Fabrics of the Future

The challenges posed by the emergence of synthetic fibres for Britain's traditional textile industry.

"Much of Britain's story is the story of wool," proclaims this forward-looking report. Eloquent and beautifully photographed, the film explores "the struggle between the fibres made by nature and the fibres made by man." It sets out the remarkable history of an industry whose influence is felt across British life, but is clear about the challenges ahead, when "some of the machinery is as old as the mills".

This Modern Age was essentially Rank's answer to the hugely successful American newsreel March of Time. An ambitious monthly cinemagazine, it ran from 1946 to 1951 and surveyed the postwar world, one subject at a time. The cinematographer for this edition is uncredited, but is likely to have been Eric Cross, who also shot feature films, including Tiger Bay (1959).