London: Petticoat Lane, Barrels, Tower Bridge, Docks, Pros & Whit, Wapping
Standard 8mm film Colour Silent c.1955 4:25
Summary: The third reel in this amateur film, shot in east London and the docks.
Title number: 1102
LSA ID: LSA/1524
Description: The film begins with shots of Middlesex Street and Petticoat Lane Market. Crowds of shoppers pass between the market stalls and nearby premises including Tuby Isaacs jellied eel stall and 'Ye Essex Tavern' public house. Some street vendors sell balloons and small toys. The film then moves to the warehouses around Shadwell and Wapping. Large wooden barrels of Sherry are lined up outside a warehouse around the London Docks at Shadwell Basin. Several boats are moored up and offloading cargo, including the 'Darinian', the 'Zealand' and the 'Oriole'. Beyond the docks there are views of Tower Bridge and the steeple of St George's in the East Church over the warehouse. Some people enjoy a pint outside the Prospect of Whitby public house. The film ends with a journey from Shadwell Basin to St Katherine's Way passing the Metropolitan and New Crane Wharves, Wapping Station, Gun Wharf, Sun Tugs, Colonial Wharf, British and Foreign Wharf, Morocco and Eagle Sufferance Wharves, and Orient Wharf.
Further information: In 2013, filmmaker Mike Cole-Hamilton provided this background information about his London films: 'I had planned to make a short film that showed the side of London then so little known outside. The subject wasthe East End of London (with emphasis on the Docks) to show the working end of London through the eyes of a stranger. A young man from the country, Sid, wanders around the familiar sights - including the Guards outside the railings at Buckingham Palace - and gradually works his way eastwards via the Embankment. He sees the Guards again, marching to the Bank(a lucky shot!), gets lost and asks directions from a passer-by (Dave), who is an East-ender. His new-found guide shows him such areas as Petticoat Lane, St. Katherine's Dock, the Ratcliffe Highway, Blackwall Yard, the Royal Group of Docks full of ships, Silvertownand the Thames at Woolwich (pre barrier), and the docks in the vicinity of the Tower. The closing shot is of the two parting company at Aldgate East tube station. The projectwasshot in the summer of 1959, during my own apprenticeship at R&H Green & Silley Weir, Royal Albert Dock. Regrettably, I had to do all filming at weekends so the docks are almost totally inactive. Filming was done on an absolute shoestring. Sid and I went up west one Saturday afternoon on my mother's Lambretta. We did all the West End footage and then met up with Dave to shoot the Sid/Dave meeting and departing. Most of the other East End footage was shot on a Sunday with a friend and a fellow apprentice. Sid was also a fellow apprentice and Dave was one of the turners at G&SW who had an elderly Riley of which he was justly proud and was used in filming.Everything was shot with an early '50s Kodak 8mm cine camera, no zoom. Because the project was not finished, no editing was done; so each reel is as shot. I had planned to dub voices over on a separate tape with background music. For this,I had atape of 1950s pop played on a barrel organ , which was was one of many owned by a Mr. Tomasso of Mill Hill/Hendon area. Heran a jeweller's shop there andlovingly maintained the superb original family instruments.Sadly, the tape of Mr. Tomasso's barrel organ was lost.'
Keywords: Docks
Locations: United Kingdom; England; London; Tower Hamlets
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