[1][2][3] Written, directed and edited by Frank Badgley, who was then the Director of the Canadian Government Motion Picture Bureau, and W.W. Murray, with music by Edmund Sanborn and narrated by Rupert Caplan.
A compilation, 10-reel film (using newsreel footage, graphics and staged sequences) recounting Canada’s role in the First World War, it is fast-paced and has a verbose narration but was well received by critics and audiences at the time.
Sequences were taken from the material Lord Beaverbrook had stored in the Imperial War Museum (in London, England), and purchases or loans of other wartime footage were negotiated with foreign governments, newsreel companies and film production houses throughout the world.
[5] Despite denouncement by influential papers including the Ottawa Citizen, the film held a public run of over a year, earning $34,000, not adjusted for inflation.
[5] Sir George Perley, speaker of the House of Parliament, adjourned the body early in order that members might attend the gala showing.