We Serve

 ( 1942 Films ) 

We Serve is a 1942 British short black and white recruitment and training film directed by Carol Reed and starring Peggy Ashcroft and Joyce Carey, about the lives of officers in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS). It was produced by Sydney Box and made by Box's company Verity Films for the Directorate of Army Kinematography.

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Cast

• Peggy Ashcroft as Ann
• Joyce Carey as medical officer
• Penelope Dudley-Ward as ATS Auxiliary Sidley
• Celia Johnson as Cargill
• Ann Todd
• Googie Withers as Private Rose Bostock
• Esma Cannon as young private
• Jean Knox as herself, ATS Director
• Brefni O'Rorke as Colonel

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Production The involvement of Reed as director enabled Box to secure the services of several leading British actresses for the film, all agreeing to be paid £5 per day. The film also featured the then Director of the ATS, Jean Knox.

Roy Terry (1988). 9780862873219, Columbus. ISBN 9780862873219

The 30-minute film was commissioned shortly after the British government changed the nature of the ATS from being a voluntary body to becoming a professional service with full military status in April 1941. It was concurrent with a wider recruitment drive to expand the size of the ATS.

Lucy Noakes (2026). 9780415390576, Routledge. ISBN 9780415390576

In its efforts to attract recruits, the film emphasised that femininity could be retained in wartime.

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See also

• The Gentle Sex, a 1943 film about recruits in the ATS

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External links

• We Serve, detailed information and to watch, at The Imperial War Museum

Categories: 1942 Films, British Short Documentary Films, Films Directed By Carol Reed, Films Produced By Sydney Box, World War Ii Films Made In Wartime, 1942 Short Documentary Films

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