This is London: The City in the Fifties ft. Rex Harrison (1950-1959) | British Pathé
Vložit
- čas přidán 12. 04. 2014
- Take a tour of London in the fifties with a commentary by legendary actor Rex Harrison ('My Fair Lady', 'Doctor Dolittle'.) Take in remarkable shots of historic landmarks such as the Tower of London to the grand spectacle of a Royal parade.
For Archive Licensing Enquiries Visit: goo.gl/W4hZBv
Explore Our Online Channel For FULL Documentaries, Fascinating Interviews & Classic Movies: goo.gl/7dVe8r
#BritishPathé #History #London #Tourism #Landmarks
Subscribe to the British Pathé YT Channel: goo.gl/hV1nkf
(FILM ID:2281.05)
Very dark fine grain print - therefore only briefly catalogued.
British Travel Association travelogue. Commentary by Rex Harrison.
Film produced for the British Travel Association with the co-operation of the London Transport Executive. Commentary written by Paul Jennings. Music Composed and Conducted by Robert Farnon and played by the New Symphony Orchestra. Photography by Reg W. Cavender. Film Editor - Eily Boland. Sound - W.S. Bland, George Newberry and Nolan Roberts. Production Manager - Terry Hunter. Directed by Jo Jago. Associate Producer - Terry Ashwood. Produced by Howard Thomas.
River Thames - Tower Bridge. Various boats travel up the river. Tower of London - L/S and shot inside the gates. Various shots of London landmarks showing different types of architecture. High angle L/S of a procession of judges. Bank of England - L/S. "At the heart of commerce." Various shots of signs hanging at the sides of buildings - include Yorkshire Insurance and "Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese." pub. Fleet Street. High angle of steps of St Paul's covered with people having their lunch. C/U of "typists" having their lunch break. Various shots of the dome of St Paul's from various spots in the city. Amen Court, Paternoster Row, Ave Maria Lane, Hanging Sword Alley, Bleeding Heart Yard are all mentioned as quiet places where the lawyers "think". Barristers walk through quiet gardens and courtyard. Fleet Street - traffic moves through. Low angle of the mythical Griffin guarding Temple Bar. Various high shots of Piccadilly Circus. Underground station sign. Pall Mall. West End. Shopping arcades. Bond Street - shoppers walk along, moving camera shots. Elegant woman buys a cabbage (?) from Shepherd Market. Various shots of the market.
Women sit at a table having a meal outside a cafe - they drink wine. People eat their sandwiches in the "Palace Garden". Dorchester Hotel - various shots. Hyde (?) Park. Low angle shot of statue of Peter Pan. Another shot of children gathered around the statue. Serpentine. Woman and her child walk along with dogs on a lead. Lido, children and adults swim and lounge on the shore. Outdoor cafe. Women in swimsuits sit at a table together. Horse riding through the park. Open air theatre - various shots of people arriving and of spectators sitting and watching "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace - Her Majesty's Horse Guards.
Mounted policeman rides through London street. Chelsea - a street with many antique shops. On the fringe of the West End - large shops, department stores. Three Indian women wearing Saris admire a shop window display. Smart mews - narrator makes comments about how posh they are. Rolls Royce parked in a nice mews. Woman climbs into another car which draws up. Little houses in Chelsea. Child sits in a pram outside one of these houses. Terraced street. Woman waters her flowers with a little watering can. Children walk along Upper Cheyne Row. C/U of war veteran playing a snare drum at the Royal Military Hospital. Chelsea Pensioners. Various shots of them in their uniforms in the hospital grounds. They obey orders to "right turn" and "quick march."
Turner and Whistler painted in Chelsea. Shot of the Thames, swans being fed. Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey. Royal carriage moving through London streets to Buckingham Palace. Narrator recites "Pussycat, Pussycat where have you been, I've been to London to see the Queen." L/S of Buckingham Palace, St James' Palace. Whitehall - procession of mounted Horse Guards. Low angle shot of Nelson's Column. Trafalgar Square. National Portrait Gallery. Fountains. Statue of Boadicea. Royal Festival Hall - view from its balconies. River Thames. Embankment. Dr Johnson quote: "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.
