London’s Screen Archives enables Londoners see their past come alive on film. Managed by Film London, we are a unique network of historic film collections that cares for, collects and screens heritage film across the city. Together we preserve London’s rich film heritage from feature films to home movies, public information films, newsreels, and records of the capital’s many different industries.
This film is part of Free
Your Hospital, Ravenscourt Park
Professional publicity film for West London’s Royal Masonic Hospital emphasising its history, modern facilities and concern for patient care.
From the collection of:
Overview
Dating from the late 1970s, this engaging film was made to celebrate and promote the services of the Royal Masonic Hospital in Ravenscourt Park. It gives an extensive tour of the hospital, showing everything from the nurse staffroom to the canteen and chapel. We also meet patients – one learns about a collapsed prolapse, another has a cataract removed – and doctors. The film ends with a firm but polite request for “continued and generous financial support”.
The Royal Masonic Hospital was founded in 1911 in Chelsea, with the hospital moving to new premises in 1933. The film opens with a close up of the nurses’ belt buckle, featuring Masonic emblems, before touring the main hospital building and various extensions – a 1930s nurses’ block, the 1958 Wakefield Wing and the 1976 Percy Still Wing. The narrator places great emphasis on the modern equipment as well as the sympathetic staff, and explains how Masons can receive treatment. This film was made as the hospital was struggling financially. It began accepting paying non-Masons in 1978 and, after more problems and amid some controversy, was sold by the Masons in 1994.
Related
Watch for free
Royal Masonic Hospital, Ravenscourt Park Royal Masonic Hospital, Ravenscourt Park
Non-Governmental Organisations sponsored film 1966 28 mins Silent Location: Hammersmith and Fulham
Silent colour footage of the Royal Masonic Hospital in Ravenscourt Park.
Watch for free
Royal Masonic Hospital, Ravenscourt Park Royal Masonic Hospital, Ravenscourt Park
Campaigning film 1970 23 mins Location: Hammersmith and Fulham
Fundraising film showing the inner workings of the Royal Masonic Hospital, from the gardeners to the consultants.
Watch for free
Cheers Echo Round the Land! Cheers Echo Round the Land!
Non-Fiction 1925 2 mins Silent Location: Hammersmith and Fulham
Hats off to the huge crowds that turn out for the opening day of the football season at Arsenal and Chelsea.
Watch for free
Dogs of High Degree Dogs of High Degree
Non-Fiction 1922 1 mins Silent Location: Hammersmith and Fulham
Pekingese and daschunds – as well as a tiny puppy – are shown cavorting happily at this dog show in West London.
Watch for free
China O'Brien: The Reunion China O'Brien: The Reunion
Documentary 2024 60 mins
Cynthia Rothrock, Richard Norton and Keith Cooke reunite three decades on from the groundbreaking martial arts classic.
Watch for free
Women in Action Panel Discussion Women in Action Panel Discussion
Inside Film 2024 28 mins
Action Xtreme - the UK's leading action film studio - hosts this panel discussion with four leading women in action cinema - Soo Cole, Jo Rolison, Jadey Duffield and Ioanna Karavela.
Watch for free
Starve Acre - Exclusive Q&A Starve Acre - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2024 24 mins
Daniel Kokotajlo talks to Nia Childs about Starve Acre, his folk horror about a couple digging deep into grief in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales.
Watch for free
Sky Peals - Exclusive Q&A Sky Peals - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2024 30 mins
Sky Peals director Moin Hussain and lead actor Faraz Ayub talk to Tomisin Adepeju about their magic realist drama.
Watch for free
Inside the Archive: The Early Films of Michael Powell Inside the Archive: The Early Films of Michael Powell
Documentary 2024 42 mins
Documentary exploring the BFI National Archive’s role in rediscovering and remastering the early films of Michael Powell.
Watch for free
Inside the Archive: The Riviera Revels Inside the Archive: The Riviera Revels
Short documentary 2024 12 mins
Bryony Dixon, curator of silent film at the BFI national archive, explores the origins of a series of comic travelogues, and Michael Powell's involvement in making them.