We use cookies and other technologies to enable you to watch films. Continued use of this site indicates acceptance, as part of our Privacy policy.
Your cookies are disabled - you'll need to enable them to play any film. Find out how in our Privacy policy.
iPhone and iPad users: Chromecast now available via your iOS device. Download app version 2.8 to enable. See Help for more.
This film is part of Free
Should you ever need to set up a roadblock then watch this film as the West Sussex Home Guard reveal the right and the wrong way to stop the Hun in his tracks.
Instructional film/TV programme 1941 15 mins Silent
From the collection of:
This training film for the West Sussex Home Guard shows, by example, how to organise and set up roadblocks. Intercut with diagrams, the film shows the best positions for gun emplacements. Concrete blocks and obstacles are made ready, as are camouflaged positions. At Battle Stations we see the roadblock assembled. Thatched cottages are a bad choice for a command posts and a model cottage is set alight to illustrate the point. An iron shed is shown to make a better alternative.
Do you recognise a place, building or location in this film?
Help us populate the Britain on Film map by spotting and plotting the street or location you know. This is a BFI project and anyone can help.
Go to our Britain on Film crowdsourcing site and contribute to our mapping mission – to identify locations within our archive films.
Add a location
Amateur film 1938 10 mins Silent Location: Woking
Woking gears up for war in this remarkable film about the Home Guard and its contribution to the town.
Amateur film 1939 9 mins Silent Location: Gospel Oak
Adorable amateur film showing the work of the Auxiliary Fire Service in Finchley with a mixture of pride and self-deprecation.
Amateur film 1942 7 mins Silent Location: Woking
Men of the NFS demonstrate their fire fighting equipment skills before an audience in this splendid colour film from 1942. And the best crews get the best prizes.
Home movie 1940 9 mins Silent Location: Sandiacre
From their sandbagged headquarters, the Sandiacre ARP and Red Cross await their call to action.
Amateur film 1938 10 mins Silent Location: Nottingham
As the nation slides into conflict, Nottingham prepares for a new type of warfare: the horrors of aerial bombardment and mustard gas attacks.
Government sponsored film 1942 23 mins Location: Bristol
A behind the scenes look at civil defence work during and after a Luftwaffe bombing raid on Bristol during the Second World War.
Amateur film 1930 15 mins Silent Location: West Sussex
Thirties seaside holidays feature in this Albany Cine Club film - with families, dogs, pipe smokers and uncomfortable woolen swimwear
Amateur film 1938 18 mins Silent Location: Ottershaw
Join the Giles family and their friends on an idyllic seaside holiday by the Sussex coast - just a few months before the Munich Crisis
Amateur film 1935 4 mins Silent Location: West Sussex
The arrival of summer means it's time for grown men to dress as ladies and play some raucous cricket - as Eric Norman's holiday camp film shows
Amateur film 1950 14 mins Silent Location: West Sussex
Enjoy the changing colours of the Sussex countryside and the fruits of the season in this prize-winning lyrical film diary
Amateur film 1952 7 mins Silent Location: West Sussex
The changing rhythm of the seasons are captured in this award-winning short film – which also features skipping, lambs, picnics and bikinis
Amateur film 1966 6 mins Silent Location: West Sussex
Watch the Crawley & Horsham Hunt shakin' their livers in this lively film about fox-hunting and point-to-point racing made by Dora Harmer
Advert 1967 2 mins Location: Devon
Mrs Cross takes the Daz test but what will the outcome be?
Advert 1954 20 mins
Points of view from a production company at the outset of commercial television in the UK.
Advert 1938 1 mins Silent
From out of the vaults comes this pre-WWII cinema advert for ice-cream
Advert 1953 2 mins
A hard-working Catford clippie and her family star in this cinema ad for hot chocolate.
Advert 1972 1 mins
In 1972 Britain entered the European common market full of beans. What could go wrong?
Advert 1952 2 mins
A cup of Horlicks helps a struggling husband bring home the bacon in this 1950s advert.
Screen Archive South East is a public sector moving image archive serving the South East of England. The archive's collections of magic lantern slides, films, videos and associated materials capture the many varied aspects of life, work and creativity from the early days of screen history to the present day and serve as a rich and invaluable historical resource.
