Democracy at Work

As demands on manpower grow, women are taking an increasingly important place on the various war fronts. In England, their more active jobs include ferrying planes from factory to airfield, and operating anti-aircraft guns. In Russia, they are fighting on the front lines as well as acting as parachute nurses, army doctors, and technicians. Canadian women, too, are entering new fields every day. Many have joined active service auxiliaries, and thousands labour day and night in factories turning out the tools of war.

A classic presentation of the strategy of the Battle of Britain, the film shows, with penetrating clarity, the relationship of the various forces that went to make up the island's defenses. Here is the Royal Air Force in its epic battle with the Luftwaffe, the Navy in its stubborn fight against the raiders of sea and sky, the coastal defenses, the mechanized cavalry, the merchant seamen, and, steadfast behind them all, Britain's tough, unbending civilian army. The first NFB film to win an Oscar.

The story of Britain's evacuee children in Canada. Poignant sequences show the children seeking shelter while the anti-aircraft guns roar outside, discussing plans for going to Canada and finally sailing from England. On their arrival in Canada they are thrilled by the brightly-lit cities, the powerful Canadian trains, the hot dogs and the ice cream. They find, too, that instead of becoming mounties or cowboys, they have to go to school, and that Canadian children also like talking and hate homework. The closing sequence shows them learning to ski and skate, and happily preparing for Christmas in their new homes.