This sceptred isle
When I’m not reading children’s books and listening to jazz-funk, I like to go to the cinema…
This week I’ve been to see This Sceptred Isle, a package of holiday memories from the British Film Institute archives. The screening allowed me to wallow in nostalgia for long lost holidays I never had - coach tours around the B roads of Britain (c.1958), hop picking in Kent (c.1933), being blown along the Cornish Riviera with my long skirts and fancy parasol (c.1904) etc. etc.
But the place that I really want to be is Blackpool in 1957. Well, the Blackpool depicted in this fabulous film called Holiday made by British Transport Films. With its Chris Barber soundtrack, saturated colour and sheer gleefulness, Holiday is summer perfection. And they’ve got champagne on draught.
Excerpt from Holiday, 1957, BFI National Archive
March 13th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Incredible I could watch that all day - it always amazes me that a typical daily diet back then would be an absolute no-no now. Fry up’s for brekky, full lunch and pie and pudding in the evening - yet they’re all so slim.
Have you seen John Betjemans 1973 documentary ‘Metroland’ it’s another gem filmed when anyone over thirty five dressed in the palette of a sparrow. So bizarre in places it’s almost Monty Python. It’s available on DVD - I hired it from Amazon, but the Barbican or Camomile Library should be able to get/have it
March 13th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
It is brilliant isn’t it and it looks superb on the big screen. You should try and see the whole thing if you can - it’s on here - http://filmstore.bfi.org.uk/acatalog/info_149.html - I might get a copy for myself…
I’ve actually got a copy of ‘Metroland’ sitting at home waiting to be watched, as well as ‘The London Nobody Knows’. Just need to find the time.
March 16th, 2008 at 1:23 am
So, Pablos Whopper……………
Surely even back in the fifties that would have been a single entendre of some magnitude…………….
March 16th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
You know, I’m such 50s innocence, that I didn’t even notice that…
March 26th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Fantastic. I’m going to send this to everyone I know! I particularly like the mysteriously exotic-looking magic man and his card tricks. Shame his assistant looks more like a wet weekend in Bognor. Do you think it’s a coincidence that the shot of her is followed by one of a hoarding saying “It was her entirely her father’s fault”?!
You probably know this already, but on the subject of Metroland and The London Nobody Knows, you can watch them both for free (as well as loads of other really good London films) at the BFI Mediatheque at the Southbank: http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/bfi_southbank/mediatheque.
Cheers.