BRITISH PATHÉ'S STORY
Before television, people came to movie theatres to watch the news. British Pathé was at the forefront of cinematic journalism, blending information with entertainment to popular effect. Over the course of a century, it documented everything from major armed conflicts and seismic political crises to the curious hobbies and eccentric lives of ordinary people. If it happened, British Pathé filmed it.
Now considered to be the finest newsreel archive in the world, British Pathé is a treasure trove of 85,000 films.
"New fangled devices, such as telephones".
My favourite line.
Yes, that blew me away 😅
This is a tremendous record - in excellent film - of London right after WWII. I saw almost no modern buildings, meaning steel frame and glass structures, except for a few hotels and the arts center at the end. St Pauls Cathedral was the tallest building on the skyline. This should be mandatory watching for every schoolchild in the English-speaking nations: the UK, Canada, Australia, NZ, and even the USA.
@@freeman10000 when does he say that ? I've watched the whole thing but I must've missed it
Proof that change isn't always for the better.
A very different place now.
@@Macke360 Winning a war had no effect on the rise of metropolitan criminality. Wokeism and ineffective policing has everything to do with it - along with a mayor that is no good at his job.
The music in these Pathe films is fantastic. Sounds like Elgar, Walton, etc...
everything about these film are fantastic.
I like the beautifully spoken voice of Rex Harrison and the voices of the narrators that are usually used in these films.
Before everyone would sue everyone for copyright claims. Nowadays no one can use anything anymore and it results in crappy "musics".
Great escapism from the dark and depressing time we are enduring. Beautifully filmed.
Delightful music by Robert Farnon, the most remarquable voice of Rex Harrison... and a lot of regrets, nostalgia, sadness too.
How much the town has changed in 60 years !
It's changed so much more from the 50s - 2010s, than it ever did, in my view.
@@crazyfishmonster459 You are correct. It has not changed for the better.
i am watching this 2 weeks after our dear Queen passed away, how i wish i could of lived in these times .
My old dad would take me to london from Newcastle on the Pullman and spend a week looking at all the sights and sounds of London I loved every min I have been back very different place now
I spent my summer holidays in this wonderful city every year, it holds so many happy memories
Blimey!
You are lucky ..you see these beautiful days
I just like how much calmer the pace of life seems and how the centre is still used for people to live in, with neat front gardens and children playing in the street. I live and work in London (suburbs) but it's always struck me how few children I see in the centre, even accounting for tourists. It's just too busy now, rammed pavements full of people rushing everywhere, real mishmash of terrible architecture and nowhere to sit and eat that doesn't cost half a days wages. Zones 1 and largely 2 are just one big office/theme park now, designed entirely around extracting as much cash out of everyone as possible. The real life of London still exists, but it's on the fringes, not like this London where communities and industries could still afford to exist in harmony.
You notice how the traffic is much slower....and perhaps safer...
All I need now is a time machine
London before it changed its name to Londonabad
Can we have this back now please
The best thing about this video , this was the world before plastic and it was beautiful
I remember that world. It was nice. And only 2.5 billion people, instead of 7.5 billion.
My parents said there were the best time, 1950's - 1960's, wish I could go back.
These were the good old days
My childhood.
Gosh. Nostalgia. Makes me feel funny inside.
Nostalgia ain't what it used to be 😁
A time when blackamores with machetes were still in far-flung parts of the empire.
Beautifully put👏
Great historic film.
Those "little houses" at 10:43~ remind me of the small Dutch homes of The Kingdom of The Netherlands. They are far too small to call them anything but.
A lost city. Of great beauty. Now vanished.
It is still there, yet it is a shadow of its former self.
Wonderful views of better days
Narration by Rex Harrison, a good lad from Huyton ......
Wonderful
2:42 I say, I wonder who this chap could have been. Rather dashingly dressed don’t you agree? Certainly stands out in the crowd.
i noticed that too. I love it!
