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• Up from the Ranks at NFB Collections website
• Watch Up from the Ranks at NFB,ca

Varian's War" (aka 'Varian's War - The Forgotten Hero) is a 2001 Canadian film made-for-television drama. The film was directed by Lionel Chetwynd, based on the life and wartime exploits of Varian Fry who saved more than 2,000 Jewish artists from occupied France. The film stars William Hurt, leading an all-star Ensemble cast of Julia Ormond, Matt Craven, Maury Chaykin, Alan Arkin and Lynn Redgrave.

Whilst in Berlin during 1938 Varian Fry (William Hurt) saw first hand the mistreatment of Jews at the hands of the Nazis and was unsettled by what he saw. Back in America he finds a surprising amount of resistance and some anti-Semitism to his idea that they should try and assist artists stuck in Europe to escape but finds an ally in First lady Eleanor Roosevelt (Sheena Larkin) who intervenes when the State Department tries to block his plans to head to Europe to start tracking down names of notable artists, many Jews, and helping them escape. Varian goes to France with no real plan other than to find the people and work things out as he needed. He was sent help in the person of Miriam Davenport (Julia Ormond), and recruited others sympathetic to his mission, a Jew that he names "Beamish" (Matt Craven) and Freier, a counterfeit expert (Alan Arkin). They play a sort of cat and mouse game with the French and German police, they can not let them know their real purpose, and with really good counterfeit documents manage to get a group of Jews into Spain. Even when he arrives in Marseille he is shocked to discover opposition amongst some of those he wants to help but also finds some allies including Miriam Davenport (Julia Ormond - Legends of the Fall) and forger Freier (Alan Arkin).

It was set up by a train trip, then they hiked through the mountain forest to arrive at the checkpoint undetected. After that the movie ended, but the efforts were repeated successfully many times during 1940 and 1941, saving about 2000 all together. Many musicians, authors, painters, sculptors.

Producers of the film include Barwood's Barbra Streisand and Cis Corman and (Prince) Edward Wessex. filmed in Montreal, Principal photography - Shooting ended June 14, 2000, exteriors,, August, studio shots September 2000. Canada. Working title: Varian’s War: A Forgotten Hero.

The Canadian supporting cast includes Christopher Heyerdahl, Remy Girard, Gloria Carlin, Dorothee Berryman, as a brothel madame, Pascale Montpetit, Vlasta Vrana, Joel Miller, Maury Chaykin and Aubert Pallascio.

The exec producers are Barbra Streisand and Cis Corman of Barwood Films and Edward Wessex of the u.k.’s Ardent Productions. Hallmark Entertainment has world rights outside of Canada, the u.k. and u.s. pay. Canadian rights have been acquired by Alliance Atlantis Motion Picture Distribution.

John Vasey As the Vice President of Original Programming for Showtime, John supervised high-profile movies such as “Varian’s War” (starring William Hurt, Julia Ormand, and Lynn Redgrave)

^[1]

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The film has its roots in a discussion between Daybreak Pictures executive producer David Aukin and former Director General of the BBC Greg Dyke; when Dyke told Aukin that he wanted to make a documentary about the secret talks that ended apartheid, Aukin suggested turning it into a drama instead. Aukin had previously produced the acclaimed political drama The Government Inspector.^[2]

Aukin and his production partner Hal Vogel contacted Paula Milne to write the script. She spent 18 months on the screenplay and researched the history of the talks by speaking to Thabo Mbeki and Michael Young in South Africa.^[3] Pete Travis, director of Omagh (2004) and Vantage Point (2008), was sent the script by Milne. Travis was not interested in directing a historical drama about recent events and decided to turn the film into a political thriller.^[4] William Hurt and Chiwetel Ejiofor were first to be cast.^[5] Hurt, who played President Henry Ashton in Vantage Point, was cast as Will Esterhuyse because Travis wanted to cast actors he had worked with before.^[6] Other actors were interested in the part even after Hurt had signed on.^[4] Travis wanted to work with Ejiofor, who was his first choice for the part of Thabo Mbeki.^[4]

