This film is part of Free

Housing Makes History

Residents of Barnet and Stockton-on-Tees are the lucky beneficiaries of a government scheme to remedy Britain’s housing problem.

Campaigning film 1953 18 mins

Overview

Mrs Dobson of 44 Alliance Road, Stockton-on-Tees, is the envy of the street when her back-to-back home is selected, along with three neighbouring houses, as a test case for the government's new housing improvement scheme, 'Operation Rescue'. Out with the old tin bath and outside lavatory - in with the shiny enamelled white bathroom suite replete with free-flowing hot water.

With a running time of 18 minutes and lengthy introductory address to camera by Harold MacMillan, the Minister of Housing, this promotional film for the Conservative Party is a far cry from the pithy political party broadcasts of today. Macmillan was MP for Stockton-on-Tees for twenty years and so had a special affinity with the town. New homes in the north London borough of Barnet are also showcased.