Lunch-hour

A kaleidoscopic early-30s snapshot of the City of London enjoying its lunchtime break.

The Square Mile's social structure is laid bare in this fascinating snapshot of the City of London at lunchtime, shot by an amateur maker of mini-documentaries. The top hats, bowlers, homburgs, trilbies and caps (and police helmets) on show signify the different social classes of their wearers. Each class of worker patronises a different class of eating establishment, some of them briefly shown.

A professional film crew could have made a more technically perfect film, but not a more vibrant one. The City's hardworking ghosts flicker back to life, and its present bustle suddenly feels fleeting.