Proudly She Marches
|
Canada, 1943 (documentary, 18 minutes, black and white, English)
|
|
Also known as
"Carrières de femmes"
|
|
| Image: © National Film Board of Canada |
Film Description:
"This is a report on how Canadian women from all walks of life were trained to handle many kinds of work in the Canadian Women's Army Corps, the Royal Canadian Air Force, and the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service. Basic training, everyday life in the forces, and the contribution of women to Canada's fighting strength are illustrated."
-- National Film Board of Canada
(source)
|
| Film Credits (partial): |
| Produced by: |
Raymond Spottiswoode |
| Principal Cast: |
Gudrun Bjerring, Joan Hunter, Jane Irwin, Shirley Jackson |
| Music: |
Louis Applebaum |
| Production Company: |
National Film Board of Canada / Office national du film du Canada |
(sources)
Quotes about Proudly She Marches
"This film [Proudly She Marches], made ostensibly to encourage female recruitment, concluded
with positive observations about women in the present and future.
Unfortunately, the female narrator was replaced by a male to make the
points."
-- Gary Evans
(source)
"Films such as Wings on Her Shoulders (1943) and Proudly She Marches (1943) portrayed the participation of women in the armed forces in positive terms but also depicted the situation in not-so-subtle ways that identified women's roles as abnormal, secondary, and temporary. No one voiced this limitation more succinctly than Lorne Greene, in one of his voice-over narrations, when he stated that the 'girls' employed in industrial establishments were finding factory work 'no more difficult than house work.'"
-- David Frank
(source)
"Chosen to represent the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service in a National Film Board production which is a story of Canadian women in the air force, army and navy, Janey [Martin] has a featured role in Proudly She Marches, which is being shown in theatres across Canada now and for the next three months. Is she excited? No! [...] The slim blonde naval typist from Windsor would rather be a Wren than a movie star, though she has qualifications for both positions. She considers herself quite an ordinary Wren, doing an ordinary sort of job, and coming from an ordinary background. But her part in the film is definitely more than ordinary [...]."
-- Globe and Mail
(source)
"As they made a case for the importance of women's contribution to the war industry, the message in NFB films such as Proudly She Marches [...] was that this work would be merely temporary. The film even hints that such line of activity (e.g., working in heavy industries or as military personnel) is 'unnatural' for women."
-- Malek Khouri
(source)
Bibliography for Proudly She Marches
Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites
-
Globe and Mail. "More thrilled to be a wren than to appear in a film play." Globe and Mail, October 18, 1943.
Brief Sections of Dissertations
-
Nash, Mary Teresa. "Images of women in National Film Board of Canada Films During World War II and the Post-War Years (1939-1949)." PhD diss., McGill University, 1983. (pp. 531-556)
Web Sites about Proudly She Marches