Probably a doorman from a hotel
I LOVE the music as, ofcourse, it's composed by Robert Farnon!
This is 1955 (8:22) and the date Wed June 1st (8:44) confirms it.
the commentary by Sir Rex Harrison makes me wonder when his accent changed because he was born in Tarbock Road, Huyton, Nr,Liverpool where i lived and Freddie Starr was from. and steven Gerrard and Peter Ried{footballers).
Where is the renaissance prince’s palace garden. Please ?
You can get anywhere on the tube for pennies lol
All the women wearing skirts or dresses, not a pair of jeans in sight. They look gorgeous
Though jeans have always been worn by those who work hard, and we have so many hard working women these days. Nevertheless I agree that classic fashion is much more elegant.
Not everyone had or has the means to dress elegantly
guess I was lucky. grew up in bermondsey at age 5 onward myself and 18month older brother often travelled around London. Trafalgar square, billingsgate and covent gardens on the nick for what was not tied down. rode the underground just by going down the exit stairs.
Excellent film.
Square Mile Bobbies. City of London Police 1839-1949.
I just adore these videos!
I checked out your Videos and I want to Thankyou for Liziquis Channel Video what a sweet artistic soul.Greetings from Costa Rica.
Me too!
Why have we allowed self serving politicians to destroy our beautiful country
We needn't give up. We can still fight and win.
Me encanta ☺️😍!
Y...a la vuelta de la esquina, estaban los 60...!!
Civilization.
Lol, so normal now, but that woman walked past whilst they were eating outside with tables, she was like eh? Eating in the street? How common, lol. Now we do it cos it is Cosmo. I love buses driving by whilst I eat don't you? Not.
I would chop of my hand to go back😮😢
Per the IMDB, this was done in 1953
Some of it was done in 1955, as the banner above the entrance to the open air theatre states!
08:15 1955 0n the festival sign
Good observation
All those English folk in bathing suits lying on the beach probably raised the surface albedo of the island by a measurable amount. :p
How great is was in London then. A wonderful dignified city in a country that was inspiring to live in I used to go to my dad’s shop in London Bridge in the 50s and it seemed a magical place. Now it’s a hideous theme park with buildings in the city that look like they’ve been in a Hannah Barbera cartoon.
As a kid we had very little - didn’t get a fridge til 1960 (rented from Radio Rentals!) no new fangled telephone til ‘65.
Now I’m ashamed to admit I’m British in this batshit bonkers miserable country.
20th Century Traffic Policeman.
and not a hint of bomb damage from the war!!!
not a tattoo, hoodlum, omg
You're right - it is selective, of course, but we learn a lot about a society from how it chooses to present itself, don't you think?
@markash3218 the sun always shines on tv 😊
Ah, England. Remember that?
Today it's all "Roodboi!" & "Blud!" & "Get dat papuh!"
Believe it or not but even the likes of you were once responsible for the winds of change that have landed us where we are to this day!
@@dalejenkins1558 ah yes! Of course, everything is my fault. Thanks for the reminder. Just for a moment I'd resisted the lefty brainwashing. 🙄🤡
This City vanished many years ago.
wow when London was not Pakistan or worse than that, but it was London of England filled with British people.. look's amazing back then civilized and clean :))
Great Plauge & Fires of London, 1665 and 1666. King Charles the 2nd. Samuel Pepys the Diarist.
Where or what is at 5-55 ?
It’s so over.
La caída del cabal es inminente lo dijo Q saludos patriotas 🇨🇱🥰🇨🇱🥰🇨🇱🥰🇨🇱🥰🇨🇱🥰
All the killings nowadays, why,what went wrong?
Great Britain had Capital punishment back then it was known as hanging.. it may be a good idea to bring it back .
Police Stations & Fire Stations of London.
London in a time before the black peoples around the world fought for independence.As soon as they got it and realised that black people were in charge, emigrated to London.
London in a time when a hell of a lot of British were living in other people's countries and lording it over the local people. So it's OK to invade other countries and take control, but it's not OK for people from other countries to come here at our invitation, and do the work we're not prepared to do?
