c. 1951

Reel 3. Persia - 1920s?. Whistle blows and people leave work. Social amenities for the workers - petrol station, cinema, club house, mosque, train, fire brigade. Firemen on engine. Rowing and sailing on the river. Regatta. Bookmakers. Jockeys including women. Local men. Medical officers carry man on a stretcher. Dr Young. Steam train. Tankers. Men working on refineries. Oil pipes. Petrol station. Aircraft. Passenger aircraft - Imperial Airways plane. Man puts files away on a high shelf. Traffic passing Bank of England. Bowler hatted men on top of open bus. Man with Evening Standard poster which reads: "Hitler Made Chancellor". Photograph of D'Arcy. Oil derricks. Checkpoint. Large refineries. Aerial shots of the massive refinery of Abadan. Iran. Camels being led through an archway. Street scenes in Iran. Working on the land. Tractor. Agriculture. Men studying. School children. Women having a lesson.

Reel 4. Testing for oil. Choosing the area to drill. Men working with surveying instruments. Pipes laid. Laboratories testing the oil. World War Two. Military manoeuvres. Tanks and buildings on fire. Sunken ships. British troops march in to Abadan in 1941. Smoking chimneys. Cans of oil coming off the production line. War in the desert. Places where oil is used in war are reeled off on the soundtrack. Workers crossing London Bridge to work. The morning mail is tipped on to the ground and sorted into baskets. Oil workers. Tanker building. Freight trains. Castle of the Rhine. Building a bridge in Persia. Surveying. Scientists. Houses being built. Town planning. Child watering the garden from a tap. Boys playing volleyball and swimming. Iranian children at school. Box files and paper files on shelves. End titles pay tribute to photographers who filmed throughout the years. Script: Jack Howells. Music composed by: Thomas Henderson. Edited by: A. Milner-Gardner. Sound by: W.S. Bland and George Newberry. Additional Scenes Directed by: Peter Bradford. Photographed by Reg. W. Cavender. Produced by Peter Baylis.


Note: both nitrate and safety prints exist for this film - nitrate is good, safety is fair. See reels 1 & 2.