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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Semi-detached Suburban
Interesting short documentary exploring the suburban town of Eltham and asking how suburbs develop and why people chose to live there.
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Overview
Part of a 1986 ILEA series called House And Home, this episode looks at the suburban town of Eltham, examining residents with sympathy but almost anthropological fascination while also looking at traffic, transport and domestic architecture. Talking us through Eltham life are the White family, including Mr White, who works as a policeman in Westminster: “It’s not uncommon to be asked the time when standing under Big Ben. As a kindness we try not to look up at it.”
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