Video: See the real Dad's Army defend Bradford from Hitler - in colour

The recently unearthed amateur film is being screened at Bridlington Spa before the Yorkshire premiere of the all-star movie, which was shot largely in the town.

The old footage, pulled form the vaults of the Yorkshire Film Archive, offers a rare glimpse of wartime life in the county.

It was produced by the Thornton Home Guard, based in the moorland village near Bradford which was the birthplace of the Bronte sisters.

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Close-ups and interviews with the platoon members reveal just how close the fictional Dad’s Army came to reality.

It was shot over four years from 1941, and charts the growth of the Home Guard from its origins as the Local Defence Volunteers or LDV – which a platoon member says was known colloquially as Look, Duck and Vanish.

The camera sees the volunteer soldiers using wooden “rifles”, as the TV Dad’s Army characters did in the earliest episodes.

The footage also shows the platoon keeping watch for any signs of the enemy, staying out of sight, learning the techniques of camouflage and preparing for what could be done if Hitler’s army invaded.

Platoon member Eddie North says in the film: “You’ve got to remember, it was after Dunkirk, and we were back on our heels, we were expecting the enemy to come across. It’s a good job they didn’t, because there wasn’t very much we could have done about it.”

The film also offers a rare colour glimpse of 1940s Bradford, with its distinctive blue trolleybuses weaving through the city centre.

A spokesman for the Yorkshire Film Archive said: “The film is beautifully shot, in colour, which would have been expensive at the time, and given the circumstances, it is remarkable that it was made in the first place, and even more remarkable that it has survived the test of time.”

The Bridlington premiere of the new Dad’s Army movie, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, comes a week after its first West End screening and two days before it goes on general release.