The military high command maintained a tight grip on what was permissible for audiences to see, and for the most part film cameras weren't allowed anywhere near the frontlines - partly for the safety of the film crews, but more for fear that the images they sent back could seriously damage public morale.

But such was the public demand for more information that eventually the government was forced to take notice, and in 1917 the Topical Budget newsreel was requisitioned by the War Office. Images of combat remained largely off limits, though, and instead the cameras were dispatched in search of more uplifting stories of heroism and endurance.