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A compelling glimpse inside an unnamed East End pub in 1963 where a talent show takes place featuring singers and strippers.
Amateur film 1963 10 mins Silent
There’s something fascinating about this nine-minute silent black-and-white reel shot inside an East End pub, where the men are watching a stripper perform in a talent contest. Rather than gaze at the woman as she undresses, the cameraman focuses on the intently watching men and picks out several extraordinary faces as well as brilliantly capturing the rising tension. It’s a minor marvel, and was originally shot for use in a film by Joan Littlewood about London leisure.
The footage came from a film Littlewood was making to support her Fun Palace concept. This was intended to be a huge movable construction that would contain education and entertainment. In 1963 she shot 60 reels of 16mm rushes around London to show what people currently did for leisure and to demonstrate something else was needed. The film was lost and Fun Palace never got built, but the surviving reels present a fantastic window on social life from the era, with many expertly filmed by cameraman Walter Lassally, who also shot “We Are The Lambeth Boys” and “A Taste Of Honey”.
Pornography 1896 1 mins Silent
A treat for Victorian voyeurs - and Britain's oldest erotic film?
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1977 5 mins
Agony Aunt finds her romantic match in a man with increasingly complicated sex fantasies.
Documentary 1961 22 mins Location: London
Pay a voyeuristic visit to the striptease bars on some of London's shadow-shrouded backstreets in this 1961 short film
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1963 13 mins
A girl alone in her room, smoking, putting on make-up, masturbating.
Documentary drama 1928 39 mins Silent
This silent 1920s public information film warns of the dire consequences that will arise from visiting prostitutes
1920 11 mins Silent
A model poses in and out of her diaphanous shift in this risqué experiment from British cinema pioneer Claude Friese-Greene
Drama-documentary 1937 26 mins Silent Location: London
And… Action! Workers become filmmakers in this realist drama steeped in period detail.
Advert 1934 16 mins Location: London
Romance blossoms over a discussion of fluid flywheels in this cinema ad for BSA cars directed by Zoltan Korda.
Amateur film 1964 4 mins Silent Location: Havant
Watch as the countryside around Havant disappears under the tarmac of the future M27 - with nostaligic shots of Langstone Harbour and a very leafy Pook Lane
Amateur film 1985 3 mins Location: London
Relive the 1980s in this nostalgic film from Alan Stingemore - featuring a variety of flagship cinemas, the relocation of Eros as well as a few cinemas that have since disappeared
Amateur film 1977 11 mins Silent Location: Brighton
Tony Mitchell captures a variety of events during Jubilee year - including day trips to Brighton and a bunting covered London as well as an accident at an airshow
Amateur film 1936 20 mins Silent Location: Brentford
Enjoy a nostalgic trip down river with members of the St Faith community - with tea at Kew, feeding penguins at London Zoo and lots of chatter - all in sign language!
Comedy 1919 35 mins Silent
A protective father masquerades as an automatic doll in this bonkers interwar comedy.
1937 11 mins Silent
May Day – a significant day for the labour movement – is covered by the cameras of the Film and Photograph League.
Performance 1986 55 mins
An exploration of the life and work of the controversial British composer.
1935 9 mins
Let it bleed? This exemplary education film gets to the heart of the matter.
Non-Fiction 1935 12 mins Silent
Punchy political film capturing mass protests against unemployment.
1937 15 mins Silent
A spirited satire on the coronation of George VI made by members of the Film and Photograph League.
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