Historic Bristol on film

Just before the election, we reported that the BFI had put online Bristol Fashion, Tony Benn’s fascinating Labour Party Political Broadcast from 1959, as part of its Never Mind the Ballots archive.

That film is also now included in the Institute’s expanded Britain on Film project. This allows users to search by region and date for films and then watch them on the BFI player.

There’s some fascinating stuff from our region. Most of it is free to access, though you can pay to watch the Bristol iFeatures film 8 Minutes Idle, the ace 1962 Bristol-set teen tearaways flick Some People, and The Quatermass Xperiment director Val Guest’s little-seen 1963 drama 80,000 Suspects, in which Bath is threatened by a smallpox epidemic. We’re not able to embed any of the films, but here are links to the most interesting ones:

Panorama of the River Avon to Portishead (1902)
A journey down the Avon Gorge. Watch out for the entrance to the underground Clifton Rocks Railway and the wooden warship Formidable, plus loads of trams trundling along. You’ll also notice that this was shot before the main road along the Gorge linking Bristol to Avonmouth was constructed.

Lord Methuen’s Visit to Bristol (1902)
Moustachioed gents and street urchins alike seem as interested in Mitchell and Kenyon’s new-fangled movie camera as they are in the arrival of the Boer War hero by horse and carriage. Lady Methuen appears to be clad in an entire unfortunate furry menagerie.

Bristol (1920)
How the Yanks saw us in 1920. Includes the usual ‘charabancs across the suspension bridge’ sequence. A few more shots of Clifton (Vic Rooms, Clifton College, Birdcage Walk, etc) and that’s yer lot.

Control Room (1942)
Stiffly acted wartime drama-doc about coordination of civil defence during WWII bombing raids. It centres on the bombing of the junction of Linden Road and Coldharbour Road in Redland.

Bristol, British City (1951)
Back in 1951, the City Council commissioned this rather scrappy bigging-up Bristol film to promote the city at the Festival of Britain. He’s not credited, but it’s part-narrated by the late Sir Robert Wall, who went on to become leader of the Tory group on Bristol City Council and helped Thatcher to draw up the ‘right to buy’ legislation. “A stranger might find the tempo of life here easy-going. The air is mild, the voices are soft. We have been here too long to get flustered about everyday living,” rhapsodises Bob, sounding for all the world like some pot-smoking, trip-hop-loving nouveau hippy. But it’s not long before he’s praising those fine “merchant adventurers” for bringing us all that lovely tobacco and stuff. Of slavery there is not a single mention and Colston is described solely as a philanthropist. Still, it’s lovely to think that we’re part of “a continuity of pleasant and civilised living for more than a thousand years”. Wonder what they’d have made of 21st century Stokes Croft.

City of Bristol Coronation Celebrations (1953)
Silent colour footage of sundry civic dignitaries, sportsfolk, street parties, tightrope walkers, marching bands and, mysteriously, young chaps in grass skirts celebrating Her Maj’s coronation. There’s probably never been quite so many Union Jacks, flags of St. George and ‘Long Live the Queen’ banners in the city centre. Even Temple Meads station (pictured above) got a patriotic makeover. It looks like a UKIP wet dream.