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.
This film is part of Free
Should Women Play Bowls?
A provocative question forms of this short film about a women-only bowls club in the genteel surroundings of Harrow-On-The-Hill.
From the collection of:
Overview
Given that at around the time this was made, the Topical Budget cameras were also recording one of London’s first all-women motorycycle club, it’s fairly clear that the question posed in the title of this short film would be an emphatic ‘of course!’. It features footage of a dozen or so women, impeccably hatted, engaged in a game of lawn bowls in Harrow-On-The-Hill, then gathering round the jack to discuss who has emerged the victor.
Related
Princess Diana Opens St Ann's Shopping Centre 1987 Princess Diana Opens St Ann's Shopping Centre 1987
Amateur film 1987 11 mins Location: Harrow on the Hill
Central Harrow sees a huge infrastructural shift - a brand new shopping centre - with the help of the popular and charismatic Princess Diana.
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.