This film is one of a number of Topical Budget propaganda films showing
workers in the munitions factories during the First World War. For the most part
these were upbeat and showed young women operating machinery in clean and
efficient looking workshops. This example shows a capstan lathe being operated
by a woman, followed by a shot of a 13 year-old schoolboy operating the same
piece of equipment. The introductory title informs us that they are making small
parts for searchlights. Capstan lathes are designed for ease of use, so that a
semiskilled worker could perform a number of jobs without much training, and as
such the machines were considered suitable for girls and boys of quite young
age. The most recent Factory Act, of 1901, had raised the age at which children
could be employed to 12, so this 13-year-old was probably the youngest member of
the workforce.
In the other newsreel items concerning munitions workers issued by the
Topical Company - which was employed at this time directly by Government - much
is made of the good conditions and the attention paid to the welfare of the
employees. The danger of working with poisonous substances and explosive
materials was underplayed - the choice to film something as innocuous as a
searchlight was no doubt deliberate. Sporting fixtures, such as one between
Arsenal and Tottenham (among whose players were said to be many munitions workers), were
another favourite way of portraying these men, women and children.
Bryony Dixon
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