This film is part of Free

Walton's Parade for Victory

Men and women from Walton, Weybridge and Hersham's Civil Defence organisations are on the march in this local War Bonds fundraiser for War Weapons Week in March 1941.

Non-Fiction 1941 4 mins

From the collection of:

Logo for Screen Archive South East

Overview

Walton-on-Thames' Regal Cinema screened this local fundraising film during War Weapons Week. Civil defence and military personnel are seen marching around the town, often past the Regal Cinema itself, promoting the sale of War Bonds. Military vehicles decorated with posters roll past the watching crowds. One lorry carries the remnants of a downed Junkers 88. Children and babies feature throughout as the voice-over hints that their lives depend on Allied victory.

Lou Morris was an independent cinema entrepreneur with premises up and down the country. He would often take-over existing cinemas, modernise them and sell them on, usually to larger chains like the Odeon. He also commssioned new-build cinemas and the Regal in Walton-on-Thames was one of them. Designed by C. Edmund Wilford, the well appointed Regal was sold in 1941 to Arthur Cohen's Mayfair chain. It would eventually become part of the ABC chain in 1943, though it kept its name until 1963, becoming the ABC until demolition in 1971. Clifford Spain, who made local newsreels for the rival Capitol Cinema in Walton, became manager of the Regal in 1938 and in all likelihood produced the film seen here.