Location scouting in South Africa was done in January 2008.^[3] Rehearsals began on 14 April 2008 and scenes set in the UK were filmed for the rest of the month at a large country house near Reading, Berkshire. The production moved to Cape Town in May, where location filming was done for six weeks. Production wrapped in August.^[2][3][7] Martin Phipps composed the film soundtrack.^[8] The final cut of the film was completed on 24 December 2008.^[3]

Target Entertainment sold the international theatrical distribution rights in 2008 at the Cannes Film Festival^[7] and the American Film Market^[4] for release in 2009.^[2] Endgame had its world premiere on 18 January 2009 at the Sundance Film Festival, in the International Narrative Feature Films category.^[9] The film was originally slated to be a major part of Channel 4's "Apartheid Season", and was previously scheduled for broadcast in mid-2008.^[10] It premiered in the UK at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival in March and was broadcast on Channel 4 on 4 May.^[3][11] It had its American television premiere on 25 October 2009 on Masterpiece Contemporary on PBS.^[12] This was followed by a theatrical release on October 30 through Monterey Media in select U.S. cities.^[13]

Overnight ratings indicated that Endgame's first Channel 4 broadcast was seen by 837,000 viewers (a 3.9% audience share). 64,000 more watched on Channel 4's one-hour timeshift service, Channel 4+1.^[14] A repeat on the evening of 9 May got 336,000 viewers (1.7% share) on Channel 4 and 35,000 on Channel 4+1.^[15]

The film's reception was positive. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 71% of professional critics gave the film a positive review, with a rating average of 6.5 out of 10.^[16] The Daily Telegraph praised Lee Miller's performance but argued that "the elements never quite cohered". The newspaper concluded that the script "seemed too fuzzy in its focus, and also too eager to write history with an unambiguously broad brush."^[17] Other publications praised the film. In contrast with the Telegraph, The Independent praised the script "Paula Milne's script skilfully interspersed talk with action".^[18] The Times rated the film four out of five stars.^[19] It also won a Peabody Award in 2009.^[20]

"ON THE EVENING before the vote in the House on the most important part of his most important initiative -- the $ 1.6 trillion tax cut -- President Bush watched a movie. He invited leaders of Jewish organizations and Jewish members of Congress to join him in the 40-seat White House theater for a screening of Varian's War. The movie is about Varian Fry, an American who engineered the escape of Jewish artists and intellectuals from Vichy France in World War II. Bush sat with Lionel Chetwynd, the movie's director and one of Hollywood's few conservatives and Bush supporters."^[21]

Chetwynd received a Writer’s Guild of America nomination for Outstanding Screenplay, with the film itself a Gold Jury Award winner at the Houston Film Festival. Ormond received a 2002 Golden Satellite Award for Best Supporting Action in the TV movieVarian's War (2001),

"VARIAN'S WAR: Cable movie at 8 p.m. Sunday on Showtime.

Sunday's Showtime movie "Varian's War" is based, however loosely, on the true story of Varian Fry, a wealthy American who went to Vichy, France, during World War II and rescued 2,000 artists, writers and intellectuals from Nazi persecution. One was the artist Marc Chagall.

For his efforts, Fry, who died in 1967, is scarcely remembered today as "the American Schindler."

William Hurt coughs up another curiously phlegmatic performance as Fry. Julia Ormand plays an American who helps him in Marseilles. Alan Arkin appears briefly as a forger who supplies the phony passports, andLynn Redgrave is Alma Werfel, the wife of novelist Franz Werfel.

Produced by Barbra Streisand, the movie offers a stock assortment of Nazi villains -- not that we're expecting Nazi heroes -- French collaborators and bureaucratic American foot-draggers.

There's some derring-do, but little palpable suspense. It's on a par with broadcast network movies and modestly entertaining, at best." Carman, John.^[22] Voice of Action describes the importance of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in the Second World War. The French version title of Voice of Action is Dynamisme des ondes.

From its earliest beginnings in 1901, with Guglielmo Marconi's experiments in long-distance radio transmission from Signal Hill in St John's, Newfoundland (now part of Canada), radio played an important role in conquering the vast distances of Canada.

During the 1930s, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation operated a nationwide radio network that provided local, national and international news and entertainment programs. The broadcasts served to connect rural and urban communities and helped to create unity for a widely scattered population. In northern and remote regions, radio was used to guide aircraft and to aid maritime navigation. Over 10,000 miles of landlines stretched across Canada, providing radio access for 93% of the populace. The familiar voices of CBC news readers and commentators such as Lorne Greene became part of the national psyche.

