London in the 1920s

[Lokar]

My wife was linked to a _colour_ video of London in the 1920s, and passed it on to me. Now I'll do the same:

http://www.howtobearetronaut.com/2010/02/stunning-colour-film-of-1920s-london/


Wasn't sure which forum to put this in, but there's hats on almost every head, so I thought this'd do. If a bartender can think of a better forum to have it, please move it.

 

[Feraud]

Thanks for posting the video! :eusa_clap

 

[Lorena B]

What a beautiful little video, thank you for posting it, i loved to see my home city back in those years

 

[RobFedoraField]

video

that's really cool. I had the opptunity to spend a weekend in downtown london back in 2002 and it's still one of my most memorable trips!

 

[Alex Oviatt]

Thank you--that was swell!

 

[CRH]

Lokar, that was a real treat. I had no idea color film existed in the 1920's.

My wife is going to do a flip when she sees that English Springer Spaniel puppy in the last frames! :eusa_clap

 

[jaymag_87]

They're driving on the wrong side of the road.

 

[Garrett]

Great video, thanks for posting!

 

[dhermann1]

Claude Friese-Greene

Here's the Wikipedia article on Claude Friese-Greene. He was the son of William Friese-Greene, whose life story was told in the film "The Magic Box", starring Robert Donat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Friese-Greene

 

[Edward]

They're driving on the wrong side of the road.

Nah, it's you lot (and most of Europe) that do that. I mean, come on, if the Australians can get it right......

(I kid, I kid!!!!!)


Amazing find.... it's incredible how much it being in colour really brings it to life (you really can begin to see why colour footage of WW2 was suppressed for so long). Petticoat Lane is one of my stamping grounds today. It's one my maternal grandmother, who spent some time in London back in the immediate post war years (her brother lived there for a few years when the construction company whose admin office in which he worked moved to London wholesale, as did a lot of Irish firms, to take advantage of the postwar reconstruction work) always talks about. Really, apart from the mid sixties towerblock in the background, it hasn't changed much since the twenties by the look of it. It was officially renamed Middlesex Street in, I believe, the sixties, an attempt to move away from the associations of the original name. The old name has hower persisted, and the market is still known as Petticoat Lane Market (even the tourist signs brand it as such). Perhaps appropriately.... if you're out there of an evening on one of the Ripper walks, for instance, you do occasionally wander past one of the ladies working in the lower echelons of the service industry, who still ply their trade in that area of the East End. It's a lot less visible than once it might have been, but it's still there.

 

[pipvh]

Thanks for posting this. It's beautiful and moving - particularly the women and children at the Cenotaph. Edward's right - it doesn't seem to have changed all that much at street level. Even the faces look the same. Perhaps it's something that all big, ancient cities have: the past hidden only just beneath the surface, still there if you know where and how to look for it.

 

[scotrace]

Wonderful! And say, I've walked on London Bridge, though I've never been to England.

 

[ScottF]

Really amazing little film - thanks.

'20s color film is rare, and one like this (not a movie, but real life) is especially a gem to find.

 

[MustangLoverMex]

Bravo!!! I definitively was born in the wrong era...

 

[Lokar]

Looking around, the rest of the website seems interesting too. Some of the other interesting posts:

Photograph of Nelson's Column being built
England in colour (100 years ago)
British WWI propaganda posters
London in the Golden Age (1940s)

I love the Brylcreem advert on the wall in the 1940s London photos. However, even though it's the '40s, you can already see how many men are not wearing hats (and they have overcoats on, so it's not a hot summer day). A sign of things to come...

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I am suprised by how much detail the flm shows. I honestly thought that it would be quite a bit more grainy.