The discovery of the Peter Worden Mitchell and Kenyon collection - a trove of 800 films - has been described as film's equivalent of the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb. The extraordinary "actuality footage" contained in the collection provides an unparalleled social record of everyday life in early-twentieth-century Britain, featuring street scenes, sporting events, parades, local industries, and more. This volume contains essays from leading historians covering film history, popular entertainment, the seaside, transport, sporting events, and the social and economic context of Edwardian Britain. Together they provide a vivid commentary on this unparalleled collection. As this book shows, the discovery of these actuality films has enabled a major re-evaluation of the Mitchell and Kenyon company's contribution to filmmaking in the United Kingdom. As important in their national context as Lumieres' are in France or Edison's in the U.S., these films dramatically increase our understanding of the evolution and development of film in its first decade.
- ISBN10 1844570479
- ISBN13 9781844570478
- Publish Date 22 October 2004
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 28 August 2008
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Imprint BFI Publishing
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 216
- Language English