When war came, the CBC took an active role in providing the nation with timely information about the war effort. War correspondents such as Matthew Halton went directly to the battlefields, joining compatriots from Great Britain, the United States and Russia at the front lines. ^{[Note 1]}

On the home front, CBC broadcasters also sought to seek personal accounts from individuals directly involved in farm and industrial activities. Public forums ghost3d by experts in the field were also used to gain insight in issues that were of primary importance to the populace. CBC journalists also appeared on National Film Board of Canada trailers and short films that were shown nationally and for troops abroad.

Typical of many of the NFB's Second World War documentary short films in the Canada Carries On series, Voice of Action was created as a information film with a limited propaganda message.^[23] The film was a compilation documentary that relied heavily on newsreel footage shot by the Canadian armed forces, and other Allied film units, but also included footage shot for the film.^[23]

Stage actor Lorne Greene was featured in Voice of Action. Greene was known for his work on radio broadcasts as a news announcer at CBC, as well as narrating many of the Canada Carries On series.^[24] His sonorous recitation and deep baritone voice, led to his nickname, "The Voice of Canada", and to some observers, the "voice-of-God".^[25] When reading grim battle statistics or narrating a particularly serious topic, he was known as "The Voice of Doom".^[26]

Voice of Action was produced in 35 mm for the theatrical market. Each film was shown over a six-month period as part of the shorts or newsreel segments in approximately 800 theatres across Canada. The NFB had an arrangement with Famous Players theatres to ensure that Canadians from coast-to-coast could see them, with further distribution by Columbia Pictures.^[27] Bookings for the Canada Carries On films continued in Famous Players theatres and other cinemas throughout Canada. Some films were also sold to individual theatres periodically. Columbia Pictures continued to distribute the series, with France Films handling its French counterpart, En Avant Canada, in Quebec and New Brunswick.^[28]

After the six-month theatrical tour ended, individual films were made available on 16 mm to schools, libraries, churches and factories, extending the life of these films for another year or two. They were also made available to film libraries operated by university and provincial authorities. A total of 199 films were produced before the series was canceled in 1959.^[28]

In his book, Filming Politics: Communism and the Portrayal of the Working Class at the National Film Board of Canada, 1939-46., historian Malek Khouri analyzed the role of the NFB documentaries including Voice of Action. Khouri noted: "The use of media as an interactive discussion tool to deal with issues of social and economic development is also dealt with in a film about the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) ... The significance of the discussion trailers' impact on the political culture of the day is most clearly manifest in their encouragement of debates involving contentions that themselves had major political and ideological connotations. Firstly, these trailers pointed out the prospect of opening media outlets to political debates. In essence, they proposed that public space should also become a space for political action."^[29]

• Watch Voice of Action at NFB Documentary Lens
• Voice of Action at the NFB Collections page
• Bzuk/Sandbox/New Article start at IMDb

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Trans-Canada Express is a 20-minute 1944 Canadian documentary film, made by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) as part of the wartime Canada Carries On series. The film was produced by Sydney Newman and directed by Stanley Hawes.^[1] Trans-Canada Express documents the importance of the railroad in Canada, emphasizing the use of the rail transport during the Second World War.^[2] The film's French version title is D'un océan à l'autre.

In 1944,

A survey of the 25 000 miles of territory linked by Canada's railroads in tribute to the railroad's contribution to the war effort. Included is a sequence from Buster Keaton's The General, as well as a re-enactment of Lord Strathcona driving the final spike into the Canadian Pacific Railway Line.

Allied forces are being assembled for an assault on Axis-held Italy. This military expeditions marks the end of a troubled era for Italy during the 20th Century. Despite its origins as an early civilization and nearly 3,000 years of advances in arts and culture, Italians have faced an uncertain future.

During the turn-of-the-century, impoverished Italians left their homeland to settle in the United States and Canada. After the First World War, the rise of fascism led to the emergence of Benito Mussolini as the political and military dictator who led Italy into a series of foreign entanglements, in an attempt to reinvigorate the nation.

