HomeSecond World War Films

Second World War Films

NATIONAL FILM BOARD PROPAGANDA FILMS:

Women are Warriors:

Women Are Warriors by Jane Marsh, National Film Board of Canada

This short film from WWII focuses on the increasingly important roles women occupy on the various war fronts. In England, their more active jobs include ferrying planes from factory to airfield and operating anti-aircraft guns. In Russia, they are fighting on the front lines as well as acting as parachute nurses, army doctors and technicians. In Canada women have joined active service auxiliaries, and thousands labour day and night in factories turning out the tools of war. From the Canada Carries On series.

Proudly She Marches:

Proudly She Marches by Jane Marsh, National Film Board of Canada

This film from the Second World War is a report on how Canadian women were trained to handle many kinds of work in the Canadian Women's Army Corps, the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service. Basic training, everyday life in the forces and the contribution of women to Canada's fighting strength are illustrated.

Proudest Girl in the World:

Proudest Girl in the World by Julian Roffman, National Film Board of Canada

This wartime short is a musical recruiting film for the Canadian Women's Army Corp.

Wings on Her Shoulder:

Wings on Her Shoulder by Jane Marsh, National Film Board of Canada

This short archival film documents the Woman's Division of the Royal Canadian Air Force of 1943, 9,000 strong, an able corps trained for service at home and overseas. Their aim is to prepare themselves for an important role in the flying field after the war, when Canada's civil air power will prove an essential factor in the air communications of peacetime civilization. Part of the World in Action series.

To the Ladies:

To the Ladies by ONFB, National Film Board of Canada

From the Canada Carries On series, this is a tribute to the women of Canada for their part in the World War II effort. The Canadian Women's Army Corps and homemakers alike were called upon to do their part. From careful budgeting in the home to services rendered overseas, women's work was integral to the well-being of all.

Home Front:

Home Front by Stanley Hawes, National Film Board of Canada

This short documentary is part of the Canada Carries On series of morale-boosting wartime propaganda films. In Home Front, the various WWII-era social contributions of women are highlighted. From medicine to industrial labour to hospitality, education and domesticity, the service these women provided to their country is lauded.

Canada's Own Rosie the Riveter 

 

DOCUMENTARIES

Rosies of the North:

Rosies of the North by Kelly Saxberg, National Film Board of Canada

They raised children, baked cakes... and built world-class fighter planes. Sixty years ago, thousands of women from Thunder Bay and the Prairies donned trousers, packed lunch pails and took up rivet guns to participate in the greatest industrial war effort in Canadian history. Like many other factories across the country from 1939 to 1945, the shop floor at Fort William's Canadian Car and Foundry was transformed from an all-male workforce to one with forty percent female workers.