London’s Screen Archives enables Londoners see their past come alive on film. Managed by Film London, we are a unique network of historic film collections that cares for, collects and screens heritage film across the city. Together we preserve London’s rich film heritage from feature films to home movies, public information films, newsreels, and records of the capital’s many different industries.
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"Let's Go to the Fair!"
Rotten fruit, square dancing, puppets and bears feature in this promotion film for the All Saints’ Mediaeval Fair in East Finchley.
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Overview
An advert for a local fair, this would have been played during performances at the Rex cinema (now the Phoenix), which is also where the action begins. A group in medieval costume chase a bear through the suburban streets before arriving at a fair that promises “many unusual attractions”. We then see puppets, dancing, a man in stocks getting showered in fruit, before the action returns to the cinema. This appears to be a fairly sophisticated way of advertising a local event.
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