After invasion and conquest of Ethiopia, Mussolini committed to a campaign of aggression as part of Adolf Hitler's Axis nations. By 1943, Italian defeats in Africa and massive numbers of captured troops by Allied forces, have been characterized as the "African disease". Naval and aerial armadas massing for an attack on Italy, mean the end for Mussolini's deluded dreams of a new Italian empire.

^[3]

Trans-Canada Express was the part of the wartime Canada Carries On and The World in Action propaganda short film series, produced with financial backing from the Wartime Information Board for the Director of Public Information, Herbert Lash.^[4][5]

Typical of the NFB's series of morale-boosting films, Trans-Canada Express used the format of a compilation documentary, relying heavily on newsreel material, including "enemy" footage, in order to provide the background to the dialogue.^{[Note 1]}.^[6]

The deep baritone voice of stage actor Lorne Greene was featured in the narration of Trans-Canada Express. Greene, known for his work on both radio broadcasts as a news announcer at CBC as well as narrating many of the Canada Carries On series.^[7] His sonorous recitation led to his nickname, "The Voice of Canada", and to some observers, the "voice-of-God".^[8] When reading grim battle statistics or narrating a particularly serious topic, he was known as "The Voice of Doom".^[9]

In early 1942, NFB head John Grierson through his Hollywood contacts, found a new outlet for NFB documentaries, especially the recently launched war-themed The World in Action series. After the success of selling Warclouds in the Pacific, the NFB was able to make a further arrangement with United Artists for additional titles to be distributed in the United States.^[10][11] With distribution in Canada and Great Britain, he now added the United States market.^[12]

Trans-Canada Express was produced in 35 mm for the theatrical market. Each film in both the The World in Action and Canada Carries On series, Trans-Canada Express was shown over a six-month period as part of the shorts or newsreel segments in approximately 800 theatres across Canada. The NFB had an arrangement with Famous Players theatres to ensure that Canadians from coast-to-coast could see them, with further distribution by Columbia Pictures.^[10]

After the six-month theatrical tour ended, individual films were made available on 16 mm to schools, libraries, churches and factories, extending the life of these films for another year or two. They were also made available to film libraries operated by university and provincial authorities. A total of 199 films were produced before the series was canceled in 1959.^[13]

• Trans-Canada Express at NFB Collections page
• Watch Trans-Canada Express at NFB.ca
• Express/ Bzuk/Sandbox/New Article start at IMDb

• Bzuk/Sandbox/New Article start at IMDb

Heroes of the Atlantic is a 1941 15-minute Canadian short documentary film, part of the Canada Carries On series of wartime films by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), produced for the Office of Public Information.^[1] The film documented the work of the Royal Canadian Navy and the Merchant Marine during the Battle of the Atlantic in the Second World War. Heroes of the Atlantic was directed by J.D. Davidson and produced by Stanley Hawes.^[2]

A revelation in human terms of the work of the Merchant Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy in the crucial battle of the Atlantic. In port, while their ships are reloaded, sailors of every nationality throng entertainment centres. Ashore, civilians labour to produce munitions and foodstuffs, or learn in training schools to take their place in the Atlantic front line. When once more the ships are ready, minesweepers clear the channel, planes of the air patrol keep watch for distant danger, and another convoy steams out to sea. The seamen of the merchant navy that carried goods and armaments across the Atlantic during the Second World War were the unsung "heroes of the Atlantic" of the title. Many lost their lives to submarine attacks. This excerpt combines two messages: the caution of a nation at war and the welcome to merchant seamen. The work of the Merchant Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy in the battle of the Atlantic. Minesweepers clear the shipping channels, planes keep watch, and convoys steam out to sea.

In 1940, the Atlantic Ocean has become a strategic "highway" from the New World to Great Britain. The numerous ships that ply the Atlantic sea lanes during the Second World War head for nameless English ports where they unload their precious cargo of troops, munitions and supplies. Canadian seamen play a vital role in the lifeline for England.

From Canadian factories to docks, the endless supply of war materiel is carried aboard freighters that are marshalled into convoys protected by Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) destroyers. Royal Canadian Air Force Supermarine Stranraer seaplanes provide the first aerial protection but once the convoy is out to sea, the RCN destroyers are in charge.

