This film is part of Free
Haunting colour travelogue taking in Ulster, Lewis, Lincoln and Cardiff's Tiger Bay.
Travelogue 1957 27 mins
Rare colour footage of multiracial Cardiff is the obvious highlight of this travelogue of Britain's four nations - also taking in Ulster, Lewis and Lincoln. It's a charmingly creaky film, but there's something about it... Something hard to pin down, something almost ghostly - as if we're touring the Britain of 1927 rather than 1957. It was sponsored by Brooke Bond: keep an eye out for product placement.
In his debut, director Eric Marquis betrays his inexperience and tiny budget. But in flashes he displays the instinct for strange, striking images and sounds that would mark his later career as one of the more flamboyant directors working in sponsored filmmaking. For instance, the Lincoln Cathedral sequence, with its unusual angles and jarring editing, points forward to Marquis' far more successful experiments in later films like Time out of Mind (1968).
Biopic 1985 94 mins
The turbulent life and death of championship boxer Randolph Turpin.
News 1979 1 mins Silent Location: Weymouth
An African sculpture exhibition in a Weymouth school
Non-Fiction 1967 10 mins Location: Newcastle upon Tyne
A remarkable event the great American civil rights leader, Martin Luther King makes a powerful speech on a unique visit to Newcastle University.
Non-Fiction 1962 5 mins Location: Nottingham
Nottingham welcomes Britain's first black magistrate.
Magazine and Review show 1989 8 mins Location: Nottingham
He jokes that he's joined the 'chain gang' but there is more than ceremonial robes for Tony Robinson as Nottingham's first black Sheriff.
Non-Fiction 1976 9 mins Location: Handsworth
Birmingham's lost black generation: undermined by the racism that's stifling the dynamism of a young workforce.
Biopic 1973 14 mins Location: Cardiff/Caerdydd
A glimpse of the life of a chain-smoking, proud-to-be-gay raconteur-of-sorts and resident of Whitchurch Hospital, Cardiff.
Documentary 1963 16 mins Location: Cardiff/Caerdydd
A boat is a work of art, as this film illustrates so beautifully.
Non-Fiction 1918 13 mins Silent Location: Cardiff/Caerdydd
Miss Clara Deacon, matron (or 'commandant' as the press refer to her) of this pioneering hospital, accompanies the royal patron on his visit.
Documentary 1978 19 mins Location: Cardiff/Caerdydd
A mechanical grave digger is co-opted to help with the creation of a garden at Glan Ely High School, Cardiff.
Home movie 1958 4 mins Silent Location: Llandudno
Donald Duck comes home with the Sunday School trippers from Bethel Chapel, Dyserth!
Amateur film 1945 6 mins Silent Location: Gabalfa
The once thriving but now derelict canal is full of interest for members of Cardiff Amateur Cine Society.
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1933 2 mins
Hand-drawn sound experiment by Bauhaus professor László Moholy-Nagy.
Advert 1974 1 mins Location: Shaftesbury
A classic slice of British advertising history, though that hill's not as Northern as it looks...
Non-Fiction 1901 3 mins Silent Location: Rotherham
Edwardian workers react to the camera at one of Rotherham's major employers.
Non-Fiction 1900 1 mins Silent Location: Great Moor St, Bolton
Eager youngsters burst out of the gates of a Victorian cotton mill.
Sport 1901 1 mins Silent Location: Henley-on-Thames
It's the first weekend of July 1901, and high society are on the Thames
Advert 1898 1 mins Silent Location: St Pancras
An unusual farewell in this charming early film
Do you recognise a place, building or location in this film?
Help us populate the Britain on Film map by spotting and plotting the street or location you know. This is a BFI project and anyone can help.
Go to our Britain on Film crowdsourcing site and contribute to our mapping mission – to identify locations within our archive films.
Add a location
