Silent Cinema

The German Retreat and Battle of Arras

+ intro by Toby Haggith of Imperial War Museums

New digital restoration, by the Imperial War Museums and the University of Udine. Score supported by the David Lean Foundation.

  • Photography

    Geoffrey Herbert Malins, Harry Charles Raymond, John Benjamin McDowell, Herbert Frederick Baldwin

  • UK 1917. 77min

  • Digital

  • Silent with recorded score

The third in a trilogy of official feature-length films about the Army’s campaigns in France and Belgium, produced by Topical Film Company for the War Office Cinematograph Committee. Unlike Battle of the Somme (1916) and Battle of the Ancre (1917), Arras was less well known, depicting the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line. A special feature is the use of colour: red intertitles and hand-coloured sections add mood, highlight the explosions and add a realistic naturalism to certain shots. The moving and unusual score, incorporating sound and songs from the period, is by Laura Rossi.

New digital restoration, by the Imperial War Museums and the University of Udine. Score supported by the David Lean Foundation.

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+ Milnrow and Newhwey Roll of Honour

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Film on Film