Various shots of the Coronation procession for King George V.
Take a history tour on the River Thames. Lots of famous footage: Parliament, Big Ben, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, St Paul's Cathedral, Port of London, Cleopatra's Needle and much more!
A visit to Smithfield Market, Covent Garden and Billingsgate, at their busiest time, the early morning.
A short documentary about the tea drinking culture in the UK and the industry behind it.
Jewish people - and a few Gentiles - muse on what it means to be Jewish in 1960s Britain. The challenges of maintaining faith and culture outside Israel, and in a society where ‘Jewish’ and ‘English’ are seen as mutually exclusive identities are perceptively explored in this astute documentary. Some secular Jews are keen to distance themselves from traditional Judaism and especially Zionism (one defines himself simply as a Marxist). Gentiles are on hand to cheerfully perpetuate some of the old stereotypes, and we’re treated to colourful snapshots of the Jewish community in London: the rag trade, a kosher butcher and restaurant.
Bullied at school and ignored and abused at home by his indifferent mother and older brother, Billy Casper, a 15-year-old working-class Yorkshire boy, tames and trains his pet kestrel falcon whom he names Kes. Helped and encouraged by his English teacher and his fellow students, Billy finally finds a positive purpose to his unhappy existence—until tragedy strikes.
Bons baisers de Hong Kong (From Hong Kong with Love) is a 1975 French film directed by Yvan Chiffre. It is a parody of James Bond movies featuring Les Charlots with scenes shot in Hong Kong. Mickey Rooney featured in the film as well as Bernard Lee and Lois Maxwell, stars of the James Bond films who appeared as M and Moneypenny respectively.
Beverly wears low-cut dresses, too much make-up, and has a reputation as a man-eating monster. She turns a social get-together between married couples into a virtual time-bomb of emotional tension.
Queen Elizabeth I visits late 1970s England to find a depressing landscape where life has changed since her time.
A ceramic figure of a blue mouse with long ears, stubby legs, and no tail suddenly comes to life. He is a “Manxmouse” as known in the legend. Since he is new to this world, his fearless curiosity leads him to meet a frog couple, an aviator hawk, a stray tiger, and a girl. Although he learns about his ultimate fate-to be eaten by a “Manxcat”-he decides to face this cat and challenge his destiny.
David Jones investigates how 1960s council housing came to be built so poorly that thousands later needed to be demolished.
The Black Audio Film Collective’s acclaimed essay film, 'Handsworth Songs', examines the 1985 race riots in Handsworth and London. Interweaving archival photographs, newsreel clips, and home movie footage, the film is both an exploration of documentary aesthetics and a broad meditation social and cultural oppression through Britain’s intertwined narratives of racism and economic decline.
Heralded as one of the worst horror films ever! A very rare underground Super-8 splatterfest made in Britain in the late 80's all about zombies, carnage and mayhem!
An updated version of the classic horror tale by Edgar Allen Poe. Ryan and his girlfriend Molly are going to visit Ryan's uncle, Roderick Usher, at his mansion. They find, however, that Roderick's brother Walter has gone insane, and Roderick himself isn't far behind. Can Ryan and Molly escape from the doomed mansion before the curse of Usher claims them as well?
It is very rare for a British comedian to be given a concert film all to themself but in 1989 Lenny Henry was given that honour. We start off with him been driven to the concert by Robbie Coltrane as the sort of taxi driver you don't want to get a lift from. Once inside he meets three of his comic heroes - Steve Martin, Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy (all played by Lenny) and then it's on with the stage show. He mixes stand up with appearances from some of his best known characters and there are a few amusing songs along the way.
The history of empire. A British bulldog answers his mistress's call. He tacks down the Union Jack to cover the British Isles, then begins playing with a small ball that's the world. At first it's innocent play. The dog discovers tea in India; then, the dog shakes gold out of Africa. Gradually, innocence gives way to more and more ferocious play with the ball. We see terrorized women and children as the dog becomes an enslaving potentate. Harmless English archetypes benefit from colonial riches. Then the world begins to grow, and the dog changes too, from bulldog to effete lap dog.
Father Greg Pilkington is torn between his call as a conservative Catholic priest and his secret life as a homosexual with a gay lover, frowned upon by the Church. Upon hearing the confession of a young girl of her incestuous father, Greg enters an intensely emotional spiritual struggle deciding between choosing morals over religion and one life over another.
25 Million Pounds details the collapse of Barings Bank in the mid 1990s primarily by a broker called Nick Leeson, who lost £827 million ($1.3 billion) by speculating on futures contracts. The film contextualises the downfall as the history of Barings Bank was one of the oldest and most prestigious merchant banks in Britain, run by the same family for decades with extensive ties to Britain's elites. But in the late 19th century Barings almost went bankrupt after investing heavily in South American bonds, including backing the construction of a sewer system in Buenos Aires. The bank was saved by The Bank of England, but Edward Baring, the head of the bank, was financially ruined and never recovered.
Jailed for his reckless driving, rambunctious Mr. Toad has to escape from prison when his beloved Toad Hall comes under threat from the wily weasels, who plan to build a dog food factory on the very meadow sold to them by Toad himself.
Shown as part of the BBC's Modern Times series. Think of England shows Parr talking to the many people he encountered in the summer of 1999. He innocently asked people what it took to be English, and this simple question provided many revealing answers.