An attractive young woman holding a small mirror – naked from the waste up – brushes, pins, and preens her long frizzy hair, to gently erotic, decidedly beautiful effect.
A Visit to Peek Frean and Co.'s Biscuit Works | 1906 | ★★★★½
From the arrival of ingredients through preparation, production, and packaging to the final loading of vans, this fascinating, methodical short film documents the manufacturing process at Peek Frean and Co.'s Biscuit Works, Bermondsey, London, in 1906.
From the arrival of ingredients through preparation, production, and packaging to the final loading of vans, this fascinating, methodical short film documents the manufacturing process at Peek Frean and Co.'s Biscuit Works, Bermondsey, London, in 1906.
With her magic cigarette, a mischievous jester makes things (both animate and inanimate) dis- and reappear, including a trio of clowns – the affections of the female one of which she soon begins to court, in this irreverently sexy Dutch conjuring film.
Produced by The Edison Manufacturing Company to advertise the city’s great tourist potential, this fascinating short documentary provides an invaluable record of New York life in 1910. Visiting Grant’s Tomb, Central Park, Times Square, Brooklyn Bridge, Luna Park, Wall Street, Chinatown, an unnamed ghetto, and The MetLife and Flat Iron Buildings, the film examines the city’s architecture, people, and leisure facilities with equal interest.
Though some of its footage is clearly staged, this fascinating documentary paints an invaluable portrait of pit life in 1910. Structured around the eponymous pitman’s day, the film systematically documents the various stages of the coalmining process, highlighting – quite illuminatingly – the parts played by women and children.
Employing G.A. Smith’s patented Kinemacolour system to dazzling effect, this engrossing Italian documentary fascinatingly captures the varied human life that could be found living and working along the banks of the River Nile in Egypt in 1911. Rich and poor, Arab, European, and sub-Saharan African alike, all are brought back from the grave with wonderfully vibrant and decidedly colourful presentation.
On Alexandra Day, 1913 – a day of charity fundraising inaugurated the previous year to mark the 50th anniversary of the arrival in England of Princess Alexandra of Denmark – women of Peckham traverse the local high street, selling artificial roses to raise money for local hospitals. Filled with fabulous faces and fantastic fashions, this short documentary proves fascinating viewing.
