This film is part of Free
The Greatest Menace We Have Ever Known
Startling news coverage of striking miners - who allegedly abandon pit ponies to a terrible fate
Overview
Callous abandonment of pit ponies to a terrible fate is just one of the allegations against striking miners in this 1920s newsreel item. This early example of controversial coverage of striking miners was produced by Topical Budget, a newsreel belonging to newspaper magnate and racehorse owner Edward Hulton.
During WWI the coal industry had been taken into the control of the state. When the mines were returned to private ownership in March 1921 the miners' wages were reduced and a bitter dispute ensued.
Related
Phoenix Magazine Phoenix Magazine
Drama-documentary 1970 21 mins Location: Rhondda
Valleys boy escapes as architect to London, where he dresses in black, but returns to Clydach Vale - “a heaven and a hell all rolled into one word, spelled C O A L" – dressed in white.
Wales Wales
Travelogue 1945 10 mins Location: Rhondda
Coal mining, valleys, sheep farming and castles all feature in this highly stereotyped portrait of Wales during the Second World War.
Coalminer Coalminer
Government sponsored film 1944 15 mins Location: Rhondda
An insight into the life of coal miner Charles Jones from the Rhondda valley, an area famous for it’s coal production.
Worker and War Front No. 6 Worker and War Front No. 6
Government sponsored film 1943 11 mins Location: Rhondda
A wartime magazine made to motivate and inform war workers, commissioned by the Ministry of Information in 1942 and exclusively screened in factories.
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.