51401: The Life of a WAAC
A recruiting film for the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps in Britain, 1918. The film uses actuality material backed by some acting. It begins with a WAAC recruiting march and inspection, before going on to show a girl noticing the advertisement placard for Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps (the official 1918 title of the WAAC) in Trafalgar Square. She picks up a leaflet from (Mrs Jackson at) the Ministry of Labour recruiting office. After joining she is given a uniform and along with other WAACs learns drill and physical training (in Hyde Park). At their camp (at Aldershot) the WAACs form up for roll-call each morning before setting off for work. The administrator (Miss Clay?) hands out tasks for each of them. Some, as cooks, peel potatoes, set tables and serve food to the soldiers. Others work as clerks. The forewoman, with her dog, poses for the camera. There is a pay parade. The girls, at their hut, wash and brush their hair. Parcels arrive. The girls, with much camera-consciousness , tend the vegetable garden. In the sick bay a nurse attends to those WAACs who are ill. The tennis courts are shown. The girls demonstrate folk dancing. They tend gardens outside their huts. One of the girls, in a comic routine, imitates Charlie Chaplin. Other girls sit in their huts, sewing or writing letters. A march by a recruiting band of soldiers leads WAACs through a town centre (Folkestone). The film ends with posters showing the need for more recruits, and irises out with a WAAC holding a Union Jack.
