Doncaster Times Issue 1 - June 2016

The film covers the Battle from the build-up,
through to the beginning on the 1 July 1916, and
closes with the aftermath of this early action.
Although filmed as a documentary, the film is
generally accepted to be a form of propaganda,
including staged scenes. However, it is estimated
that the majority of footage is real, with slightly
over a minute consisting of staged scenes. The
film was released to the public in August 1916.
As soon as it was released, debates began to rage
about the content of the film. Featuring scenes
of wounded or dead British soldiers, including
scenes of communal graves, many argue that
it was disrespectful and macabre to show the
soldiers deaths on film. The shock of seeing
real life battle scenes features heavily in the
reviews of the film in the local Doncaster press:
“To see a man shot dead and fall stiff right in
front of you is a weird experience, it is true,
but it occurred to us that half the audience did
not at that moment realise that the man was
actually dead. They are so used to the pictures
showing feats of all kinds that the spectacle
of a man falling is quite common-place. It was
when the film went on and the fallen soldier
never rose that the truth flashed into the
mind. ‘He’s dead!’ burst from several lips.”
However, the film was wildly popular and was what
would now be called a ‘box office success’. There
were around 20 million admissions to the film, out
of a total UK population of 43 million. Through the
film, the audience forged a personal connection with
the actions at the Front. Audience members saw
their loved ones, as men were encouraged to show
their faces to the camera. In describing a screening
of the film at the Picture House on Doncaster High
Street, the Doncaster Gazette reported that;
“The audience sat in absorbed silence
broken by occasional but emphatic bursts
of applause as the great drama of the
July “push” was unfolded in a wonderful
series of pictures - surely the most
wonderful pictures of human effort and
heroism ever presented by the camera.”
Doncaster Gazette, 20 October 1916
Lynsey Slater
Doncaster 1914-18 Project Researcher
Kate McAleese
Research Volunteer
Doncaster Chronicle, 20 October 1916
As part of the Imperial War Museum’s
Centenary commemorations, Doncaster
1914-18 is working with Mexborough’s
Cozy Cinema, and supported by Phantom
Cinema, to put on four screenings of the
film across the borough between July
and November 2016. Each screening
will feature music and poetry inspired
by the First World War by the Read to
Write Group Mexborough, based on
original research from the Mexborough
and District Heritage Society.
Dates:
Thursday 14 July Concertina Club, Mexborough
Monday 19 September Coulman Pavilion, Thorne
Thursday 13 October Doncaster Little Theatre
Wednesday 2 November Woodfield Club, Balby
Film starts at 7.30pm.
The Imperial War Museum (IWM)
took ownership of the Battle of
the Somme film in 1920. The wild
popularity of the film had caused
the original negative to became
so damaged it was completely
irretrievable.
Luckily, a copy was made by IWM in 1931.
This version has been restored and preserved
by IWM to be shown this year
to mark the centenary
of the Battle.
For more details, see:
www.doncaster1914-18.org.uk
•
20 •