{{Short description|1940 British short film by Brian Desmond Hurst}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}} {{Use British English|date=June 2017}} {{Infobox film | name = A Call For Arms | image = A_Call_for_Arms_film_Opening_titles_(1940).png | alt = | caption = | director = Brian Desmond Hurst | producer = Brian Desmond Hurst | writer = Rodney Ackland {{small|Screenplay}}<br> Brian Desmond Hurst and Sgt. Terence Young | narrator = | starring = Jean Gillie<br>Rene Ray<br>Kathleen Harrison<br>Colleen Nolan | music = | cinematography = | editing = Ralph Kemplen | studio = D & P Studios | distributor = | released = {{Film date|1940}} | runtime = 8 min. | country = United Kingdom | language = English | budget = | gross = }}
'''''A Call For Arms''''' is a 1940 British short silent propaganda film directed by Brian Desmond Hurst and starring Jean Gillie and Rene Ray.<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=A Call for Arms |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150003705 |access-date=6 November 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref> It was written by Rodney Ackland, Hurst and Terence Young, and made for the Ministry of Information. Two "nudes" (showgirls) do their bit for the war effort by going to work in munition factories.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Saunders |first1=Tristram |title=Betty beats the Nazis: how war propaganda launched a golden age of British film |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/movies-helped-win-war-real-life-heroes-british-propaganda-films/ |accessdate=6 September 2020 |website=The Telegraph}}</ref>
==Plot== The film opens with the two showgirls coming across a collapsed munitions worker outside the theatre door. "Twelve hour shifts take it out of some of these young 'uns" observes a nearby news-seller. Alongside a billboard gets the message across "Latest War News. Bigger Arms, Speed up. Go For It". The plots follows one of the showgirls signing up at the Labour Exchange for munitions work and tracks her working day. Seeing her friend exhausted the other showgirl signs up. "We've got to win the war you know".
==Cast== * Jean Gillie as Irene * Rene Ray as Joan * Kathleen Harrison as Mrs. James * Colleen Nolan as forewoman * Vi Caley as newswoman
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb title|id=1710610}} *''[https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-a-call-for-arms-1940-online A Call for Arms]'' at BFIplayer {{DEFAULTSORT:Call For Arms 1940 Film}} Category:1940 films Category:British World War II propaganda shorts Category:Films directed by Brian Desmond Hurst Category:British short documentary films Category:1940 short documentary films Category:British black-and-white films