The Yorkshire Film Archive collects, preserves, and shows film made in, or about Yorkshire. Our collections are non-fiction, dating from the 1890s to the present day, and providing a rich and visually compelling record of all aspects of lives, cultures, landscape, industries, major events and everyday activities, many of which are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
This film is part of Free
Radio Servicing
The age of the wireless during an age of anxiety, when radios were things of variety and beauty, and sounded lovely, once they buzzed into life.
From the collection of:
Overview
A fascinating glimpse back to a time when radios and other electrical items were repaired, rather than just replaced. It is made more so by being filmed around the time of World War Two, when radios were extremely important both for obtaining information and for keeping up morale. Customers in Leeds bring in their heavy valve radios for repair, one in a pram, while the two children of the owner wreak havoc in the workshop.
This film is part of a collection of mainly family films. All that is known of the filmmaker is that his surname was Clarke, and that he had one son, Peter, born in the 1930s, and another, Michael Andrew, born in 1943. The Fred Reynolds electrical shop at 253 Dewsbury Road, looks now to be a Polish grocers, while 81 Lady Pit Lane is possibly now a small park area. The date for the film is unknown, although the notice that can be seen re. U boats and waste paper suggest that it was either wartime or soon after. All British radio manufacturers switched to wartime production in 1939, such as radar, although some basic models were still being produced, only without long wave so we couldn’t be influenced by German propaganda!
Related
Leeds Gala Leeds Gala
Non-Fiction 1968 12 mins Location: Roundhay
Variety is the name of the game at the Leeds Gala, with wrestling, beauty queens, the Red Devils sky-diving, and the band of the Dragoon Guards.
Look at Leeds '78 Look at Leeds '78
Amateur film 1978 12 mins Location: Leeds
A year in the life of Leeds, as viewed from the vantage point of Leeds amateur filmmakers, highlighting its ups and downs, and giving a flavour of the 1970s as they start to fade away.
Getting it Back: The Story of Cymande - Q&A Getting it Back: The Story of Cymande - Q&A
Inside Film 2024 22 mins
The director of a documentary about British funk pioneers Cymande joins the band at BFI Southbank to talk about the film.
The West Case The West Case
Action and Adventure 1923 28 mins Silent Location: Tilbury
Plotting world domination, Devil Doctor Fu-Manchu steals plans for a new aero-torpedo in this earliest surviving thrill-a-minute serial instalment.
Enter the Scala!!! Enter the Scala!!!
Inside Film 2024 16 mins
Filmmakers Jane Giles and Ali Catterall discuss their documentary Scala!!!, revisiting the legendary and inspirational cinema venue and some of the most notorious films that screened there.
Blades Blades
Drama 2023 2 mins
A group of young Black boys run into a building. One of them is about to do the unimaginable.
We Collide We Collide
Romance 2023 2 mins
A queercore romance - a visceral and immersive exploration of the power of the mosh pit and finding love in the most unlikely of places.
Smith Smith
Charity appeal 1939 10 mins
Long thought lost, this Powell-directed promotional short for a veteran’s charity was only rediscovered in 2003.