THE BATTLE FOR LONDON

Southland Times, Issue 24244, 30 September 1940, Page 10

THE BATTLE FOR LONDON

REMARKABLE FILM COMING REPLY TO GERMAN CLAIMS Moving pictures taken in London on August 23 and rushed at more than 1000 miles a day by air mail to New Zealand will be shown at the Majestic and Regent Theatres on Wednesday and Thursday, October 2 and 3. The film container in which these films arrived had postage stamps to the value of £4B/4/on it. These pictures were taken by a neutral observer and are entitled “London’s Reply to German Claims.” They were produced to counter the Nazi allegation that London had been badly damaged and that the morale of the people had been wrecked. The first shots are graphic. A succession of horrors is unfolded on the screen. Burning blocks of buildings, shattered homes, and huge heaps of rubble that were once noble edifices are seen reduced to flaming ruins upon which the fire-hoses impotently play The mind goes back to the films of ravaged Napier that 10 years-ago were shown to silent audiences. Then comes the voice of the commentator. This is not London, he says, but it is what Dr Goebbels would have us believe London is like. Gradually, with a commentary by a neutral journalist, the audience is taken through the great city, and shown that, on the same day as headlines were telling of the murderous attack on Dover, London, despite its war-time garb of sandbags and “tin hats,” was carrying on its business much as usual. The crowded streets are seen. Here are Piccadilly Circus, with Eros flown from his pedestal to the seclusion of some bomb-proof vault; Trafalgar Square, with Nelson’s Column; the parks, the busy shopping streets, and Fleet street, called by young men the street of adventure, and by old men the street of shattered hopes. Nobody, says the commentator, could call it a street of shattered buildings. Evidence of bombing there is in wrecked suburban homes, with the occupants patiently recovering what little is left. Bedding, furniture, and broken toys, and all the little things that go to make a home are seen piled pitifully by the footpaths as men and women and their children wait for the kindly helpel's who will give them shelter. This is what London is enduring, but enduring with a determination that it will be seen through to a victorious end.

The films were received in the first place by the United Kingdom High Commissioner, Sir Harry Batterbee, who attended the first screening in Wellington. He was accompanied by Lady Batterbee and a party comprising Pay-master-Captain N. T. P. Cooper, Naval Secretary; Mr C. E. Critchley, Australian High Commissioner, and Mrs Critchley; Mr J. W. Heenan, Undersecretary of Internal Affairs, and Mrs Heenan; Dr W. A. Riddell, Canadian High Commissioner, and Mrs Riddell. Mr M. F. Vigeveno, Consul for the Netherlands, and Mrs Vigeveno; Mr A. Nihotte, Consul for Belgium, and Mrs Nihotte; Mr and Mrs J. Horner and Mr and Mrs M. F. Luckie. “London’s Reply to German Claims” will give the people of Invercargill a true insight into the actual damage done in London and will verify the Press and radio claims that the people of London are still going about their daily work as usual and that the morale of the people has not been shaken.