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This film is part of Free
Not a politician in sight in this clever Conservative election campaign film.
Party political broadcast 1935 8 mins
This Conservative Party election campaign film is a surprisingly politician-free zone. Instead, it cunningly stages a debate between a pair of no-nonsense mill workers on the merits of 'safeguarding' (or trade tariffs) to ward off cheap imports. Whether the film changed any minds we'll probably never know, but the Conservatives did slightly increase their majority in the National Government.
The Conservative and Unionist Party, as it was then, was the first to really embrace political advertising. By the 1930s its approach was already quite sophisticated, as demonstrated in the decision here to use not industrialists or economists to make its case but ordinary cotton workers - natural Labour sympathisers, most viewers would assume. In 1935 the Depression remained a burning issue, but despite a coalition uniting the Conservatives with members of both Liberal and Labour parties, consensus proved flimsy. Tory support for trade tariffs was at odds with the Liberals' free trade instincts, let alone Labour's demands for public control of industry.
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Promotional 1923 37 mins Silent Location: Manchester
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Promotional 1951 13 mins Location: Oldham
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News 1975 1 mins Silent Location: Redruth
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News 1966 4 mins Location: Plymouth
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Promotional 1961 35 mins Location: Whitby
The NEEB sells an electrical future for modern homes and industries in the 1960s.
Amateur film 1956 33 mins Location: Oldham
Disabled people working in the community in Oldham.
Documentary 1969 22 mins Location: Oldham
A last look at the mighty steam engines that once powered Lancashire's mills.
1948 21 mins Silent Location: Oldham
"Britain's bread hangs by Lancashire's thread" – cotton, Britain's great post-war hope.
Documentary 1966 7 mins Location: Chadderton
See how steam powered the textile industry of Lancashire.
Promotional 1951 13 mins Location: Oldham
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Home movie 1950 15 mins Silent Location: Blackpool
The Collin family of Chadderton, Oldham, enjoy life to the full.
Comedy 1919 35 mins Silent
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1937 11 mins Silent
May Day – a significant day for the labour movement – is covered by the cameras of the Film and Photograph League.
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1935 9 mins
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Non-Fiction 1935 12 mins Silent
Punchy political film capturing mass protests against unemployment.
1937 15 mins Silent
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