Introduction

The Home Front is a 10-minute 1940 Canadian documentary film, made by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) as part of the wartime Canada Carries On series.

The film’s French version title is La Femme et la Guerre.

Outline

In 1940, as Canadian men are being mobilised to serve in the military, three million women are also mobilised to serve in the “home front”. For the second time in a generation, women again have shouldered the burden of maintaining the households and taking on roles that will allow men to fight. From playing a role in hospitals and medical research, industrial labour, hospitality, education and domesticity, the service these women provided to their country is significant.

On the home front, women can strengthen the war effort by strengthening the household, and, if they can, to enter the industrial workforce to supplement men in many positions at munitions factories. Women can take on specialised civilian roles such as driving heavy equipment or flight training at flying clubs. In the military, Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) women became clerks, drivers, photographers, air photo interpreters, weather observers, instrument mechanics, parachute riggers as well as many administrative and technical positions in the RCAF. Most women served at British Commonwealth Air Training Plan stations across Canada.

As the stress of “total war” becomes greater, it is imperative that women in important organisations such as the Red Cross can play a dominant role on the home front. From its headquarters in Toronto, the Red Cross is in touch with depots and workrooms across the country where women provide services that “lessen the suffering of others”. Others such as the Women’s Institutes and Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire also provide essential services, such as raising funds for weapons of war.

Women will also play a part after the war, in building a new world.

Production & Filming Details

• Narrator(s): Lorne Greene.
• Director(s): Stanley Hawes.
• Producer(s): Stanley Hawes.
• Music: Lucio Agostini.
• Cinematography: Roger Barlow and J.B. Scott.
• Production: National Film Board of Canada.
• Distributor(s): Columbia Pictures of Canada.
• Release Date: 1940.
• Running Time: 10 minutes 30 seconds.
• Country: Canada.
• Language: English.