KEIGHLEY residents will have several chances to watch a famous film about the Battle of the Somme.

The documentary/propaganda movie, made in 1916 while the battle was still raging, became the most watched film of all time.

Keighley-based military history group the Men of Worth Project recently secured the rights to screen the film from its owners, the Imperial War Museum.

The film will be shown several times between September and November, as part of the Men of Worth’s commemorations of the 100th anniversary of the battle.

The group’s exhibition about local soldiers’ involvement will be in Keighley Library until November, with regular film screenings beginning in September.

Andy Wade, a leading light of Men of Worth, said he will post details of screening dates on the group’s Facebook page once they have been agreed with library staff.

He added: “The film will more than likely be screened on Saturdays at approximately six-weekly intervals in the Local Studies room upstairs, to coincide with some research seminars we'll be holding on the same days.

”We might also be able to show it to the Local History Society, if it agrees to it, so one of the speaker's meetings might be used for this.”

The Somme offensive, fought for almost five months, was the largest battle of the First World War on the Western Front, and more than one million men were wounded or killed.

The film, The Battle of the Somme, focuses on the British army before and during the early weeks of the battle.

It depicts trench warfare, including infantry marches, the dead and wounded, and artillery firing on German positions. There is also a staged scene of troops going “over the top".

The film was watched by about 20 million people in Britain in the first six weeks of exhibition and distributed in 18 other countries.