Actors in 1939 Pretend to be Drunk
16mm film Black & White Silent 1939 5:58
Summary: Actors in 1939 Pretend to be Drunk
Title number: 1451
LSA ID: LSA/1943
Description: Two women and a man sit at a table discussing something intently; two men then stumble into the room from behind, one supporting the other, who seems to be drunk. The women have pin-waved hair typical of the late 1930's while the men wear suits (the drunk man wears a fedora). The three sitting people turn their heads rapidly, one by one; the film then pauses and seems to break before repeating itself. This appears to be deliberate, some sort of artistic film in the tradition of the surrealist films of the early 1930's, though without dialogue or context it is hard to be sure. One woman stands and threatens the two men who have just entered with a knitting needle, gesturing and shouting furiously. She wears a dark skirt suit and is middle-aged. The drunk man gazes up at her with glazed eyes and the screen fades out to grey.
Cut to an older woman sat on a sofa embracing a man with glasses and slicked-back hair. They turn their heads suddenly and we see a key turning a lock, then the dark outline of another man with messy dark hair and a moustache. The two people on the sofa stand up as the moustached man barges into the room; he wears a garland of some sort around his neck, and seems to be happily drunk. The man with glasses cowers against a wall whilst the woman has a horrified expression. Close-up of the moustached man grinning; he then waves in a woman who wears her hair in curls, a pale dress suit, and a similar garland. She then leaves then room with the first man, and the moustached men is then seen passed out on the floor with a 'First Prize' sign on top of him. We then cut to the actors bowing now that the mysterious scene is over. Fade to grey.
A man and woman sat at a breakfast table; the man wear a smart dark suit while the woman wears a smart long dress with shoulder pads and collar, and dark slingback heels. She stands up to pour coffee or tea, and two drunk people stumble into the room: one, a woman wearing a long coat, the other a man in a three-piece suit with glasses and a bowler hat. The first woman waves out the intruders, then we see the first man has been hiding behind a screen.
The woman who wore a garland in the second scene in now shot upside-down and waving through an open door. Now, cut to a man with slicked back hair, looking tired, apparently trying to sneak into a room by taking off his shoes. He then turns suddenly to see his wife stumble in unexpectedly behind him, so drunk that she has only managed to take off one shoe.
The women actors sit round a table chatting. One man smokes a pipes and pulls funny faces; the others laugh. The actors all fool around in front of the camera, one woman sitting on a man's lap. We now see a poster for 'The Wind of Heaven' (a play, presumably) at Church House, Southgate on Friday & Saturday 21st & 22nd April (thus dating the film to 1939 or possibly 1944?). A man in a jacket smokes a pipe; a woman brings tea to another mean in a pin-striped suit who reads a newspaper, which she takes from him: the scene is then looped and repeated three times. Another man reaches for a light but can't find one, so a woman gives him a flame on the end of a long piece of paper. This scene is looped three times, then repeated by two different actors. The final shot is of a woman with dark hair pinned back into victory rolls, wearing a turtle-neck jumped with a pearl necklace.
Keywords: Actors; play; surrealism
Locations: United Kingdom; England; London; Enfield; Southgate; Church House
Related
Comments