The unseen enemy that the convoys face are the U-boats that wait for any stragglers from the convoy. When an alarm is sounded that enemy U-boats are thought to be nearby, the destroyers launch high-explosive depth charges and charge ahead at full speed, reaching 37 knots, turning back the threat. Once the convoy reaches its destination in England, the Canadian destroyers quickly turn around and head back to their home ports to escort a new convoy, heading for England.

Atlantic Patrol was part of the Canada Carries On series, produced with financial backing from the Wartime Information Board.^[1] The documentary was created as a morale boosting propaganda film during the Second World War.^[3] cinematographer J.D. Davidson with assistant Donald Fraserand sound technicians W.H. Lane and C.J. Quick

The narrator of Atlantic Patrol was Lorne Greene, known for his work on both radio broadcasts as a news announcer at CBC as well as narrating many of the Canada Carries On series.^[4] His sonorous recitation led to his nickname, "The Voice of Canada", and to some observers, the "voice-of-God".^[5] When reading grim battle statistics or as in Atlantic Patrol, narrating a particularly serious topic such as Canadian seaman at war, he was "The Voice of Doom".^[6]

The first of the Canada Carries On series, Atlantic Patrol was produced in 35 mm for the theatrical market and was the first short documentary shown in theatres.^[7] Each film was shown over a six-month period as part of the shorts or newsreel segments in approximately 800 theatres across Canada. Along with others in the Canada Carries On series, Atlantic Patrol received widespread circulation.^[8]

The NFB had an arrangement with Famous Players theatres to ensure that Canadians from coast-to-coast could see the documentary series, with further distribution by Columbia Pictures.^[9] After the six-month theatrical tour ended, individual films were made available on 16 mm to schools, libraries, churches and factories, extending the life of these films for another year or two. They were also made available to film libraries operated by university and provincial authorities.^[1]

• Heroes of the Atlantic at the NFB Collections page
• Heroes of the Atlantic at IMDb

Break-through is a 11-minute 1944 Canadian documentary film, made by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) as part of the wartime Canada Carries On series.^[1] The film documents the attack on Fortress Europe during the Second World War and the advance of Allied forces to the borders of Nazi Germany. Break-through was produced by James Beveridge. The film's French version title is L'assaut.

On June 6, 1944, supported by an immense naval armada, Allied troops, including a Canadian army, launch an amphibious invasion of Normandy, France. Facing a fierce resistance by Nazi forces, the Allied armies establish a beachhead on the Normandy coast. Normandy coast. Seeking redemption after their earlier rout at the Dieppe raid in 1942, the First Canadian Army is able to gain control of Juno Beach. Before regrouping for an advance into France, Allied troops are replenished by transport of war materiél and reinforcements. The Canadian contingent is tasked with an attack on Caen, France, forcing the enemy back from a city, already devastated by shelling and bombing.

In the Normandy countryside, a relentless Allied bombing campaign, along with marauding fighter bombers, begins to push the Nazi defenders back. Fleets of Supermarine Spitfires and Hawker Typhoons likewise sweep the skies in front of them. The extremely close cooperation between the Canadian infantry and armour with the pin-point aerial attacks

Wearing down bitter German resistance,

their earlier rout in 1942, in a raid on Dieppe, the Canadian troops successfully landed at Juno Beach, festablishing a beachheadare replenished by transport of equipment, munitions and reinforcements. ^{[Note 1]}

Once the beachheads were firmly secured the Allied troops including the Canadian contingent push eastward through France. Fighting through the streets of Caen, and on into the hedgerows and drive eastward to the gates of Germany. Opening scenes are of the D-Day landings and establishment of Canadian forces on the beachhead. Pictures of bitter street fighting and of pin-point bombing tell the story of Caen's capture and the advance towards Falaise. Made from footage filmed by units of the Canadian Army Overseas.

In 1943, Alaska and Canada's north has become of strategic importance when Japanese forces invade and occupy the Aleutian Islands. Both Canadian and American forces are deployed to protect and defend the region in the Aleutian Islands Campaign. The major obstacles to overcome for troops and war materiél to reach Alaska are the daunting distances and harsh environment.

