BRITISH ARMY FAMILY SCENES IN INDIA AND FINAL VOYAGE HOME TO ENGLAND

This film is held by the Imperial War Museum (ID: MGH 6655).

Synopsis

Reel 1: Scenes on board Empress of Australia on final stretch of voyage home from Bombay to Liverpool. Tug-of-war for soldiers on deck. Passing through Suez Canal to Port Said, passing military camp on port side. Official welcome on Liverpool dockside by civic dignitaries and Army officers (also filmed by newsreel cameramen from tripod mounted on car roof).

Reel 2: (Colour, though badly crazed emulsion) Mrs Belmont with one of her young daughters in India. Pet cockerel named Loxchen ("Noodle" in Yiddish). Indian labourers, with women wearing red saris. Pan over hilly area, including garrison huts in valley. Mrs Belmont along road with one of her daughters.

Reel 3: Family scenes in the Belmonts' compound at Deolali, with mother and father playing with their two young daughters, Valerie and Celia. Country scenes, with buffalo turning irrigation wheel and ploughing. Mrs Belmont inspects an Arcon type of prefabricated house (as promised to servicemen returning from India to Great Britain). Indian conjurors and contortionists. The two Belmont daughters playing in compound. Scene at railway station marks start of journey home to England, with tracking shots across the Indian countryside before arrival at Bombay dockside where Empress of Australia lies berthed. First stage of voyage home covers Belmont family life on board and a large model of the Gateway of India monument in Bombay which had been presented to the departing British Army.

Amateur film shot by Regimental Quarter Master Sergeant Samuel Belmont of the (2nd Battalion?) Royal Norfolk Regiment records family scenes in India shortly before Independence (15 August 1947) (Partition) and his family's return to Liverpool on the Empress of Australia.

Notes

Summary: Samuel Belmont was born Samuel Cohen-Belfante in Bethnal Green but was disowned when he married a Methodist.

 

Titles

  • BRITISH ARMY FAMILY SCENES IN INDIA AND FINAL VOYAGE HOME TO ENGLAND (Allocated)
  • AMATEUR FILM BY RQMS SAMUEL BELMONT (Alternative)
 

Technical Data

Year:
1947
Running Time:
36 minutes
Film Gauge (Format):
Std 8mm
Colour:
B&W, Colour
Sound:
Silent
Footage:
425ft (ca)
 

Production Credits

Production Countries:
GB