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The original foodie city: from bustling Bermondsey Wharves through Smithfield and Billingsgate to London's street markets and general stores.
Public Information Filler 1928 20 mins Silent
Striking aerial views of the docks between Tower Bridge and London Bridge set the scene for this examination of the capital's imported foods. Flat-capped stevedores and Thamesside cranes unload items which public health inspectors sample and scrutinise for signs of decay. They check food vendors too: the wholesale markets at Billingsgate and Smithfield, grocers and trader's stalls on Southwark Park Road and a milkman delivering by handcart. Look out for the hygiene item rendered from some rotting inedibles!
Bermondsey Borough Council was a pioneer in public health education in the period before the NHS, and produced a number of public information films like this one in their efforts to inform and educate the local population. Films were shown in schools and clubs, as well as on the streets and in the borough's public spaces via a cinema van kitted out for mobile exhibition. Much of the film's contemporary interest lies in its presentation of the working city before containerisation of cargo closed the central docks and Billingsgate Fish Market relocated from the City of London to the Isle of Dogs.
Travelogue 1924 25 mins Silent Location: London
From the pilots of the Pool of London to the headquarters of the Port of London Authority, let’s take a look.
Documentary 1959 49 mins Location: Kennington
Karel Reisz’s honest depiction of South London teens aimed to challenge the media perception of ‘Teddy Boys’.
Amateur film 1963 3 mins Silent Location: Westminster
Excellent if somewhat jerky aerial shots of London taken from a helicopter and featuring close-ups of Waterloo, the docks and Tower Bridge.
Government sponsored film 1956 12 mins Location: Soho
Traffic chaos and parking pandemonium in London is nothing new - as we see from this colourful 1950s research film shot around the capital.
Amateur film 1933 8 mins Silent Location: Tower Hamlets
Whistle stop tour of the Thames' iconic locations, followed by crowds, eels and strongmen in the East End.
Trick film 1930 4 mins Silent Location: Southwark Br
Do our eyes deceive us? Trick shots galore in this magical tour of London.
Documentary 1929 24 mins Silent Location: Bermondsey
The care and education of Bermondsey's orphans and abandoned children - before the introduction of the welfare state.
Documentary 1978 51 mins Location: Battersea
Murals around London, notably Morgan's Wall in Battersea, painted by local artists.
Documentary 1941 12 mins Silent Location: Bermondsey
"Your money means death to Nazism": Bermondsey holds a great parade in aid of Russia during WWII.
1931 5 mins Silent Location: Bermondsey
Scenes of thronging street life and market trading along Tower Bridge Road, Bermondsey Street and Southwark Park Road.
Documentary 1931 14 mins Silent Location: Bermondsey
White-coated scientists, doctors, chiropodists, dentists, and midwives unite in their mission to eradicate disease and ignorance from Bermondsey.
Government sponsored film 1944 11 mins Location: Bermondsey
A wartime magazine made to motivate and inform war workers, commissioned by the Ministry of Information in 1942 and exclusively screened in factories.
Industry sponsored film 1960 24 mins
A new luxury express is put through its paces. This film looks over the shoulders of the select band of craftsmen, engineers and operators, whose combined skills try to ensure that a train journey is a delightful experience.
Documentary 1973 15 mins
British Transport Films record the varied daily lives of their neighbours as seen from the high roof of their building in London’s Marylebone.
Industry sponsored film 1957 20 mins
Illustrating the efficiency of express freight trains, and how they link manufacturers with their customers at the other end of Britain.
Documentary 1952 30 mins
Examining a day in the life of what was then the busiest railway system in the world – British Railways.
Travelogue 1953 21 mins Location: York
The Stationmaster at York guides us through a typical day, from dawn to dusk.
Industry sponsored film 1957 9 mins
A 1957 film examining the future for British Railways, and some of the opportunities provided by a new modernisation plan.
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