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Description
Professor Arthur Marwick of the Open University discusses film as an historical service and examines how the working class was represented in documentaries and feature films of the 30s. He makes a...n interesting contrast with the treatment of class in written sources and also traces the change in attitudes during the decade.
Professor Arthur Marwick of the Open University discusses film as an historical service and examines how the working class was represented in documentaries and feature films of the 30s. He makes a...n interesting contrast with the treatment of class in written sources and also traces the change in attitudes during the decade.
| Module code and title: | A401, Great Britain 1750-1950: sources and historiography |
|---|---|
| Item code: | A401; 11 |
| First transmission date: | 04-09-1974 |
| Published: | 1974 |
| Rights Statement: | |
| Restrictions on use: | |
| Duration: | 00:24:15 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | Patricia Hodgson |
| Contributor: | Arthur Marwick |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Keyword(s): | Class structure |
| Footage description: | Second programme using archive film opens with a sequence from 'Letting in the sunshine' a 1933 British feature film starring Albert Burdon. Full details of the film used in this programme can be found in the broadcast notes. Arthur Marwick introduces the programme, seated at Steenbeck film editing machine. Next clip is from 'No limit', another British feature of 1935 starring George Formby. Marwick points out that the feature films, unlike the documentary material at this time, gave us a very clear sociological image of the working class. Next he presents some 'Tory' biased documentaries. First of these is 'Industrial Britain', 1931-2, followed by 'The Prince of Wales visits allotments', British Movietone News, 1933. Next 'Here is the land', sponsored by the Land Settlement Association in 1937. Marwick introduces two newsreel clips of 1930's Hunger marches: first 'Hunger Marchers leave Scotland', a Paramount item unsympathetic to the Communist sponsored march of 1934. Second is 'Jarrow Marchers reach London', a British Movietone News item favourable to this 1936 march. Left-wing attitudes are shown in an extract from 'Housing problems', which allowed working class people to speak for themselves on film for the first time, about slum housing Sponsored by British Commercial Gas Association, 1935. Next two clips giving the workers' image of themselves. A silent newsreel 'Workers Topical News, issue 2', shows a hunger march. This rare item was sponsored by the National Union of Workless Men in 1930. Next is 'Advance democracy' sponsored by the London Co-operative Societies. Marwick sums up and concludes with an extract from 'Love on the dole', released in 1941, which he suggests contributed to Labour's victory in 1945. |
| Master spool number: | 6HT/71453 |
| Production number: | 00525_3145 |
| Videofinder number: | 3347 |
| Available to public: | no |
