Look Who it Was Random video

1930's Britain and industry. Film 30891

2,400 views · Published 23 September 2012 · 18:55 · Indexed 29 September 2026

Channel: HuntleyFilmArchives · 2012 · Travel & Events

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A survey of Britain industry and production in the 1930's, steel, shipping, glass.
Blades of a turning windmill, seen against the sky. The turning blades, beside the mill structure.
A basket maker weaving reeds; beside him is an earthenware bottle. Close shot of basket maker weaving rectangular basket.
A man leading a horse towing a canal narrowboat, a bridge in background. The towing rope pulls the fore-end of the 'TAY' into view, two dogs running the length of the barge barking at us as it passes R to L; a woman guides the long wooden tiller, with decorative pipe-clayed ropework at the top end of the rudder; bare trees behind. Close shot of swans on the water.
A boat at sail. A seaman in a floppy hat works a rope. Two sailing barges.
Steam from engine funnels. Two shots of smoke from factory chimneys.
Man in grubby workclothes and cap, a cloth tied round his neck, bends forward. Steam. Close-up of the man's attentive face - he is lowing the cage at a Yorkshire coal mine. The wheel turning at the pit head. Fast-turning machinery. The man working. Steel cable winding on a capstan.
Pitmen approach in a mine shaft, barely visible apart from their lamps. View down the shaft towards the coal face. Miners walking away towards the coal face. A miner strips off his shirt and is naked to the waist, picks up his lamp and pick and moves off. Obscure interior shot. The miner's head, from behind; he seems to be chewing. A heavy door (or perhaps a coal wagon) with a handle in the top corner; his shirt and cap hang on the frame. Miner working at the coal face with his pick. The pick, levering out pieces of coal. Miner chipping at the coal with his pick. Pick takes off a large piece of coal. The miner with his pick. Front view of the bare-chested miner. The coal face. A miner with a moustache, chewing. A miner lifts a huge and very heavy piece of coal. He loads it onto the wagon. He hefts another slab of coal, another man using the pick behind him. He loads it onto the truck. His head, largely in silhouette. He pushes strenuously on the end of the wagon; there are 50,000 miners. Close view over the miner's straining back. He pushes the laden truck away, as it slowly gains speed. Dark scene in the pit, as the man pushing the wagon passes swiftly L to R. Conveyor belt in motion at the pithead.

Three industrial chimneys, steam in foreground. Factory exterior scene, shrouded in steam. Smoky industrial landscape, over chimneypots. Churches rising through the smoky atmosphere above dark domestic chimneys. Diagonal line of domestic chimneys, looking down a road. Steam from a steam train passing R to L, viewed through tree branches.

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