Ashlee Family Films: Hot Line, Bexley (1960s)

Dark comic short riffing on Cold War paranoia and pre-empting social media arguments filmed by Bexley amateur.

Witty short film by Bexley film-maker Victor Ashlee, featuring Cold War telex operators at ‘the Octagon” and “the Gremlin”, whose good-natured exchanges turn nasty after an ill-judged quip about sport. There are echoes of Dr Strangelove, while the rapid escalation feels strangely like the sort of pointless arguments found in modern social media.

Ashlee made numerous home movies, plus the occasional comic short or promotional film. This was made with machines lent by the BBC and Commercial Cable Company. It’s preceded by text that ‘We must stress that, as far as we know, there is no similarity between this film and any real telegraphic line in actual use, either past or present, or future.’ Bexley Local Studies and Archives