For more than a century, fur traders, prospectors and indigenous peoples had populated the region but the Klondike Gold Rush and later Nome Gold Rush in Nome, Alaska had brought a stampede of newcomers who started new settlements but left when the gold ran out. In 1942, when war came to the region, a new boom transformed the abandoned settlements as workers were needed to build an overland route to Alaska.

U.S. Army engineers along with Canadian workers created the Alaska Highway or ALCAN Highway, carved out of the northern bush and forest to bring American troops and supplies northward. Canada's role was to construct airfields alongside the military highway and send ship convoys to supply the various outposts of the northwest, while Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) patrol bombers and lookouts keep a constant vigil.

The Northwest Staging Route built by Canadians was a series of airstrips, airport and radio ranging stations in Alberta, British Columbia and the Yukon. The "skyway" not only supplied the ongoing construction of the Alaska Highway but also served to ferry American lend-lease aircraft for the Soviet Union Air Forces from the United States to Alaska, and then across the Bering Strait to Siberia.

American and Canadian ground and air attacks drove the Japanese out of the Aleutian Islands. The joint military efforts resulted in the Japanese defeat on American soil, changing the Pacific War from a defensive struggle to an offensive against the heart of the Japanese empire.

At the threshold of a new age, Canada's north holds great promise, with farmland, forests, mineral deposits and the discovery of oil fields. The frontier can be exploited by air and the new airfields created for military use also can be the means to connect Canada via polar air routes to the rest of the world.

Typical of the NFB's Second World War documentary short films in the Canada Carries On series, Voice of Action was created as a morale boosting propaganda film.^[2] The film relied heavily on combat footage shot by the Canadian armed forces, and the film units of the U.S. Army Signal Corps and the British Army. but also included footage shot for the film. Producer and director James Beveridge had previously used footage of the building of the Alaska Highway in his NFB documentary Pincers on Japan (1941).^[3]

The deep baritone voice of stage actor Lorne Greene was featured in the narration of Look to the North. Greene, known for his work on both radio broadcasts as a news announcer at CBC as well as narrating many of the Canada Carries On series.^[4] His sonorous recitation led to his nickname, "The Voice of Canada", and to some observers, the "voice-of-God".^[5] When reading grim battle statistics or narrating a particularly serious topic, he was known as "The Voice of Doom".^[6]

Break-through was produced in 35 mm for the theatrical market. Each film was shown over a six-month period as part of the shorts or newsreel segments in approximately 800 theatres across Canada. The NFB had an arrangement with Famous Players theatres to ensure that Canadians from coast-to-coast could see them, with further distribution by Columbia Pictures.^[7]

After the six-month theatrical tour ended, individual films were made available on 16 mm to schools, libraries, churches and factories, extending the life of these films for another year or two. They were also made available to film libraries operated by university and provincial authorities. A total of 199 films were produced before the series was canceled in 1959.^[8]

Film historian Jack C. Ellis, in John Grierson: Life, Contributions, Influence, considered films like Look to the North as NFB head, John Grierson making a political statement about Canada's gaining a "... sense of national identity and pride that had never existed before." The film also was visionary and a "... look to the future."^[9]

• Break-through at the NFB Collections page
• Break-through at IMDb

Cadet Holiday is a 11-minute 1951 Canadian documentary film, made by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) as part of the postwar Canada Carries On series.^[1] The film, directed by David Bairstow, Robert Humble and Douglas Wilkinson and produced by Sydney Newman and Michael Spencer. The film was an account of a Canadian Army Cadet in a summer camp. The film's French version title is Cadets en vacances.

In 1950, during the annual summer camp, After completion of their initial training at high school, a corps of army cadets is selected for more advanced instruction at Ipperwash, one of five similar camps in Canada.

