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A breathtaking winter journey in the Pennines, from country to town and back again via electric tram.
Non-Fiction 1902 4 mins Silent
An unusually painterly visual sweep (taking landscape rather than people as its subject) distinguishes this particularly special Mitchell and Kenyon film. It proves thought-provoking as well as beautiful: expressing the changes to the face of Britain heralded by tram electrification and later accelerated by the internal combustion engine: the route travelled here is today a busy A-road.
In his celebrated 1934 travelogue An English Journey, author and thinker J.B. Priestley suggested there were "three Englands": the first a peaceful, ageless, pastoral land; the second a gritty, smoky one spawned by the Industrial Revolution; and the third an urban and suburban 20th-century England less rooted and romantic than either - and destined to supplant them both. Tram Ride in Halifax was filmed three decades earlier, yet it somehow encompasses all of Priestley's Englands, while revealing the crucial role of transport in connecting and transforming them all.
Non-Fiction 1902 9 mins Silent Location: Portishead
A fine variety of views of the Avon gorge taken from various positions downstream from the Clifton Suspension Bridge.
Non-Fiction 1902 2 mins Silent
Tranquil scenes of rural Edwardian Ireland, on a rail journey with views of Blarney Castle.
Non-Fiction 1905 5 mins Silent Location: Rochdale
Splendid views of Edwardian Rochdale from the front of a tram after a recent dusting of snow.
Non-Fiction 1902 2 mins Silent Location: Derry / Londonderry
Bustling scenes show Edwardian Derry-Londonderry before industrialisation took hold.
Non-Fiction 1902 1 mins Silent Location: Southport
A headlong tram ride passing Southport's finest emporia.
Non-Fiction 1902 2 mins Silent
Edwardian images of County Cork's famous port, filmed from a bobbing boat.
Documentary 1981 6 mins Location: Halifax
Dedicated volunteers from Halifax provide a talking newspaper service for locals on cassettes, strangely not motivated by money.
Factual TV 1987 9 mins Location: Halifax
Halifax’s Calderdale Council inspires real and lasting positive change in the community through infrastructure investment in this film.
Amateur film 1985 9 mins Location: Halifax
An experienced Halifax baker takes us behind the counter and showcases his sweet and savoury secrets in this endearing short film.
Documentary 1910 2 mins Silent Location: Halifax
One of the most industrious and enterprising towns of northern England takes a break to greet the novelty of the movie camera.
Documentary 1985 25 mins Location: Halifax
Women workers give voice to their puzzlement, anger and despair as years of hard work cleaning laundry for hospitals is discarded.
Industry sponsored film 1965 17 mins Location: Halifax
The lesson here is clear, do the right things in the workplace – wear totectors and Rozalex barrier cream – and all will be well, and if not there is a nurse on hand with a plaster.
Non-Fiction 1898 1 mins Silent
The Victorian great and good mark the passing of a political titan
Non-Fiction 1900 2 mins Silent
For Britons during the Boer War, a welcome opportunity to support the troops - and march alongside them
Non-Fiction 1900 1 mins Location: Barrow-In-Furness
Factory gate glimpses at - we think - Barrow-in-Furness
Non-Fiction 1898 1 mins Silent Location: Worthing
Worthing waves at us in this mesmerising early film
Comedy 1898 1 mins Silent
Film's first joke? A fresh take on an old prank.
Non-Fiction 1895 0 mins Silent
This was one of a series of actuality films made by the Victorian pioneer Birt Acres during 1895. The film is thought to have been shot on June 20, on the occasion of the opening of the Kiel Canal by the German Kaiser Wilhelm II. Acres shot other films at the same time, but they have not survived.
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