NFB - Canada at War (1962) Part 8 New Directions

The National Film Board started film research for Canada At War in December l958, and for three years, the NFB's Donald Britain and his associates went through 10,000,000 feet of film taken during the Second World War in an effort to present Canada's role in the war. It took the NFB crew 2,000 hours to look at all the film in order to extract the six hours of prime material they wanted. The sources made available newsreel footage, as well as film shot by Canadians at home and abroad, British film stored in Canada, and German film confiscated at the end of World War II. The result was a 13-part series of half-hour films on Canada from 1936 to 1946. This compelling series shows World War II as Canadians encountered it, from the halting beginning when the country, struggling against depression, accepted the challenge of war, to VE-Day, when Canada emerged as industrial power. There are scenes in the skies over Britain and Europe, on the campaign fronts of France, Italy, North Africa, the Far East, and the sub-haunted Atlantic Ocean. The series recalls Canada's part in WWII on the battlefields abroad and on the civilian front at home. Canada at War highlights crucial events from 1936 to 1946, when the Cold War began. This vital era changed the nation and the world.

Part 8 New Directions

December 1943 - June 1944. Canada, war-seasoned, girds for the final assault. In London, Commonwealth prime ministers meet and Mackenzie King holds out for Canadian independence in foreign policy. In the Arctic, Canadian ships sail the Murmansk run with supplies for beleaguered Russia. The Italian campaign intensifies. In the south of England the Allies poise for attack.

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Episode 1 Shown Here