produced this totally unique compilation of these colour films. Much of the material has never been seen before and is all the more remarkable for being filmed pre-war or in the war's early years. The colour films included on this disc were shot by officers from the Nelson, the Kent, the Ivanhoe and the Laforey. Precious pre-war film records the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla in Malta and on exercise in the autumn of 1939, and the ships of the First Battle Squadron and the First Cruiser Squadron in the Mediterranean that same year. From spring 1939 comes rare colour film of the warships of the China Station. There are colour scenes of the navy during the Norwegian campaign of 1940, Malta convoys (including 'Operation Pedestal' and air attack sequences), and splendid colour film of ocean liners converted into troop ships and under escort. Other highlights include a colour film of the carrier Eagle sinking, the Laforey shelling Madagascar and dramatic film of the Nelson sailing under the Forth Bridge, exercising her big guns and scenes of life on board ship. Among the warships captured here in colour are the carriers Illustrious, Indomitable, Furious and Glorious, the battleships Rodney, Warspite, Barham, Nelson and Queen Elizabeth, the cruiser Birmingham, the destroyers Eskimo, Ashante, Cossack and Hermione and the mine-laying submarine Grampus. - Producers:
- Roland R. Smith
- Narrated By:
- Roland R. Smith
- Creators:
- Roland R. Smith
- Studio:
- DD Home Entertainment
- Genres:
- Documentary, Special Interest