@@davidw1518 No one invited them into this country, show me any government program before tony blair (early 2000s) that invited these people in?
@@newtonia-uo4889 are the British conquerors invited in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Singapore, Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria??? Are the British conquerors invited in these countries to loot their gold and diamond and other natural resources???
@@friendly1999ph you think can rectify past ills by subjecting it upon others? If the british adopted that thinking, then they wouldn't have ended slavery.
@@davidw1518 No, it is not okay for our corrupt government to allow foreigners to invade us without our consent. And by the way, hordes of Britons did not emigrate to brown countries.
Law & Order.
man what have they done to our boy britain. This footage sure looks like a nicer place where people might want to live unlike now.
Aaaahhhh, when life was simpler... no one holding cancer causing mobile phones ignoring other human beings & lacking basic people skills like, saying hello.. Amazing how things have changed for the better/worse?
😁👍💕🌺🇺🇸🇺🇦
REALLY SHOCKING TO VISIT THERE NOW.
YOU'LL HAVE A HARD TIME FINDING A WHITE ENGLISH PERSON... EVEN THE POLICE ARE OF OTHER ETHNIC ORIGIN, CHINESE, PAKISTANI, AFRICAN... EVERYONE SERVING IN SHOPS AND STORES IS AFRICAN OR ASIAN... QUITE SAD REALLY WHEN YOU GO BACK AFTER 30 YEARS AND FEEL THE ODD-ONE OUT !!
+ivalex1001 In the next 30 years London be dominated by aliens from out space.What's the big deal ?
Well, if that's ok by you.. I don't have to live there, thank God !!
Thats the Tony Blair policies of multiculturalism which means that London could now be an 80% ethnic mix. Which has of course done wonders for London.
Diversity is our weakness
@@Peter-lm3ic also thatcher, Major
A most fascinating film. England is a wonderful place filled with great people. That is, other than the absolute stupidity of 13:09!
Back when the country had dignity, before the Tories destroyed it all.
hahaha... not only the Tories. Harold Wilson and his Chancellor also destroyed it, they both pushed for the shrinking of the pound from 240 pence to 100 pence. Ted Heath inherited what they started and on February 15, 1971 the currency crisis began. Starting from the mid-70s, UK could no longer regain the glory days of the pound. Back in the days, the pound was considered a high-value currency. Now??? it only costs $1.21.
Haha! Labour and the Conservatives destroyed it.
I remember this. Elegant, simple and gone for good. What happened?
Mind you we have got diversity, multiculturalism and stabbings. I guess that’s a fair exchange........?
I do miss the days of polio, post-war food rationing and casual smoking :(
@@brwhizz3060 Polio can be solved with technology, post-war food rationing is an effect of a war that held the fates of the world in balance, and casual smoking is better than the fentanyl-opioid crisis that is being introduced to britain via foreign gangs. What london lost via multiculturalism can never be fixed again, a proud celebration of a unified english identity
Nearly every person is white , it looks so clean and respectful , whatever happened I wonder ?
London then…..nostalgia; filthy dirty buildings. Today…..too many of the wrong people; dirty for other reasons.
Love this video but the comment section 🥸 lol
God wins Q 🇨🇱🥰🇨🇱🥰🇨🇱🥰🇨🇱🇨🇱🥰
Hipsters and condos now
Better days utter crap hole now thanks to politicians
More like "...thanks to the powerful interests for which the politicians are front-men".
Ruined now.
Проебали светлое прошлое. Мир сейчас катится сатане в жопу.
That’s when women looked like women
Wow, the internet's truly become a cesspit of hateful bile (sorry for mixed metaphor). We need a war to get everyone to pull together perhaps. That'll sort the wheat from the chaff.
You got it - the war against Covid-19.
@@wayinfront1hahahehhe i was just going to say fast forward 4 years & there is no better time for it than now , agenda 21 in full swing & working just fine , so if now is not the time to rise & finish this tyranny i don't know when is ...