The COI Collection Volume Three: They Stand Ready (2-DVD set)

The Central Office of Information (COI) was established in April 1946 as a successor to the wartime Ministry of Information. It went on to produce and distribute thousands of films for use across Britain, the Commonwealth and the world. Many famous faces have passed through the portals of the COI including luminaries of the British documentary movement such as Paul Rotha, Humphrey Jennings and Lindsay Anderson and in later years the likes of Hugh Hudson (Chariots of Fire) and Peter Greenaway (The Draughtsman’s Contract) who spent 15 years there. 

The third volume in the COI Collection, They Stand Ready, looks at Britain's armed forces. To help paint a positive picture of life in the Services the COI produced morale-boosting documentaries, propaganda items and numerous recruitment films, which placed emphasis on escaping the humdrum of daily life. Join the Services, we are told, and a world of opportunity awaits you.

Highlights include:

Victory Parade (1946), in which troops from all over British colonies arrive in London to celebrate victory over the Nazis;

They Stand Ready (1955), a look at the vital role of national service

Suez in Perspective (1957), where the Suez Crisis is given a positive spin

Routine Adventure (1965), about the RAF's role in Aden

When You Wake Up (1974), a recruitment film for schoolgirls which attempts to lure them into the Women's Royal Army Corp (WRAC)

HMS Sheffield (1976) and Tornado (1985), arms technology on the high seas and in the skies.

Contents:

Disc one

• Victory Parade (1946)
• Men of the World (1950)
• Eagles of the Fleet (1950)
• Out of the Groove (1950)
• They Stand Ready (1955)
• Suez in Perspective (1957)
• Musicians in the Making (1958)
• Military Policeman (1961)
• Ten Foot Tall (1964)
• Winged Horizons (1965)
• Egypt Today: The Anglo-French Aggression Against Egypt (1956)

Disc two

• Voyage North (1965)
• Routine Adventure (1965)
• Army Summer of 1968 (1968)
• Exercise Enterprise (1968)
• Best of Both Worlds (1971)
• Community Relations Officer (1974)
• When You Wake Up (1974)
• Ark Royal (c1970)
• HMS Sheffield (1975)
• Tornado Trailer (1985)
• Royal Navy Amazon (c1980)
• Tornado (1985)

• Egypt Today: Anglo-French Aggression Against Egypt (1956, 11 minutes): a very different story is told in this Egyptian response to British Suez propaganda
• Fully illustrated booklet including comprehensive contextualising notes and essays