Typical of the NFB's postwar documentary short films in the Canada Carries On series, Cadet Holiday was a compilation documentary that relied heavily on newsreel material.^[2] Additional on location photography at Canadian aircraft factories came from cinematographer Jean-Marie Couture and sound technicians Don Wellington and Clarke Daprato.^{[3] [Note 3]} Working with sound editing by Peter Jones and Clarke Daprato

Screaming JetsCadet Holiday was produced in 35 mm for the theatrical market.^[5] The film was received as in the ".. best of 'March of Times' style."^[6] The NFB had an arrangement with Famous Players theatres to ensure that Canadians from coast-to-coast could see them, with further distribution by Columbia Pictures.^[7]

Individual films were also made available on 16 mm to schools, libraries, churches and factories, extending the life of these films for another year or two. They were also made available to film libraries operated by university and provincial authorities. A total of 199 films were produced before the series was canceled in 1959.^[8]

• Cadet Holiday at NFB Collections website
• Screaming Jets at IMDb

Letter from Aldershot is a nine-minute 1942 Canadian documentary film, made by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) as part of the wartime Canada Carries On series. The film was produced by Stuart Legg and directed by John Taylor.^[1] Letter from Aldershot describes the observations in 1940 of a soldier from the First Division of the Canadian Active Force, stationed at Aldershot Garrison, England.^[2] The film's French version title was Une lettre d'Aldershot.

In December 1939, 16,000 soldiers of the First Division of the Canadian Active Service Force under command of General A.G.L. McNaughton, were deployed to Halifax, Nova Scotia to await embarkation on seven ocean liners. As the convoy of ships set out, the main British battle fleet, on alert because of the German Deutschland battleship lurking in the Atlantic, took over escort duties. As they reached the shores of England, enshrouded in fog, the anxious troops wondered how they would be received.

British officials, including the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs Anthony Eden, greeted the Canadians while the large throngs of ordinary British citizens that made up the heartfelt and grateful crowd on the docks, shouted: "Good old Canada!" After disembarking, the troops and their equipment are transported to Aldershot Garrison, the home of the British Army.

Once settling into their new quarters, the Canadian troops begin a strenuous regimen of training that includes becoming proficient with new infantry tactics, weapons and equipment, such as the new Bren light machine gun and the dispatch riders' motorbikes. Special drills and exercises stressed the importance of using gas masks and protection against mustard gas attacks.

After finishing training, the entire contingent was paraded before a royal guest, King George VI. The Canadians then were able to seek out the sights and sounds of a London in "full warpaint". Meeting the locals was an exchange of old world and new world cultures, with the Canadians bringing their unique skills at hockey to England. The most important leisure time was devoted to corresponding back to their loved ones found in all parts of Canada. Just as cherished was the mail that came from home.

With the assistance of a British camera crew, a number of the soldiers were able to make personal "letters home" messages that will end up on cinema screens back in Canada. The first Canadian troops to reach English shores, in the tradition of their forebears, were ready to "do their part".

• King George VI as Himself (archival footage)
• A.G.L. McNaughton as Himself (archival footage)
• Anthony Eden as Himself (archival footage)

Typical of the NFB's Canada Carries On series of morale-boosting propaganda short films, Letter from Aldershot was made in cooperation with the Director of Public Information, Herbert Lash.^[3] Using the format of a newsreel, the film relied heavily on the work of The Realist Film Unit (RFU), based in London to chronicle the Canadian First Division in England. Working with sound editing by Peter Jones and Clark Daprato, the overseas material, along with film shot in Canada, was edited by Stuart Legg to provide a coherent story.^[4]

The deep baritone voice of stage actor Lorne Greene was featured in the narration of Letter from Aldershot. Greene, known for his work on both radio broadcasts as a news announcer at CBC as well as narrating many of the Canada Carries On series.^[5] His sonorous recitation led to his nickname, "The Voice of Canada", and to some observers, the "voice-of-God".^[6] When reading grim battle statistics or narrating a particularly serious topic, he was known as "The Voice of Doom".^[7]

As part of the Canada Carries On series, Letter from Aldershot was produced in 35 mm for the theatrical market. Each film was shown over a six-month period as part of the shorts or newsreel segments in approximately 800 theatres across Canada. The NFB had an arrangement with Famous Players theatres to ensure that Canadians from coast-to-coast could see them, with further distribution by Columbia Pictures.^[8]

After the six-month theatrical tour ended, individual films were made available on 16 mm to schools, libraries, churches and factories, extending the life of these films for another year or two. They were also made available to film libraries operated by university and provincial authorities. A total of 199 films were produced before the series was canceled in 1959.^[9]

• TLetter from Aldershot at NFB collection
• Letter from Aldershot at IMDb