Catforth, Lancashire (1926)

A typical Lancashire village scene. Sadly these children would be orphaned the following year; the girl sent to a distant relative and the boys to an orhpanage, they would never see each other again.

This extract comes from Claude Friese-Greene's 'The Open Road' - originally filmed in 1925/6 and now re-edited and digitally restored by the BFI National Archive. Britain seen in colour for the first time was heralded as a great technical advance for the cinema audience - now we can view a much improved image, but one which still stays true to the principles of the colour process.

The rather haphazard journey from Land's End to John O'Groats creates a series of moving picture postcards. Look out for shots containing the component colours - red and blue-green - such as when a little girl in a red coat and hat walks among peacocks in the grounds of a castle, and three girls with red curly hair pose by the sea at Torquay.

The car is a Vauxhall D-type - considered a sporty model at the time. A long-distance journey by car was a relatively new concept, with none of the amenities en route now taken for granted. The visit to a petrol station shows smoking on the forecourt: no health and safety issues back then! The travelogue ends with a series of recognisable London landmarks. Much remains the same - one major exception being the volume of traffic on the roads. (Jan Faull)

For more information about 'The Open Road' see http://www.bfi.org.uk/features/openroad/

To buy the DVD click here - http://www.bfi.org.uk/filmstore

You can watch the whole of 'The Open Road' and 1000 other complete films and TV programmes from the BFI National Archive free of charge at the new BFI Mediatheque - http://www.bfi.org.uk/mediatheque

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• BFI
• travelogue
• Catforth
• Lancashire
• children
• puppies
• dogs
• cats
• 1920s

[Ommodawn]

Wonderful.

[blade0954]

amazing glimpse in to days gone by

[georgedthompson]

No.

The laundry was very clean when it was dried.Much cleaner than it might be in nearby Preston if the wind was blowing the smoke down from the factory chimneys.

I wore clogs when I was a boy that were made by my Uncle George Hill ~ who made the clogs for the children in the picture.

Clogs are almost always heavier than shoes, but the clogs that were made by George Hill were very comfortable, and he also made very stylish ladies dress clogs.

[RedBryn]

The tragic nature of this story, coupled with the archive film of halcyon days gone by, reminded me of Stephen Poliakoff's 'Shooting the Past'.

[neonatalpenguin]

Surely the laundry would be just as dirty as before it was washed.

[brwhizz]

Imagine getting away with filming kids in their back garden today!