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British Council & Pathé archives, now available online British Council & Pathé archives, now available online
(6 days later)
Last month the British Council digitised its collection of 1940s public-information films, more than 100 of which are now available to view on its website. It's an impressive archive, albeit one that pales when measured against the 85,000 newsreel clips – some dating back as far as 1896 – that fellow British cinema pioneers Pathé uploaded to its YouTube channel back in April. Hopefully, both of these collections will be hopelessly dwarfed some day by that of the Central Office of Information, whose 65 years' worth of government-funded PSAs have yet to make their way online.Last month the British Council digitised its collection of 1940s public-information films, more than 100 of which are now available to view on its website. It's an impressive archive, albeit one that pales when measured against the 85,000 newsreel clips – some dating back as far as 1896 – that fellow British cinema pioneers Pathé uploaded to its YouTube channel back in April. Hopefully, both of these collections will be hopelessly dwarfed some day by that of the Central Office of Information, whose 65 years' worth of government-funded PSAs have yet to make their way online.
The catalogues present a hyperreal window on the past, blending often bizarre images with the kind of brash sales pitch beloved of the chirpy newsboys in Bugsy Malone. Pathé's films in particular are at their best when examining bygone curiosities that were never meant for the history books, from an absurd anti-theft suitcase that sprouts arms when stolen ("Not only has he those arms to contend with, but a trapped hand, too") to the incredible 10-stone baby ("Examined by the doctor every day, just to see that there's no fear of his bursting"). An almost ghoulish tone runs throughout, most searingly in a 1912 report on the French inventor Franz Reichelt's failed attempt to parachute off the Eiffel Tower, which ends as his corpse is carried from the scene by vaguely disappointed onlookers.The catalogues present a hyperreal window on the past, blending often bizarre images with the kind of brash sales pitch beloved of the chirpy newsboys in Bugsy Malone. Pathé's films in particular are at their best when examining bygone curiosities that were never meant for the history books, from an absurd anti-theft suitcase that sprouts arms when stolen ("Not only has he those arms to contend with, but a trapped hand, too") to the incredible 10-stone baby ("Examined by the doctor every day, just to see that there's no fear of his bursting"). An almost ghoulish tone runs throughout, most searingly in a 1912 report on the French inventor Franz Reichelt's failed attempt to parachute off the Eiffel Tower, which ends as his corpse is carried from the scene by vaguely disappointed onlookers.
By comparison, our modern public-service announcements, with their pally dispositions and blokey vocabularies, feel somewhat timid. Nonetheless, their desperate attempts to connect with the common man should ensure that they seem just as bizarre to future generations as unstealable metamorphic suitcases do to us now. "Those crazy millennials," they'll say, "with their anti-smoking mnemonics, drink-driving diplomacy and chummy Knock-Off Nigels. What were they thinking?"By comparison, our modern public-service announcements, with their pally dispositions and blokey vocabularies, feel somewhat timid. Nonetheless, their desperate attempts to connect with the common man should ensure that they seem just as bizarre to future generations as unstealable metamorphic suitcases do to us now. "Those crazy millennials," they'll say, "with their anti-smoking mnemonics, drink-driving diplomacy and chummy Knock-Off Nigels. What were they thinking?"
nationalarchives.gov.uk; britishpathe.com film.britishcouncil.org; britishpathe.com
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