The Secret

Covert operations on the home front find solutions to shortages just next door

Culinary espionage reveals domestic secrets after a man's disappointment with his dumpling dinner initiates covert operations on a neighbour's kitchen. When his wife's surveillance is thwarted, sifting the bins supplies the mystery solution for suet-free success under rationing: grated potato! Some new ingenuity with ingredients impressively inflates the dough and seals a dining table armistice.

This film is one of a series of short patriotic stories known as Film Tags sponsored by the Ministry of Information during WWI and produced by the Hepworth Manufacturing Company. It features popular Hepworth film stars Chrissie White and Henry Edwards (who also directs). These propaganda items communicating wartime advice to civilians were included in cinema newsreels.