The Yorkshire Film Archive collects, preserves, and shows film made in, or about Yorkshire. Our collections are non-fiction, dating from the 1890s to the present day, and providing a rich and visually compelling record of all aspects of lives, cultures, landscape, industries, major events and everyday activities, many of which are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
This film is part of Free
Good-Bye Old Year
The glitz and glamour of 1930s Hollywood is evoked in this short film, wishing cinema audiences a Happy New Year, ushering in what proved to be the very dark year of 1939.
From the collection of:
Overview
In the style typical of the Hollywood films of the 1930s, with the top hats and champagne glasses evoking the films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, cinemas wish their audiences a Happy New Year, sang to the tune of Auld Lang Syne, for that inauspicious year of 1939.
There is no information on this film other than that it was donated by a Mr Smith. He also donated a cinema advert from around the same time for Fan Fare magazine: “The Pocket Magazine for All Filmgoers”. Presumably this cine short was made for any cinema to use, as there isn’t anything to indicate a link to a particular cinema or cinema chain. Brought over by emigrating Scots, Auld Lang Syne had been popularised as an anthem for New Year by Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadian Big Band who played it on his American radio and TV shows from 1929 onwards. Perhaps fittingly, a nine-year-old Shirley Temple sang the song to a dying soldier in the 1937 John Ford film Wee Willie Winkie.
Related
Watch for free
Happy Family Happy Family
War 1939 9 mins
Summer 1939, and an ordinary family gets an alarming taste of war to come in this little-known Ealing Studios propaganda short.
Watch for free
Tim Marches Back Tim Marches Back
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1944 2 mins
A Peter Strausfeld animation, encouraging the public to use the telephone more sparingly in wartime.
Watch for free
Ships with Wings (Film Trailer) Ships with Wings (Film Trailer)
Promotional 1941 2 mins
A trailer for Ealing's wartime drama "Ships with Wings", an all-star actioner about the Navy's Fleet Air Arm.
Watch for free
The Man in Grey (Film Trailer) The Man in Grey (Film Trailer)
Promotional 1943 3 mins Silent
Gainsborough melodrama trailer, starring the most desirable cast of the period.
Watch for free
The Silent Village The Silent Village
War 1943 36 mins Location: Cwmgiedd
The villagers of Cwmgiedd re-enact a Nazi massacre in Czechoslovakia, in Humphrey Jennings’ unforgettable propaganda film.
Watch for free
Fear and Peter Brown Fear and Peter Brown
Documentary 1940 16 mins
Terror on the home front - literally - in this heady and eccentric brew.
Watch for free
Laura Mulvey in Conversation Laura Mulvey in Conversation
Inside Film 2025 76 mins
Laura Mulvey in conversation, following her BFI Fellowship Award.
Watch for free
George Clooney in Conversation George Clooney in Conversation
Inside Film 2025 74 mins
George Clooney visited BFI Southbank to look back on his life and career.
Watch for free
Chloé Zhao Screen Talk | BFI London Film Festival 2025 Chloé Zhao Screen Talk | BFI London Film Festival 2025
Inside Film 2025 65 mins
The Oscar®- winning director of Nomadland discusses her unique approach to filmmaking and the inspiration behind the adaptation of Hamnet.
Watch for free
Edgar Wright on The Running Man Edgar Wright on The Running Man
Inside Film 2025 28 mins
The director talks to Mark Kermode about putting Stephen King's dystopian life-or-death gameshow thriller through its paces.
Watch for free
Richard Linklater Screen Talk | BFI London Film Festival 2025 Richard Linklater Screen Talk | BFI London Film Festival 2025
Inside Film 2025 69 mins
Richard Linklater discusses his remarkable and wide-ranging body of work, including Blue Moon and Nouvelle Vague.
Watch for free
Daniel Day-Lewis Screen Talk | BFI London Film Festival 2025 Daniel Day-Lewis Screen Talk | BFI London Film Festival 2025
Inside Film 2025 73 mins
Daniel Day-Lewis, the ultimate actor’s actor discusses his career in conversation with Mark Kermode.