Battlefilm: US Army Signal Corps Motion Pictures of the Great War (The Historic Footage Project)

Phillip W. Stewart
PMS Publishers (2007)
ISBN 9780979324321
Reviewed by Richard R. Blake for Reader Views (10/07)


Philip W. Stewart has researched, compiled and edited this listing or catalog of historic films of action taken during World War I.  The U.S. Army Signal Corps were given the assignment of obtaining photographic coverage of American participation in the War. In the introduction, Stewart reiterates the earlier statement of purpose for the filming made by K. Jack Bauer in 1957.  The photographic coverage was ordered for propaganda, scientific, identification, and military reconnaissance purposes, but primarily for the production of a pictorial history of the war.
 
The book is divided into two sections. Part One covers U.S. military operations from the years prior to the war beginning in 19l4 and through to the returning of the troops in 1918-1919. Included in this section are films related to post-Armistice training, films relating to Allied and enemy activities, and the parades and events celebrating liberty.  There are films from Washington D.C., Paris, London, and Brussels featured in these festivities filmed in 1918 and 1919.
 
As a U S. Navy veteran I took special note of the films related to Naval Operations.  There are films featuring submarines, U-boats, destroyers, battleships, our convoy activities, and the return of the fleet in 1918.
 
Part two is made up of a listing of films featuring civilian activities. Several films cover the years of Woodrow Wilson’s administration, his cabinet, the decisions he faced and the treaties he signed.  A number of films were made of his trip to Europe in 1918 on the ocean-liner George Washington. He visited France, England and Italy.  Additional trips to Europe were made in the following year. Many of the events and receptions attended during these visits were captured on film and are included in the listings.
 
Films featuring industry as it related to the war effort are also included in this section.  The manufacturing of ordnance material, military aeroplanes, gas masks, and shipbuilding are all included.
 
Other patriotic activities, holiday celebrations and liberty loan drives are featured.  I found the films covering the memorial services at Arlington National Cemetery, and the Burial of an Unknown Solider of particular interest.
 
This book is one of a kind.  It is destined to become an important resource for historians, media researchers, documentary producers, and students of films.  There are 957 reels of footage shot during the years 1914-1918. These include the WWI era documentary films, in record group 111, held in the U.S. National Archives.  Philip W. Stewart has produced an important work in his book “Battlefilm.”

Make comment on weblog