The North East Film Archive is one of a network of regional film archives established to collect, preserve and show film made in, or about the North East of England. Our collections are non-fiction, and date from the early 1900s to the present day, providing a rich record of life in the region over the 20th century. Many of our films are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
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Christmas 1935
A Christmas tale of woe and merriment in Middlesbrough with a scary Santa and teetotaller tippler.
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Overview
The Christmas spirit eludes a Middlesbrough dentist when his wife holds the purse strings and the family are too fond of his port. This delightful semi-fictional home movie won a 'Specially Commended Award' from Amateur Cine World in 1935 and featured the filmmakers teetotaller mother Mabel in a cameo role as the drunken dinner guest.
This accomplished film was made by keen amateur filmmaker and chairman of the Tees-Side Cine Club, Tom H. Brown, who followed his father into both the dental profession and cinematography as a hobby. His wife (real and fictional) or father may have helped in this production as T.H. Brown himself stars as the scary Santa. In addition to shooting home movies, documentaries and travelogues between 1930 and 1960, Tom and Kate Brown both acted in many Tees-Side cine club productions on location around Middlesbrough and the Cleveland area, the first a spoof melodrama made for the princely sum of 15 shillings in 1929.
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