This film is part of Free
Professional footballers answer the call of duty and get in training; many would go on to fight in the Battle of the Somme.
Non-Fiction 1915 1 mins Silent
Can you imagine today's star footballers going off to fight a war? Or staying behind and playing games while others fought and died in their thousands? Despite the hi-jinks in this film, and their propaganda value, the 17th Service Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment - or the Football Battalion - was no gimmick, and proved to be all-too 'final' for many, who would fall at the Somme and elsewhere.
News 1968 7 mins Location: Belfast
Flush on wages of £160 per week, George Best ponders money in the game, the pressures of fame and his footballing future.
Documentary 1974 26 mins Location: Leeds
Don Revie sits in bed talking to the Sunday papers, barks out instructions in a game at Liverpool, calls out the bingo numbers, and Terry Yorath collects his weekly pay packet.
News 1968 4 mins Location: Derby
"The way we're playing I don't want to see an awful lot of them". Typically blunt words from Brian Clough as his team prepare for a visit by Leeds United.
Cinemagazine 1961 9 mins Location: Tottenham
A snapshot of Saturday afternoon football watched by thousands of adoring fans, plus contrasting scenes of Southport and Spurs players in training.
Sport 1967 28 mins Silent
Clement Freud explores the importance of football to the people of Liverpool - be they backing Liverpool or Everton in the FA Cup.
Advert 1968 1 mins
England's 1966 hat-trick hero doesn't sweat the small stuff - or at all, according to this deodorant commercial.
Amateur film 1975 1 mins Silent Location: Shepherd's Bush
A short but sweet show of stylish and colourful characters, parading to bring pride and power to the queer community in Central London.
Amateur film 1996 8 mins Silent Location: Shepherd's Bush
Sandcastles and sound systesms replace cars and bikes as 6,000 protestors 'reclaim' the M41 Motoway in the name of community ownership.
Amateur film 1969 8 mins Silent Location: Spitalfields
From Petticoat Lane to Portobello Road, London's street markets are always full of life.
Sport 1923 2 mins Silent Location: Shepherd's Bush
Goals from the 1923 FA Cup 4th round, featuring QPR v Sheffield Utd, Charlton Athletic v Bolton Wanderers & Tottenham Hotspur v Derby County.
Comedy 1910 12 mins Silent Location: Shepherd's Bush
A fascinating visual record of London's White City fairground, in which an elderly couple experience some bizarre rides.
1924 12 mins Location: Kennington
Part of Wonderful London, the BFI National Archive’s programme of restored London travelogues, filmed in the capital in the 1920s.
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1936 8 mins
Spoiler alert! The fox is always going to outsmart the hounds in this delightful, balletic cartoon that heads from the countryside into 1930s suburbia.
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1936 9 mins
Carmen get your cartoon opera fix in this (very!) loose version of Bizet’s classic tale of romance and treachery.
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1909 4 mins
Toy Story meets Fatal Attraction in this tale of an Edwardian childhood romance scuppered by poor finances and a stalking dolly
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1940 8 mins
Who does he think he’s kidding? This parodic day-in-the-life portrait of Mr Hitler is one of the very few British examples of comic cartoon propaganda from WW2.
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1919 10 mins Silent
Remember when Charlie Chaplin went into space? Reality is no obstacle in this endlessly inventive silent cinema cartoon of the 'Little Tramp'
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1925 6 mins
1920s canine icon Bonzo the Dog tests the Entente Cordiale to the limit in this silent British cartoon
Do you recognise a place, building or location in this film?
Help us populate the Britain on Film map by spotting and plotting the street or location you know. This is a BFI project and anyone can help.
Go to our Britain on Film crowdsourcing site and contribute to our mapping mission – to identify locations within our archive films.
Add a location
