The films in this series document the work of the Imperial War Graves Commission and (later) the Commonwealth War Graves Commission since establishment of the Commission in 1917. The Commission commemorates those men and women of the Empire who died serving their countries in two world wars. The graves of the dead are marked and maintained. Memorials are built to those whose graves are unknown. Records and registers are kept.

The funding and administration of the Commission has been shared by the various partner governments since 1917.

Collection of films in this series was begun after the establishment of the Anzac Agency of the Commission in Melbourne in 1946. With the creation of this regional office, Australia became responsible for the maintenance of all war graves, cemeteries and memorials in Australia, the Pacific region and the Far East. These responsibilities continued until the regional office was closed on 1 January 1975. Since 1 April 1960 the regional office had been known as the Anzac Agency for the Pacific Region but from 1 January 1975 responsibility for the work of the Commission in Indonesia, Fiji, Japan, Malaysia and the Philippines reverted to the Head office in London. Thereafter Australia and New Zealand undertook, on behalf of the Commission, the maintenance of graves, cemeteries and memorials in their respective countries and closely adjoining territories. By special arrangement the newly formed Office of the Australian War Graves agreed to supervise the day to day maintenance of the Ambon War Cemetery in Indonesia.

Earlier films depict war cemeteries, memorials, ceremonies of dedication and remembrance. Later films include the same subject matter but aim to interest a wider audience by including film of historical buildings and sites located in the geographical area surrounding the cemeteries and memorials. In addition some later films include information about the theatres of war to which the graves and memorials relate. The films depict war cemeteries in many parts of the world including England, France, Belgium, Germany, Gallipoli, the Anzac area, Hong Kong, Japan, India, Italy, North Africa, Papua and New Guinea, Singapore, Thailand, Burma and the Middle East.

Several films are untitled, including two films which are nitrate-based, specifically a 16mm film housed in a 30 cm diameter wide metal canister labelled '1919 Kodachrome Duplicating Safety Color Film' and a 35mm motion picture Panchromatic film in a 27 cm diameter canister labelled 'Eastman Negative Plus - X' and 'Nitrate'.

The Office of the Australian War Graves does not have any lists of the films in their collection. However one file (P48/5/-) belonging to the correspondence file series of the Office titled 'Filming of War Cemeteries' provides background information about several of the films. The file has papers dating back to 1948. The file reveals that Australia sent films to the Head Office of the Commission in London to be incorporated in general or master films about the work of the Commission. In turn the London Office sent Australia copies of these master films as well as other specialised films. Three such films to be found in this series are:

(1) War Graves of the British Commonwealth and Empire (completed by 1950)

(2) The War Dead of the British Commonwealth (completed in 1962)

(3) I Will Make You a Name (released for general showing in 1976)

Different versions of some master films were produced by Head Office for different partner governments. For example there were Australian and South African versions of "The War Dead of the British Commonwealth". Some films in this series were made by Australian Government agencies such as the Film Division of the Department of Information (CA 1670) and the News and Information Bureau of the Department of the Interior [II] (CA 219). Other films were given to the Commission by amateur or commercial film makers. The Commission sometimes wrote to private film makers for copies of films or for off-cuts.

Films were mostly shown to service organisations, occasionally at official film screenings and were featured on television on occasions such as Anzac Day.