TV : Documentary : DVD quality : English


In the earliest years of the twentieth century, enterprising traveling showmen in the north of England hired pioneer filmmakers Sagar Mitchell and James Kenyon to shoot footage of local people going about their everyday activities. These films would be shown later at nearby fairgrounds, town halls and neighborhood theaters. Workers, school children, sports fans and seaside vacationers all flocked to see themselves miraculously captured on screen!

The astonishing discovery of the original Mitchell & Kenyon negatives in Blackburn - in a basement about to be demolished - has been described as film↓s equivalent of Tutankhamen↓s tomb. Preserved and restored by the BFI National Film and Television Archive in collaboration with the University of Sheffield National Fairground Archive and featuring a hauntingly beautiful score by In The Nursery, this treasure trove of extraordinary footage provides an unparalleled record of everyday life in the years before World War I. Mesmerizing scenes of trolley cars and crowded streets, soccer matches, temperance parades, throngs of workers leaving the factory and a myriad of simple pleasures transport us to another - lost - world. The effect is as if H.G. Wells' marvelous time machine had come to life.

The main feature is broken up into five themes as detailed below. There are two tracks available for the audio. The first includes a detailed and informative commentary by Vanessa Toulmin from the University of Sheffield. The second is just the score.


1) Youth & Education

# Audley Range School, Blackburn (c.1904)
# Special March Past of St.Joseph's Scholars and Special Parade of St.Matthew's Pupils, Blackburn (1905)
# Morecambe Church Lads' Brigade at Drill (1901)
# University Procession on Degree Day, Birmingham (1901)

2) The Anglo-Boer War

# Torpedo Flotilla visit to Manchester (1901)
# Lord Roberts' visit to Manchester (1901)
# Lieutenant Clive Wilson and the Tranby Droft Party, Hull (1902)
# Opening of the Drill Hall in Accrington by General Baden-Powell (1904)
# A Sneaky Boer (1901)

3) Workers

# Messrs Lumb & Co leaving the works, Huddersfield (1900)
# Pendlebury Colliery (1901)
# 20,000 Employees entering Lord Armstrong's Elswick Works, Newcastle-under-Lyme (1900)
# Alfred Butterworth & Sons, Glebe Mills, Hollinwood (1901)
# Parkgate Iron and Steel Co, Rotherham (1901)
# North Sea Fisheries, North Shields (1901)
# Cunard Vessel at Liverpool (c.1901)

4) High Days & Holidays

# Whitsuntide Fair at Preston (1906)
# Manchester Band of Hope Procession (1901)
# Blackpool Victoria Pier (1904)
# Leeds Athletic & Cycling Club Carnival (1902)
# Dewsbury v Manningham (1902)
# Sedgwick's Bioscope Show Front (1901)
# The Great Local Derby: Accrigton v Church Cricket Match (1902)
# Halifax Catholic Procession (C.1905)
# Burnley v Manchester United (1902)
# Shefield United v Bury (1902)
# Preston Egg Rolling (c.1901)

5) People & Places

# Living in Wigan (1902)
# Tram ride into Halifax (1902)
# Electric tram rides from Forster Square, Bradford (1902)
# Jamaica Street, Glasgow (1901)
# Ride on the tramcar through Belfast (1901)
# Wexford Bull Ring (1902)
# Manchester Street Scene (1901)
# Panoramic view of the Morecambe Sea Front (1901)


DVD Extras

# Interview With Vanessa Toulmin from the Naional Fairground Archive at Sheffield University
# Pictures of Crowd Splendour video introduction by Tom Gunning, University of Chicago
# Featurette on the restoration of the films.


Enjoy and Seed!!