Return of the Lancaster Volunteers (1901)

Lancaster
1902
Silent
2m

Some nifty product placement creeps in to this formal portrait of the Lancaster Volunteers.

A filmic memento of the Lancaster Volunteers - just back from South Africa - this film begins with stiff shots of troops parading and officers posing. But the cameraman's rapport with his subjects soon breaks the ice, as the enthusiastic volunteers wave and charge at the camera. The film closes with some early product placement, featuring an opportunistic cameo from Hovis the bakers.

Troops and cadets (?) of the Lancaster Volunteers parading.

Back from the War

Britain's troops return from war in South Africa to a rapturous welcome - despite more ambivalent public attitudes to the Boer War itself.

A few adventurous film companies journeyed to South Africa to capture (mostly heavily sanitised) film documents of the Second Boer War (1899-1902). Mitchell and Kenyon, like most others, stayed at home, choosing instead to film reconstructed or dramatised war stories. But as they visited towns and cities across the North, M&K also captured the jubilation that greeted homecoming troops.

There's no sign here of public misgivings about what had been a brutal and hard-won war, nor any hint of disrespect for the military commanders who appear in several films. Instead, the overwhelming focus is the ranks of ordinary soldiers, and the collective joy and relief for their safe return.