We Serve (1942)

Training film for officers of the ATS, encouraging compassion and understanding for the young woman in their charge.

Date of release
1942-06-29
Runtime
30m
Genres
War
Director
Carol Reed

Casting

Interesting facts

We Serve is a 1942 British short black and white recruitment and training film directed by Carol Reed and starring Peggy Ashcroft and Joyce Carey, about the lives of officers in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS). It was produced by Sydney Box and made by Box's company Verity Films for the Directorate of Army Kinematography.

Production

The involvement of Reed as director enabled Box to secure the services of several leading British actresses for the film, all agreeing to be paid £5 per day. The film also featured the then Director of the ATS, Jean Knox.

The 30-minute film was commissioned shortly after the British government changed the nature of the ATS from being a voluntary body to becoming a professional service with full military status in April 1941. It was concurrent with a wider recruitment drive to expand the size of the ATS. In its efforts to attract recruits, the film emphasised that femininity could be retained in wartime.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended