[MUSIC PLAYING]
After three years of war, the familiar outlines of London
are much the same.
But there are many new and unfamiliar sights
in the streets.
Affairs of State in Whitehall have a new urgency.
For here is the organising centre of the British
Commonwealth and the free world at war.
The Allied servicemen have settled down pretty quickly,
and for the time being, feel that London is their home.
Under Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square,
one sees the uniforms of 20 different nations.
London thrills to see the growing forces in her midst
and welcomes them, just as one September morning in 1942,
she welcomed the first American troops
as they marched through the city.
The cinemas of Leicester Square are open,
but precautions for the safety of London are maintained.
Emergency water tanks spill out the defiant symbol of victory.
And though scarred, London still presents a smiling face.
Ruins there are, but there is also new life.
Out of the danger has arisen a great citizen army, a home
guard, clerks, factory hands, bank managers
are trained in the very streets they
may one day have to defend.
Weapons are made from the railings London has sacrificed.
Children like the idea.
A park without railings reminds them of the open country.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
In 1942, even children help with the salvage campaigns.
Today, every man, woman, and child has a job to do.
Youths under military age give up their weekends
to train in the park for future service with the RAF.
Across the grass, soldiers and workers
take an hour or two off.
They can relax with a free mind because others are always
on the alert.
No petrol to waste means holidays at home.
And this summer, all the fun of the fair
was brought right into the heart of London.
Holidays for some, but duty for others.
Everyone is growing food wherever they can.
Acres of allotments have been cut into London's parks
and gardens.
Exhibition allotments show beginners
how to get the most out of their plots,
and food is grown in all sorts of unexpected places.
On a roof garden high above the city streets,
vegetables grow amongst the flowers.
Men of the National Fire Service make good use
of a battered basement.
Allotments and pig clubs ease the food situation.
And rationing ensures that everyone gets a fair share,
no matter where they shop.
Communal feeding is a wartime economy.
British restaurants and canteens have been
established all over London.
This was once a college.
Now 2,000 lunches are served here daily.
Labour is voluntary, the meals are supplied at cost,
and all types of Londoners take advantage of the service.
[CHATTER]
Meal time in wartime is also recreation time.
Inside the National Gallery, world famous musicians
give luncheon concerts of classical music,
whilst on the steps and lawn outside,
office workers eat their midday meal.
And in factory canteens, a laugh and a song at mealtime
renews the workers' energies for more long hours
at the machines.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
(SINGING) Are you not so sweet?
Does your stomach sag?
Do you lack technique?
No need to be a clinging thigh.
You too can have a body like mine.
[APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Women mobilised into Warwick, lock up their homes,
and hand over their children to communal nurseries
while they go off to do their jobs.
While the mothers work, the children play and grow strong.
The most striking change in London's life
has been brought about by the mobilisation of women.
In Downing Street, the efforts of the people
are coordinated in terms of world strategy
at the house of the Prime Minister.
Here the statesman and service chiefs of the United Nations
meet in the cabinet room to set their seal
on the covenants which pledged them to the common cause.
London in 1942 is the hub of the Allied war effort,
and Buckingham Palace is the background for a display
of Britain's growing strength.
Dusk falls over London.
With darkness comes the blackout.
Gone for the present are the bright lights of Leicester
Square and Piccadilly.
But behind the blackout is warmth and companionship.
[CHATTER]
Come on, everybody.
(SINGING) I'll call again said it, and don't forget it.
Scan the horizon and the open sea.
Watch for the little boats and watch for Johnny.
I'll be back, I'll be back--
Theatres ring to the old songs, while the night shifts are
taking over in the factories.
The machines must never stop.
And all the time, the defenders are on guard.
In basements and cellars, the civil defence forces settle
down to all-night duty.
(SINGING) And the open sea.
Watch for the little boats and watch for Johnny.
I'll be back, I'll be back, said he.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
If the raiders come again, London will be ready.
And as his turn comes round, every able-bodied Londoner
stays after work to fire watch.
He is the ordinary citizen, one of the worldwide brotherhood
of men and women who will work and watch fight
until the lights go up again over a world freed from
want and fear.
[MUSIC PLAYING]