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This film of the 'The Opening of the Prince of Wales Hospital' made in Cardiff at the end of the First World War shows the arrival of the Prince of Wales to make the official opening, along with footage of the patients, casualties of the First World War, parading their injuries and demonstrating their artificial limbs for the cameras. This film graphically shows the devastation caused in the First World War through the injuries sustained by the service men. The film also includes an unusual section that uses the 'chronophotography' sequential filming technique which slows down and measures human movement. This element of the film has a very different purpose and look to the rest of the work. However, the two aspects of the film, one made to commemorate the moment and publicise the work of the hospital, the other, a technical demonstration possibly made as part of the medical work of the hospital, both illustrate how moving images have been used in the past by institutions such as this. The National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales holds a number of films from the First World War era, the most notable being the recently discovered film 'The Life Story of David Lloyd George' completed in 1918, the same year as the 'The Opening of the Prince of Wales Hospital'. |
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