The 1943 documentary film HANDLE WITH CARE is the 11th film produced by the National Film Board of Canada in a series of films produced for the Department of Munitions and Supply. The short documentary looks at the industrial chemical plants that produce Canada’s explosives, a booming industry resulting from Canada’s wartime mobilization. The film begins by looking at large industrial complexes, complete with harmful byproducts such as acid water (00:41). Prairie factories harness Canada’s natural gas reserves and turn it into ammonia (02:54). Men work in mountain factories and mines to produce ammonia nitrate (03:26). Thousands of men and women who work in this industry change from their street clothes into sterile safety gear every day to do their jobs (04:47). Some of the people most responsible for expanding Canada’s industrial chemical industry are the industrial chemists (05:30). Nitric acid is one of the most crucial chemicals, and the film explains its role by describing TNT’s chemical makeup, production, and the chemical results of igniting the explosive (07:10). The explosive plants also produce cordite or nitrocellulose powder, the propellants used with TNT-filled shells (09:07). A major focus of the film is the vital role women play in the production of explosives at the plants. Women weigh and bag cordite (11:16), fill ignitor pads, make caps and detonators (11:42), and examine fuses (13:03). Many women working in the explosives plants live in nearby staff housing (14:00), complete with a community hall (14:22) that provides them with space for social life: it is a place to watch movies, dance, and play games. The film concludes by tracing the final production of shells (15:20). Workers carefully fill shells, paint and stencil them, adjust fuses, then load them onto boxcars for transportation (17:34).
Trinitrotoluene (TNT) or more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. This yellow solid is sometimes used as a reagent in chemical synthesis, but it is best known as an explosive material with convenient handling properties. The explosive yield of TNT is considered to be the standard measure of bombs and other explosives. In chemistry, TNT is used to generate charge transfer salts.
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