Selections from the BFI's collection of early cinema

May 2, 2013 7:47 AM

The British Film Institute's YouTube channels offer a staggering amount (previously) of content on historical cinema, shorts, and discussion. Some short selections from the early and silent period of note - The Sick Kitten (1903) - How Percy Won The Beauty Competition (1909) - Tilly The Tomboy Visits The Poor (1910) - Suffragette Riot In Trafalgar Square (1913) - The Fugitive Futurist, in which a man on the run shows a device that can see far into the future (1924) - Vaudevillian legend Billy Merson Singing 'Desdemona'. Widely considered Britain's first sound film - (1927) Charley In New Town - part of an animated series from the Central Office, this one explaining the need for "New Towns." (1948) - Growing Girls, a filmstrip guide to puberty for young women (1951).
posted by The Whelk (5 comments total)

Automatic Fare Collection and You (1969) is the most wonerful film ever made.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:15 AM on May 2, 2013 [3 favorites]

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posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:25 AM on May 2, 2013

Thanks, this was awesome!
posted by rednikki at 12:51 PM on May 2, 2013

Wow, these are great! Pretty amazing to see that suffragette footage. Take heart, for Mrs. Pankhurst has been clapped in irons again!
posted by Sublimity at 7:15 PM on May 2, 2013

I loved Charley In New Town, because I grew up in a New Town, and my Dad worked for the Commission for the New Towns, so my childhood was steeped in the history of the new Towns movement. I was also amused at hearing posh luvvies putting on working class accents, rather unsuccessfully.
posted by Joh at 10:12 PM on May 2, 2013