The North East Film Archive is one of a network of regional film archives established to collect, preserve and show film made in, or about the North East of England. Our collections are non-fiction, and date from the early 1900s to the present day, providing a rich record of life in the region over the 20th century. Many of our films are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
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Shear Nonsense: A Comedy
A mischievous husband goes on the rampage through Middlesbrough with a pair of garden shears in this delightfully daft comic short cut to the chase.
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Overview
A nagged husband causes havoc on the streets of Middlesbrough with a pair of new garden shears and is chased by a mob of irate victims in a madcap comedy by the Tees-Side Cine Club. The film draws on the visual gags and chase sequences of early silent cinema, with comedy roots in British music hall. This slapstick humour will be a matter of taste, but inspired location shoots capture a flavour of Middlesbrough in the 1930s, from suburb to dockside.
The Tees-Side Cine Club was founded in 1929 by Wilf Maxwell and produced low-budget dramas, comedic sketches, and screened films by individual filmmakers, often exhibiting at local venues such as the Temperance Institute. The club soon fitted out a miniature movie house above a garage in Haymore Street, Middlesbrough, reported to be the only permanent amateur cinema in the North. Shear Nonsense was directed by a local clock maker, Wilf Shaw, who also ran The Film Unit, Middlesbrough, along with Tees-Side Cine Club colleague Wilf Maxwell, producing accomplished documentaries, sometimes for clients such as the Middlesbrough Co-operative.
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